Jump to content

Wrestling in Australia (disambiguation)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 203.45.248.72 (talk) at 21:09, 26 May 2006 (ECW vs WWE Update). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article has been divided into two sections based upon the two types of wrestling in Australia, professional and amateur.

Professional Wrestling

History

Professional wrestling in Australia first became popular in the 1970s when WCW Australia was broadcasted nationally. The home-grown promotion kept audiences entertained before World Wrestling Entertainment became a global wrestling empire.

Throughout the 1990s, both WCW Monday Nitro and WWE RAW were broadcasted on free-to-air networks but were put in poor timeslots and were subsequently cancelled because of poor ratings. WWE's major pay-per-views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) were all shown up until 2001, when every pay-per-view began being shown.

WWE programming returned in 2000 with WWE RAW being shown on Fox Sports on Tuesday nights. SmackDown! followed and was broadcasted on FOX8 Friday nights but was moved to Saturday nights in 2001.

In September 2002 negotiations between FOX8 and WWE fell through and SmackDown! was cancelled. A special NWA/TNA package replaced it in early 2003 but only lasted a year. NWA/TNA pay-per-views were shown once a month throughout 2003 during a time when they were being presented weekly in the United States. WWE pay-per-views were also lost to Main Event in the same deal that cost Australian fans Smackdown. Village Cinemas showed them for a few months until August 2003 when SmackDown! returned on Saturday Nights as well as the pay-per-views, starting with Summerslam. RAW was moved from Fox Sports to FOX8 and was shown on Friday nights. In order to prevent spoiler hunting on the internet, FOX8 moved WWE programming to timeslots closer to their United States airdate.

In February 2005, WWE HEAT, WWE Velocity and WWE Experience were added to FOX8 and set up a large wrestling program on Saturdays and Sundays which now exists today. Despite Heat, Velocity and Experience all being cancelled in the United States the shows are still shown in Australia to fulfill contractual obligations. When WWE Smackdown was moved to Friday Nights in the US, in Australia it remained on Friday Afternoons.

After just over 3 years, Australian wrestling fans will once again be treated to TNA. Beginning with TNA Sacrifice 2006 on May 27th (tape delay) TNA monthly pay-per-view events will be broadcasted in Australia for the first time ever on Main Event. TNA is currently in talks to broadcast TNA iMPACT! and other TNA programs. No decision will be made until at least TNA Slammiversary 2006 so that TNA officials can check the buy rates of the pay-per-views

A recent WWE Press Release has confirmed that ECW will be replacing WWE Velocity from late June. This is the first time ECW as a television show will be broadcast in Australia.

Although FOX8 does not hold broadcast rights to the WWE vs ECW Special this matter it is still under review with the American rights holder. The best Foxtel can advise is that should there be any change to this situation it would be reflected in the program listings on www.foxtel.tv and on the FOXTEL Digital Guide (it would also be promoted on air).

Live Events

Shows from North American promotions have been held in Australia as early as 1985 when WWE toured through Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle and Adelaide and through Melbourne and Brisbane again in 1986. That was the last Australia saw of a live North American product until WCW did a Nitro taping in Melbourne and a Thunder taping in Brisbane in 1999.

The next time WWE came to Melbourne was for the 'WWE Global Warning Tour' in 2002. A crowd of 56,000 packed into Colonial Stadium as well a pay-per-view audience throughout Asia witnessed the first WWE show on Australian soil in 16 years.

WWE has visited Australia regularly since Global Warning by touring at least once a year since 2003. An independent circuit show was organised in October 2005 called International Assault to further increase the amount of North American product showcased live in Australia.

For a full list of live events in Australia see Australian Wrestling Events Results.

Next WWE Tour
WWE RAW returns to Australia with 3 shows in August touring Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle. Dates and venues are as follows:

Superstars announced to tour so far are John Cena, Carlito, Edge, The Big Show, Trish Stratus and Shelton Benjamin.

Programming

Weekly Programming
FOX8 is currently the major network to air all televised shows in Australia. Times for programmes are as follows:

Note: all programs are aired 2 hours later on FOX8+2.

Coming Soon

Pay Per View
Exclusive to Main Event

WWE

  • ECW: One Night Stand, LIVE Monday, June 12 at 10am (EST) same day replay at 6:30pm (EST). Digital Subscribers can order from 4pm June 9.
  • WWE Raw presents: Vengeance, LIVE Monday June 26, 10am (EST) with same day replay at 6:30pm. The Cost is AU$29.95 inc GST. Digital Subscribers can order from 4pm June 23

For a full list of WWE pay-per-views see the list of WWE pay-per-view events.

TNA

  • TNA Slammiversary 2006 will be aired on tape delay on Saturday July 1 2006 at 7:30am with replays at 12:30pm and 5:30pm. The cost is AU$21.95 inc GST. Digital Subscribers can order from 1:30pm June 28.

For a full list of TNA pay-per-views see the list of TNA pay-per-view events. TNA sites will not have Australian times.

Other Media

A fortnightly wrestling program is available online at Sport927 Radio at 12am midnight Thursday Night/Friday Morning. It covers Australia's interests in WWE, TNA, UFC and the local independent circuit.

Promotions

Defunct

See Also

External links/Resources

Amateur and Freestyle Wrestling

History

Three Australians have won medals in freestyle events at the Olympics. In Los Angeles in 1932, Eddie Scarf was third in the light-heavyweight division. Twelve years later in London, Dick Garrard won a silver medal as a welterweight and Jim Armstrong won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division. Garrard is the only wrestler to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Australia has never won a Greco-Roman Olympic medal.

Divisions

Amateur and Freestyle wrestling in Australia is held in the current divisions.

Freestyle

Mens

  • 55kg
  • 120kg
  • 55 - 60kg
  • 60 - 66kg
  • 74 - 84kg
  • 84 - 96kg
  • Up to 100kg
  • Up to 130kg
  • Up to 52kg
  • Up to 57kg
  • Up to 62kg
  • Up to 68kg
  • Up to 74kg
  • Up to 82kg
  • Up to 90kg

Women

  • 48kg
  • 48 - 55kg
  • 55 - 63kg
  • 63 - 72kg


Greco-Roman

Men

  • 55kg
  • 55 - 60kg
  • 60 - 66kg
  • 66 - 74kg
  • 74 - 84kg
  • 84 - 96kg
  • 96 - 120kg

See Also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wrestling_in_Australia_(disambiguation)&oldid=55318179"