North Canterbury News: April 01, 2021
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It’snoholds barred as wrestlers<br />
prepare for Kaiapoi fight night<br />
By DAVID HILL<br />
Wrestling fanswill get to live out their<br />
fantasies at the Kaiapoi Club on Saturday<br />
night.<br />
The KaiapoibasedUnified<br />
Championship Wrestling will bring back<br />
memories for those who remember 1980s<br />
wrestling starssuch as The Bushwhackers,<br />
Macho Man Randy Savage,and Hulk<br />
Hogan.<br />
Just likethe 1980s television show, WWF<br />
Superstars of Wrestling,the Kaiapoibased<br />
wrestlers have their own personas and<br />
back stories.And, of course, thereare good<br />
guys and badguys, saysChris Miles,of<br />
Kaiapoi.<br />
Chris is known as ‘‘The Bogan Jesus’’,<br />
who ‘‘turns water into bourbon’’, and his<br />
main rival is ‘‘Robbo the Aussie<br />
Dreamboat’’.<br />
‘‘Robbo’’, or Shaun London, is one of the<br />
‘‘bad guys’’ because, well, ‘‘who doesn’t<br />
hate adirty Aussie’’, Shaunsays.<br />
True to form, Robbo’strademark move<br />
is the ‘‘underarm bowl’’.<br />
‘‘It’sasmuch about the story as the<br />
wrestling.It’s Days Of Our Lives for men.<br />
It’s likewatching Shortland Street —<br />
somethinginitmakesyou want to keep<br />
comingback,’’ he says.<br />
‘‘There is banter and beverages.’’<br />
But safety is paramount, with wrestlers<br />
training for monthsbeforeentering the<br />
ring. ‘‘It hurts more than you realise. We<br />
might be putting on ashow, but Ican<br />
assureyou theimpact is very, very real,’’<br />
Shaun says.<br />
The semiprofessional wrestlers train<br />
two or three nights aweek for the fight<br />
nights, with about six to eightshows ayear<br />
held upstairs at the Kaiapoi Club.<br />
‘‘It’sanamazing wrestlingcrowd. Our<br />
oldestfan is in her 90s and we had ababy<br />
at the last show,’’ Shaun says.<br />
‘‘We make sure there’s no swearing, so<br />
kids can come.And noone is on steroids—<br />
we’re all naturalathletes,’’says Shaun,<br />
who playedbasketball to ahigh levelin<br />
Australia before moving to Christchurch.<br />
The wrestlers preferthe 1980s style of<br />
wrestling,which they grew up withon<br />
television, to the ‘‘ninjaflips’’ used by<br />
modernday professional wrestlers.<br />
While theirwrestling heroes made a<br />
fortune from their sport, Kaiapoi’s<br />
wrestlers have day jobs.Shaunhas a<br />
masters degreeinpsychologyand is a<br />
support worker for peoplewith<br />
disabilities, whileChrisisatradesman.<br />
‘‘We don’tmake alot of money (from<br />
wrestling), but it’sprofitable enough to go<br />
into the next show,’’ Chris says.<br />
Saturday night’s wrestling will hostthe<br />
company’s first women’smatch with<br />
‘‘Shay’’— Ayesha Still, of Christchurch —<br />
takingon<strong>North</strong>land wrestler ‘‘Grace<br />
Lightning’’.<br />
Fight night ... Referee ‘‘John Reginald’’, also known as John Barnden, of Christchurch,<br />
preps ‘‘Shay’’ (Ayesha Still, of Christchurch) on the finer points of wrestling ahead of her<br />
first big fight at the Kaiapoi Club on Saturday night.<br />
PHOTO:DAVID HILL<br />
OUR TOWN KAIAPOI<br />
The <strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> <strong>News</strong>, <strong>April</strong> 1, <strong>2021</strong><br />
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