Bleacher Report - Articles by Kurt Lewicki

Hard Times: A Short History of Pro Wrestling in Australia Since 1978

Kurt Lewicki — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:21:00 -0400

Preface: Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer took control of Consolidated Press Holdings after his father’s death in 1974. One of the company’s primary holdings, The Nine Networks, was rating poorly; to increase ratings, Packer subscribed a heavy schedule of sports programming.

Being a rather large fan of cricket, the game was an obvious choice for Packer to fuel the ailing networks ratings. After having several offers for the television rights rejected by the Australian Cricket Board, CPH decided to simply start their own competition.

Shrouded in secrecy, World Series Cricket poached top players from around the world and was set to be bigger than Ben-Hur. Lured by financial security, 50 of the world’s best cricketers signed on.

After a seven-week court case, World Series Cricket was given the go-ahead. The competition started on the Dec. 2, 1977.

Once WSC debuted, World Championship Wrestling Australia was pulled off the air.

The “Golden Age” of Australian pro wrestling had come to an abrupt end. By the end of 1978, WCW had collapsed, unable to sustain itself without a TV deal.

For nearly 30 years, Australians relied heavily upon American wrestling promotions such as WCW, TNA, and WWE. For over half that time, a weekly dose of sports entertainment within the comfort of their homes wasn’t a luxury available to people down under.

The choice of the country's free-to-air networks in the early '90s to show WWE and WCW programming in late-night time slots wasn’t a smart move, as the shows failed to get viewers at one am. Enter pay television.

Australia didn’t have any form of pay television until Jan. 1, 1995, when satellite provider Galaxy finally made the option available to all capital cities in the country. Regional areas didn’t have the option until 1997.

It was at this time that Fox Sports Network and Turner Classic Movies began showing Raw and Nitro respectively. Pay-per-view made its debut in Australia via Main Event, giving both WWE and WCW another sales outlet in the southern hemisphere.

By the start of 1999, both promotions were offering live PPV events, albeit only the major four WWE shows were shown. All WCW PPV events had been shown since 1997.

It was at this time that wrestling promotions started to spring up all around Australia. Sydney-based IWA and AWF did surprisingly well at the time, utilizing the popularity of the American product to maximize attendance.

As the popularity of pro wrestling rose, so did costs. Many promotions folded without even making a dent in the landscape.

WCW came to Australia in October of 2000, managing to receive mainstream exposure. One of Australia’s highest-rating shows, The Footy Show, had Scott Steiner and Dennis Rodman make an appearance. The tour was soured when Juventud Guerrera was arrested after being found in the hallway of a hotel naked, screaming, and under the influence of PCP.

In the year 2000, the FOX 8 channel started showing SmackDown! on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, the joy of Australian fans was short-lived. In September 2002, WWE fans were thrown into chaos when the deal between FOX8 and WWE fell apart. The failure of the deal not only cost Australian fans SmackDown!, it also cost them the monthly PPVs.

It was a huge blow to both fans and WWE itself. The promotion had booked its first Australian tour in 16 years, which was very successful considering only RAW was on the air at the time. The WWE has been back to the land “down under” on a regular basis since then, sometimes running two tours a year.

The lost of SD! and PPVs was devastating for another reason.

Due to the brand split of 2002, we missed almost all of Australian wrestler Nathan Jones’ stint with the company. Jones is by far the best-known wrestler from the country in recent times.

Having worked for World Wrestling All-Stars in 2001/2002, Jones went to WWE carrying the weight of expectation of the entire country on his shoulders. The pressure of the WWE schedule brought Jones to the brink of exhaustion. He left WWE on Dec. 6, 2003, about 12 months after signing with the company.

By the time SummerSlam came around in 2003, an agreement had been made, and Australians had both SD! and the PPVs back, much to the relief of Australian fans. Raw made the move to FOX 8, making it the home of WWE in Australia.

