Travis Banks continued his American odyssey by making his internet pay-per-view debut this past weekend.
Banks wrestled for Destination One Wrestling (D1W) in Charlestown, Indiana on August 23. He becomes the third New Zealander, behind Evie and King Fale, to appear on iPPV.
Despite a potential audience of anyone with an internet connection, Banks told NZPWI he treated the experience the same as any other match.
“You still have a job to do and a crowd to entertain but with the cameras on you have to be mindful that they are there,” he said. “It’s always nice to know – or at least think, whether it be the case or not – that there may be someone of importance watching.”
Banks’ match with D1W is the first chance for a New Zealand audience to see the former IPW Champion wrestling in the United States, as he has been doing for the past two months.
The 26-year-old wrestled Aaron Williams, an 11-year veteran of the Midwest wrestling scene.
Banks defeated Williams with a fisherman brainbuster, a move he may incorporate into his arsenal when he returns to New Zealand.
“The fisherman brainbuster came about when I faced Christian Rose at AAW,” he told NZPWI. “I did it in our match and the crowd seemed to really respond to it so I thought, ‘Hey, I’m in a different country, let’s try a few new things and bring some new tricks back to New Zealand.'”
Banks impressed more than just the Charlestown audience at D1W. Former OVW commentator Kenny Bolin summed up Banks from the commentary desk: “The crowd likes him, he had good entrance music, and he won the match; what more can you ask out of one guy?”
Banks was also told he reminded former ECW star Tracy Smothers of a young Chris Benoit, with a similar in-ring intensity to the former world champ.
D1W was established in 2010. Its August 23 iPPV features matches from Tommy Dreamer and Tracy Smothers, as well as Banks’ Team Ambition training partners Aaron Solo and Mike Dean.
