‘Rufguts’ Roddy Gunn launching himself onto his opponent at Masterton Intermediate School’s wrestling event in March. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
JAKE BELESKI
Suplexes, choke slams and piledrivers will be returning to Masterton this month as New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling brings another event to town.
Masterton Intermediate School (MIS) hosted an event in March to raise money for the school’s kapa haka group.
This time the event will be held at the Masterton YMCA, and a percentage of the proceeds will go towards getting the BMX track in Queen Elizabeth Park up and running again.
Professional wrestler Jeremy McLaughlan said it was the right time to bring another event to Masterton.
“Straight after the MIS show, everybody wanted to come back.
“You’ve got to plan these things though, and you don’t want to saturate the market.”
The event will be part of a double-header weekend, with the first event in Naenae on Friday the 13th, and then at the YMCA in Masterton the following night.
There will be an eight-man tournament to determine the new No 1 contender, and attendees of the Masterton event will get to witness a ‘fatal 4-way’ match.
Being the local wrestler means McLaughlan will get a shot at the current heavyweight champion, Chad Howard.
Other fan favourites such as Shane Sinclair and Paul Sayers will also be involved.
There are wrestlers from Auckland who will be competing, as well as one wrestler from Chile who is now based in New Zealand.
It was an easy decision to put money towards the BMX track, McLaughlan said.
“I knew they were looking at rebuilding the BMX track here in Masterton.
“I grew up on that, so as soon as I heard that I said we would jump in and give them a hand.”
The last wrestling event in Masterton raised over $1000, and McLaughlan said they were hopeful this one would be just as successful.
“Hopefully it will be a bit bigger than the last one — you try and grow every time.”
Tickets for the event are $15 for adults, $10 for children and $35 for a family pass (two adults and two children), and can be bought from Eventfinda or the YMCA.
Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start.