Velocity, Heat, and WWE Experience were added in 2005, the later two making a home on Saturday afternoon programming alongside the replay of Raw, just as WCW Australia had done over 30 years before.

When the shows were cancelled in the US, they continued to be shown in Australia for some time to fulfill contractual obligations.

The Australian TV debut of ECW in September of 2006 had die-hard fans doing back flips around their lounge rooms. Despite the show being the third tier of WWE programming, Australians went NUT for ECW.

Last year, FOX 8 began screening TNA’s iMPACT to huge ratings on Saturday nights. The first few weeks of iMPACT out-rated every WWE show on the channel. After the gloss wore off, iMPACT fell back to ratings slightly behind the WWE shows.

The state of professional wrestling in Australia has improved dramatically since WCW Australia closed its doors in 1978. Due to the exposure of the North American product, there is a market and a place for Australian-made product.

Almost 30 years after the last WCW Australia show was broadcast, the promotion that took its name from the defunct company’s major belt, IWA, debuted on national TV.

IWA on Aurora was the first Australian-made wrestling show to hit TV screens across the country. Although the company makes only short series of the show, it has been somewhat successful.

The quality of the show continues to improve as time rolls on. The camera work has improved greatly since the first series but still has a long way to go.

Where they looked uncomfortable in the first series, the wrestlers themselves have become more accustomed to being on camera. The storylines are more developed, but the focus is still on the in-ring action.

To be honest, the show has such an Australian flavor I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that has trouble understanding our accent!

Although the steps are small, Australian promotions are still taking them. IWA is not the only promotion making an impact on the now blooming Australian scene.

Companies such as Perth-based Explosive Pro Wrestling and Melbourne-based Pro Championship Wrestling Entertainment are utilizing Internet video streaming sites like YouTube to get their product seen not only in Australia but around the world.

PCW held the first barb wire match on Australian soil back in 2002, gaining mainstream notoriety when a mother that had taken her child to the match called a local talk-back radio station. A wrestler heard the mother's call and called the station himself in attempt to clear the air. The resulting police investigation was included in news broadcasts nationally.

AWF celebrated its 10th anniversary last weekend with international stars Al Snow and Chris Masters attending the show. The promotion has regularly used international stars including Bryan Danielson, Sean Waltman, Sabu, Raven, and Nigel McGuinness in its events.

With the major promotions gaining mainstream exposure, the future of Australian pro wrestling looks bright once again. Who knows—maybe one day we all could watch what Australia produces.

Pigs might fly too!

Author's note: “NUT” is a tribute to Pat Patterson. Pat was an integral part of the Australian Pro Wrestling scene in the 1960s.

Mike Knox: What is Next for the Man Behind the Beard?

Kurt Lewicki — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:01:41 -0400

Author's note: After much deliberation I decided against my original title "Who Lives In A Pineapple Under The Sea" due to this not being a humor article, other than the first section.

The day after No Way Out I received a text message from my cousin. It read, “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”

I thought about my reply carefully.

“Far ken Mike Knox!”

That was the start of what became our war cry for the next three weeks.

“Chunky and fearsome and bearded is he!

He’ll cut someone’s toes off if that is your wish

Throw them down to the floor

And go looking for Bisch!”

You get the picture.

Truth be told after Shane has us playing "What’s in Mike Knox’ Beard?" my friends and I all shaved, crowning Knox as the winner of that round of “Beard.”

All of this got me thinking, reversing the reverse-reverse psychology, what would the “Desert Destroyer” have to do to get some gold around his waist?

WWE have done some strange things with Knox since he’s been with the company. He gave us all hope whilst dating Kelly Kelly, got under our skin doing the same thing. Then there was the break up, with Mike playing the jealous boyfriend.

That angle had both Knox and CM Punk on the stick more in three shows that they have both had since moving to Raw. I had nearly forgotten Knox had vocal chords until he started beating up poor little Rey.

