The card began with an introduction from Martin Stirling that was met with a thunderous applause from the red hot Gisborne crowd who were cram packed in their seats at the YMCA. The atmosphere intensified when the first match was heralded with a huge ovation as the fan favourite Andrew Partania tried his hardest to wear down the challenge of the muscular and menacing Axl. Despite Partania’s best efforts, Axl came out on top with a thunderous chokeslam. After the match had ended Axl laid the smack down on Partania in an after match battery to the crowd’s loud disapproval. The crowd changed their chants from anger to rejoice when Infinity ran to ringside and rescued Partania from what could have been a career ending assault. However, after Infinity’s courageous rescue, Axl demanded a match against the bold Generation Next superstar later in the night, to which NZWPW promoter Martin Stirling agreed.

The second match kicked off with Rufguts taking on Silky Love. Silky Love’s theme music of “I touch myself” received incredible heel heat from the crowd as did Rufgut’s gimmick throwback to the 90’s WWE “New Generation” as he appeared in rubbish collector regalia. The two locked horns but unfortunately for the charismatic self proclaimed sexual deity, Rufguts’ victory was inevitable.

O’Siris defeated Sandstorm as the volume of the crowd continued to deafen the surrounding township. O’Siris, wielding a chain and adorned in blue attire similar to TNA’s Sharkboy, used his psychologically menacing entrance to gain an initial advantage over Sandstorm. After O’Siris won the match via unruly means, he used his chain to throttle Sandstorm to the bloodthirsty approval of the Gisborne crowd.

The subsequent clash of Infinity’s high flying skills against Axl’s brutal size and power flung the crowd on to their feet. This match was greeted with tremendous heat as the passionate Gisborne fans recalled the disgusting beat down that Axl had executed on Infinity’s friend Partania earlier in the night. Infinity was able to hit his flying head scissor and crossbody block manoeuvres, but they were to no avail as the killing machine known as Axl would continue to ascend to his feet. In the end, Axl was able to pull out an upset victory to the applause of the full capacity Gisborne crowd who were already frothing at the mouth to watch more NZWPW action.

Matariki began to taunt the crowd in the first of two women’s matches but was viciously blindsided by Misty prior to the bell. These two fiery divas locked horns as each of these ferocious women tried to dominate the other. The intensity was etched on Matariki’s face as Misty tried to make her opponent submit to a variety of leg submissions. Matariki was able to win, however Misty got the last laugh as she made a bold statement and annihilated the precious Matariki following the decision.

After the break we returned to Lady T’s match against the dastardly Misty. It was ruled by Martin Stirling that since the victorious Matariki was injured due to the savage after match assault prior to the halftime break, Misty would have to be her substitute. Lady T took the win via count out in a hard fought match. Lady T, who had accompanied Infinity in an earlier match, impressed the crowd with a series of moves which included a tilt-a-whirl head scissors takeover and a “Litacanrana” from the top rope. Ultimately the match was not void of controversy when Misty slapped the referee and abandoned the match much to the chagrin of the fans.

The Gisborne fans gathered in unison as they welcomed Belthazar to the ring to a huge ovation. Clearly, Belthazar was the fan favourite of the night. The promotion of the hometown hero Belthazar in the Gisborne Herald had set up the young up and coming professional wrestling savant to what would be a massive ovation. Following Belthazar was his tag team partner Shining Nick Silver and their manager Rufguts. Prior to the match Rufguts took the microphone and started to berate the crowd by screaming, “Get on your feet and applause your betters!” as the Wellington garbage man would point to Silver and Belthazar. Yet, despite Rufguts’ heated promo, the Gisborne crowd applauded their hometown hero and his equally heelish tag team partner. The Gisborne crowd became confused when their Gisborne representative decided to leave the YMCA building in an attempt to negate the crowd’s applause, however after a minute, the trio returned to the ring for their much anticipated match. Their opponents Rehua and Tank made their way to the ring to what was also a strong fan reaction, and claimed the “babyface” mantra as they rocked to the ring accompanied by an injured yet capable Matariki. Company T were initially dominated by the team of Silver and Belthazar, however due to a strong comeback Rehua and Tank would use their tag team compatibility and raw power to destroy the hometown hero’s chances of scoring a victory in front of the capacity crowd.

Following the aforementioned tag team bout Rufguts made a proposition to Company T’s valet Matariki, who had been too injured to wrestle against Lady T earlier in the night, and asked her to leave Company T and become Rufguts’ personal “valet”. Matariki rejected Rufguts’ advances and consequently the villainous Rufguts gave Matariki the “bash”. Running to her rescue was Dangerous Dan Stirling who then challenged Rufguts to a match. Stirling also got a cheap pop from the fans when he mentioned Gisborne in his challenge on the mic. This match was a very close clash of strength vs. strength, with advantage swinging from one competitor to the other. The crowd were firmly behind Stirling for two reasons - firstly, because of Rufguts’ dastardly tactics, and secondly because they were informed of Stirling’s kickboxing career from his father on commentary. This match was a very strong and heated bout that saw Rufguts fall victim to a flurry of fists and kicks from the relentless Stirling.

The main event became a titanic battle between the 6’4” billed NZWPW Heavyweight Champion Avalanche and the agile and talented “Silencer” Jean Miracle. Miracle made references to Avalanche’s huge frame as fans held signs stating, “Avalanche sucks!” and “Avalanche ate my other sign”. Whether or not these statements were true or not, this match was still a hard fought battle between two of NZWPW’s best athletes. Silencer tried a hurricanrana during the match, only for Avalanche to reverse it into a Boston crab submission. The NZWPW champion had secure control of the majority of the match as he threw Miracle from pillar to post with concussion inducing Irish whips into the turnbuckles. Miracle tried a comeback, only for Avalanche to reverse the Screwdriver into a Wave of the Avalanche for the win - proving to New Zealand why he is perhaps the number one heavyweight champion in this country. The crowd were on their feet as they gave NZWPW and their performers a much appreciated boom of applause.

This writer appreciated NZWPW coming to Gisborne and would love to see them come back in the future. The fans were left satisfied as a sea of happy faces poured out of the YMCA arena with their money’s worth of action packed entertainment and life long memories that have left a positive feeling towards the New Zealand professional wrestling scene in the small town of Gisborne. Perhaps the Gisborne fans of the future will reminisce of Avalanche, Miracle, Infinity, Axl and the rest of the NZWPW superstars much like the older generation of these days have of the greats such as Rick Martel (who grappled in the YMCA in Gisborne many years ago), Steve Rickard, Lofty Blomfeld, etc. Only time will tell what legacy these brave combatants have etched in the minds of those who witnessed the magnificence that was NZWPW Hit the Road.