Professional wrestling is back on the West Rand with a vengeance.
The National Wrestling Federation’s (NWF) first major LIVE event taking place at the Village Square Shopping Centre in the Randfontein CBD on Saturday, July 16 featured seven pro wrestlers (Zizou Middoux and father Thierry, Alex Desire, Jason Vorhees, Jax, The Jackal and The Dark One Crow). Between 13:00 and 14:00 the crowd flocked to the ringside in the parking area to witness some of their superstars in action.
There were flying kicks, a variety of suplexes and even diving from the top ropes which had those in attendance in awe.
The first match between Zizou Middoux and Alex Desire from Champions Pro Wrestling was scheduled for five rounds of five minutes each according to the traditional South African rules like in the 1970s. It was also a qualifying match for the Jan Wilkens invitational tournament where the winner will be crowned the AWGP Heavyweight Champion. Zizou qualified after winning via pinfall.
The second match-up between crowd favourite Jax and the rather sadistic and vicious-looking Jason Vorhees (Juandre himself) was over in a jiffy. Although Jax was under the cosh from his big opponent, the underdog managed to win via pinfall thanks to a sneaky and rather clever move. The main event then featured two respected hardcore icons of SA wrestling The Jackal and Dark One Crow in a slobber knocker of a match that really had the crowd lose their minds. The winner was Dark One Crow via pinfall.
NWF founder Juandre Ward said the organisation’s first show was a huge success.
We had a great crowd who welcomed us with open arms so we are extremely blessed. We aim to restore professional wrestling in South Africa to its former glory like in the days of Jan Wìlkens, Percy Hall and Tarzan Jacobs just to name a few.
“We currently have around 11 500 followers on Facebook and the videos we post get an average of 10 000 plus views within the first seven days. The promo video for this event had 9 000 views in the first nine hours so we are extremely blessed.”
“We are hard at work to find a way to get onto local or national television, but we need sponsors to come on this journey with us. We would like to tour the entire country. Other than that, my main passion and biggest dream is to develop and mentor those who believe they can make it in professional wrestling. I know there are kids out there with the same dream. And I want to play that role to make dreams come true,” concluded Juandre.
Training in Krugersdorp is every Monday and Wednesday from 18:00 to 20:00 and Saturdays from 09:00 to noon.
The NWF will be hosting their next event at Key West Shopping Centre in Krugersdorp on Saturday, September 3.