If you want to talk about angles going nowhere, Knox/Mysterio should be a prime example. That angle was as weird as it gets in wrestling. It never really got moving, and never really finished. I’ll get to that a bit later.

Why Knox has had so little mic time since moving to Raw is unclear. He showed during his time on ECW that he can be effective on the stick.

The only thing I can think off that could be causing his lack of mic time is his voice itself. His voice is not what you’d expect from a man his size.

It is a similar story to Punk, yet while Punk has now won two MITB matches and has held a major belt, Knox is languishing in wrestling purgatory.

The man who told the world he didn’t know why he doesn’t like Rey Mysterio, looked great in the Raw Elimination Chamber. Fans or not, most people thought his performance in the match was fantastic.

The next night had me screaming and throwing anything within reach at the TV. After putting in a stellar performance at NWO Knox put a shaky and obviously tired Mysterio over. I felt screwed, and the trend continued.

After being defeated by Kane in a qualifying match for Money in the Bank, Knox has been on Raw once. While his opponents in that match went on to WMXXV; Knox himself was merely a lumberjack for a match the company didn’t feel was good enough to be shown live.

With the draft said and done, things are looking up for Mike Knox. Moving Knox to SmackDown! along with the likes of Morrison, Jericho, Kane, and Mysterio is a wise move by WWE’s creative team.

I’m looking for Knox to go after Mysterio once again, considering that Rey is the Intercontinental Champion. It would be big business considering it’s the top title on SD! right now.

The other option would be to team Knox with Kane as they did before NWO and have them go for the Tag gold, with the Champions on Raw, I’d say that the majority of title defences will occur on the new “Superstars” show.

Which ever way creative choose to go, it looks likely we’ll see Mike Knox with gold around his waist sooner rather than later.

Footnote: I went to the WWE stand at the Sydney Royal Easter Show yesterday with the intent of getting a photo of myself and a cut out of Knox for this article.

When I was told they didn't have Mike Knox I proceeded to enquire as to why they claimed that you could have you picture taken with your favorite superstar when the didn't have a lot of the talent on the roster.

The response I got from the girl.... "Knox is your favorite? You CAN NOT be serious!"

Between Quality and Competition: Make Some Noise

Kurt Lewicki — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:24:06 -0400

Since the inception of Rock ‘n Roll wrestling in the 1980’s, music has played a vital part in the success of not only individuals, but the industry itself.

With the use of music as an integral part of the industry came revenue-raising albums, hilarious music videos, and appearances by some of the biggest names in the world of music. As is always the case in the music industry, originality and impact are the keys to success.

To most people, this is not exactly breaking news, to others it is a revelation. In this edition of Between Quality and Competition I look at the people behind the music that raises our heart rates.

Yesterday I sat down to watch TNA cross the line of mediocrity and something hit me. For a show called IMPACT there really is no impact at all on a sonic level.

This started to get on my nerves, as the show progressed and nearly every entrance theme was a knock off of a song by a popular artist.

The ones that weren’t made me cringe. Who on earth is responsible for this tripe? Then I remembered something I had read sometime last year.

I had the answer already. TNA’s music is churned out by one Dale Oliver, formally of country band Blackhawk. Oliver has been on the receiving end of much criticism over his scoring of TNA.

To my enjoyment I discovered I was indeed right about the majority of music we hear on TNA. Oliver picks out popular songs and blatantly rips them off, changing just enough to escape plagiarism laws.

I can understand this practice being used when somebody comes in from an independent promotion where wrestlers are allowed to use whatever they choose as entrance music without the promotion having to pay royalties.

The practice is logical in instances such as those. But when it is used for established performers it leads me to ask the question is this where they are crossing the line?

Take the Main Event Mafia’s entrance music, blatantly taken from The Godfather theme. The opening has such potential, then at the point where the impact should be made, nothing. What is with the dodgy big cat growls?

This is but one example of how far short TNA is falling.

Oliver has the ability; he plays all the instruments and adds the vocals to all the music he produces. It is an unfortunate for Oliver that he is locking heads with a man that has been at the top of his field for nearly 25 years.

Jim Johnston has been WWE’s music man since 1985, and has overseen all of the promotions music releases.

From The Ultimate Warrior to MVP, Jim Johnston has been at the helm of some of the most electrifying (pun definitely intended) entrance themes in the history of the industry and is one of the keys to the company’s success.

Johnston’s originality and ability is unparalleled, he has created the majority of themes used by WWE, whilst playing his part in remixing those he hasn’t created himself. This has created the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in the music industry!

A prime example of this is “The Game”. Not only did Johnston co-write the song with Motörhead, a song with more impact in the opening chord than all of TNA’s music, he worked with Drowning Pool when the band recorded their own version of the song for the 2002 release Forceable Entry.

With Johnston guiding WWE’s musical endeavors, the company now has a lot of platinum decorating the halls of Smackdown! Records. Not bad for a musician who rarely plays live due to severe stage fright!

WWE’s musical impact far eclipses that of TNA, but how will Ring of Honor fare in this area?

Ring of Honor have only just become a serious contender in the wrestling world. Those of us familiar with the ROH product knew the day would come. After years of having to watch matches on YouTube and DVD, ROH made its TV debut a week ago.

When ROH signed its TV deal, the promotion struck trouble when it came to music. ROH were unable to afford the astronomical royalties it was asked to pay to continue using the music it had been using.

Instead of walking the in the footsteps of TNA and WWE, Ring of Honor chose to walk down a different path. Via the ROH website and with the help of fans like B/R’s own JLB, the promotion put out the word to musicians worldwide.

It needed music that wasn’t going to cost ROH a fortune, music that hadn’t been exposed nationally or internationally before.

The promotion set out to get great songs from no-name bands, giving them national exposure and thrusting the spotlight onto artists that deserve it.

Ring of Honor, in making a name for itself will make many musicians famous, for that I give them credit. They have pushed the envelope inside the ring and are now starting to push it outside.

Will this path into uncharted territory work for Ring of Honor?

You’ll have to start watching, any way you can, to find out!

Mario "Milano" Bulfone: A Look Back at a Legend Of Australian Wrestling

Kurt Lewicki — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:43:59 -0400

“A lot of funny things happened in wrestling.” — Mario “Milano” Bulfone, 2008

Wrestling was once an institution in Australia, the only way to spend a cozy Saturday afternoon.

Getting tickets to the shows was a near-impossible task as the big names from the wrestling world came out to play.

It was during this time that Mario “Milano” Bulfone became an icon in Australia.

Although born in the Italian port city of Trieste, in 1935, it was as a 16-year-old boy living in Caracas, Venezuela, that Mario discovered professional wresting. When Peruvian wrestler Ciccliano opened up a wrestling school, Bulfone decided to attend.

Unfortunately for Bulfone, Venezuelan law at that time prohibited people under the age of 18 being on the street unaccompanied, meaning he was unable to wrestle. Left with no other option but to hide his identity to pursue a career in wrestling, he donned a mask and became “Black Diablo” until after he turned 20.

After leaving the mask behind him, Bulfone wrestled under his real name, becoming an idol to Italian population of Venezuela.

Heading to the United States to further pursue his wrestling career, he chose the wrestling hotbed of Tennessee as his American home.

Speaking absolutely no English at this time, he managed to secure the services of a manager who introduced him to promoters in the area. It was one of these promoters that convinced Bulfone that no one would remember his name.

“He said: ‘From Italy? Big city in Italy—Milano.’ So they called me Mario Milano”

On November 11, 1963, he teamed with Jackie Fargo to win his first notable title—the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship—from the team of Karl and Skull Von Stroheim. He would win the belts again with Fargo and once with Danny Hodge before teaming with Len Rossi to win the belts another five times from June 1964, to November 1966, often using his devastating atomic drop or equally painful abdominal stretch to end a match.

While Bulfone was developing and using his skills in Venezuela, the U.S, Australian promoters had begun to bring the big names in the industry to the land down under. As early as the 1950’s names such as Lou Thesz, Dr. Jerry Graham, and Gorgeous George were touring Australia in short stints.

With professional wrestling making its place in mainstream Australian society the need to lure the best talent in the industry grew.

In 1967 World Championship Wrestling Australia promoter Jim Barnett asked Bulfone to come to Australia for three months—all expenses paid. Bulfone agreed almost immediately.

Wrestling as Mario Milano, he impressed not only Barnett—who extended his contract by another three months—but the Australian people, to whom he quickly became a favourite.

Leaving Australia with fond memories, he returned to his U.S. home in Tennessee. Upon his return he was greeted with a new contract and airfare. With all expenses still paid and the possibility of earning AUS$800 a week weighing heavily in his mind, Bulfone quickly made a decision.

“I went back to America, I used to live in Nashville, Tennessee, and when I got there, I got the contract and the airplane fare to come back. So I came back.”

Choosing to settle in Melbourne, Victoria, Bulfone started right where he left off, becoming the most popular face in Australian wrestling within weeks.

On Sept. 8, 1967, Mario Milano defeated a wrestler by the name of Killer Kowalski for the International Wrestling Alliance Australia World Heavyweight Championship in a match my grandparents would describe to me years later as the most exciting wrestling match they had ever seen.

From 1967 to 1978 Bulfone was a part in some of the greatest matches that took place on Australian soil. As a tag team wrestler he won the IWAA Tag Team Championship 10 times, teaming with the likes of Red Bastien, Billy White Wolf, Waldo Won Erich, Spiros Arion, even the one and only Dominic DeNucci.

Not to mention the names Bulfone and his tag team partners defeated, which include Kowalski, Skull Murphy, Antonio Pugiliese, and the first ever intercontinental champion Pat Patterson.

As a singles wrestler he was a four time IWAA champion and was an Austra-Asian Heavyweight Champion. Feuding with stars like Ripper Collins, The Spoiler, Baron Mikel Sciculna, the infamous Abdullah The Butcher, and of course Killer Kowalski.

Bulfone even took part in an angle where he attempted to atomic drop 400lb wrestler Prince Iaukea, who later became known as King Curtis.

WCW Australia folded in 1978 due to losing its Saturday afternoon time slot to World Series Cricket. However, that didn't stop Bulfone, who made frequent trips to Japan.

Wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1980s, he was a part of some fantastic matches, including the unforgettable Mario Milano and Tiger Jeet Singh v Giant Baba and Takashi Ishikawa.

“Somebody, they call me. They ask me do I want to do this. I say yes. Not bad for an old man, yes?”

Although Bulfone has been inactive as a wrestler for the majority of the last 20 years, his wrestling name is known by an estimated 90 percent of Australians over 30. That may be the reason why International Wrestling Australia honored him with a life time achievement award and inducted him into their Hall of Fame in November 2008.

In addition to his recent Hall of Fame status, Bulfone has acted as commissioner of PCW, a Melbourne based promotion, thus furthering his legacy as not only a great in-ring performer, but also as a leader behind the scenes.

Bulfone had and still is putting wrestling on the Australian map.

He has even returned to television, to take part in six episodes of IWA Pro Wrestling TV. During these shows he looked as good as ever, and will not rule out the possibility of more shows or even stepping back in to the squared circle one last time, despite his now-advanced age.

“I tell you what, I can assure you or anybody else, I can bet thousands of dollars if they can get rid of it. — Mario “Milano” Bulfone on his specialty submission, the abdominal stretch, 2008.

Special thanks to Ray Bogusz for his help.

I owe you a beer buddy.