When you’re New Zealand Heavyweight Champion, you can expect to see challenges from all sides. They can come from bitter enemies, former friends, past tag team partners or even family. Yet sometimes it’s the challenges that stare you right in the face that you often don’t see until it’s too late. On July 9 James Shaw finds himself at the base of Everest, staring up at a very giant challenge.

Reuben de Jong is custom built to be NZ Heavyweight Champion. He is 7 ft and 130 kg’s of pure unadulterated physical matter. No stranger to being the bigger man in the fight, de Jong will know if he can apply his dominance swiftly that he can not only be at the top of the mountain…he will be the mountain.

For James Shaw, it’s like a stranger has a key to his mind and has moved all his things around. He’s done everything he can to be the man in Impact Pro Wrestling once again, sacrificing friendship and facilities of the mind along the way. At Bangers and Smash, Shaw has to come up with a plan to counter the challenge of de Jong, otherwise he has more to lose than just his Championship. Continue Reading →

Bangers and Smash may have jovial implications, but things will be far from lighthearted when New Zealand’s own Michael Richards battles Marcus Kool of the United Kingdom!

With the nation in the grips of British & Irish Lions fever, it’s time for the UK and New Zealand rivalry to switch to the squared circle as the veteran Kool collides with one of the hottest Kiwi prospects in Richards. Fresh from another North American junket, Richards will be looking to turn his recent momentum into a focused attack against Kool as he looks to defend his territory in Impact Pro Wrestling.

The Hooligan Marcus Kool will not just have victory on his mind come Bangers & Smash, he’ll be looking to make it clear that when it comes to the United Kingdom, “playing away” means very little when you have the experience and guile to win by any means necessary. Continue Reading →

Join us for Bangers And Smash on Sunday July 9!

With Winter Warfare taking place tomorrow night, it’s time to take a look at the competitors and the one word that could dictate their fate.

James Shaw: Validation. The battle with Liam Fury tomorrow night is as much about validating his recent actions as it is defending his gold. His actions have seen him succeed, but at what cost to his mental state?

Liam Fury: Fortuity. By ridding himself of The Young Nats, Liam Fury has found himself in a fortuitous situation with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Check out the preview of the New Zealand Heavyweight Championship match here!

Kingi: Vendetta. For whatever reason in the mind of Kingi, his rivalry with Reuben de Jong has manifested into a vendetta. To put an end to it all he must focus all that hatred on toppling the giant once and for all.

Reuben de Jong: Remorse. The giant cannot afford to have any remorse this Saturday night. The Sledgehammer is legal, but will the giant feel he needs it to finish the job?

Preview the Sledgehammer match here! Continue Reading →

Five years ago, three competitors collided to determine the first ever New Zealand Women’s Champion. International star Evie won that contest, proving it was her destiny to become Champion. But since that time another star in the match has proven it was more than just her destiny to become New Zealand Women’s Champion. It was her life.

Britenay has become a trailblazer for the division, competing in every conceivable match possible and racking up an incredible tally of four New Zealand Women’s Championship reigns.

But the trail that has been blazed, could be cracked from underneath as a new set of talent is getting closer to causing a tectonic shift that will manipulate the landscape of the division. Britenay knows it, and she can feel the tremors already.

Candy Lee. Her name may imply sweetness, but her style is dynamite. Her rapid rise through the division has brought her to Winter Warfare, and she will be determined to not only leave with the gold but leave her opponents with nothing but bitterness. Continue Reading →

The combination that does not leave with the gold, falls to the back of the line so another tag team can step up to the plate. That was the gentleman agreement between F.I.S.T and Privileged at Caged Fury.

But Privileged are far from gentleman, they are in fact, more like dirty rotten scoundrels. As soon as the bell rang Roberts & Castlewood deliberately got themselves disqualified, meaning they left with the gold and F.I.S.T was forced to the back of the line.

Step in the IPW board of directors. They’ve granted F.I.S.T the opportunity to choose the next opponents of Privileged in a non-title contest at Winter Warfare.

But who do they choose? Continue Reading →

Traditionalists would tell you that you settle a score how you started it, within the rules and within the squared circle. But in this modern era, rivalries often extend the squared circle and enter the realm of ego and one-upmanship. And when things enter that realm, unique and often brutal measures are taken to settle differences and alleviate ego.

At Winter Warfare, Reuben de Jong and Kingi enter that realm when they collide in a contest where a Sledgehammer will be completely legal. A device normally used to break foundations and penetrate rock will be employed to destroy the dimensions of the human body as two men look to drive a final nail in each other’s funerary box. Continue Reading →

When it comes to picking who may leave with the New Zealand Heavyweight Championship at the end of Winter Warfare, it could be more about deciphering the individualistic motivation as opposed to just the pure in-ring ability of both competitors.

For the challenger Liam Fury it’s about the freedom of chance he’s discovered after laying waste to Mr Burns once and for all. After being named the next in line for a shot at the gold, Fury has the freedom of knowing that with the The Young Nats now off his back he can focus mentally on the task of capturing the New Zealand Heavyweight for a second time. However when it comes to physically focusing on the match, Fury will have a tougher time as his body is still ravaged by the unmerciful Steel Cage.

On the other hand, for James Shaw, it’s about the desperation to succeed. That desperation led him to turning on his friend Brook Duncan, aligning with the viciously visceral Elias and reclaiming the New Zealand Heavyweight Championship in the process. The desperation to snap his losing streak has taken Shaw to a dark chasm that even those close to Shaw would have never thought he’d venture to. Continue Reading →

For Alfred Valentine, Caged Fury was meant to be a night that he could sit back and take pleasure in the fact that history was being made under his watch as IPW General Manager. Over 350 people witnessing the first ever Steel Cage match, surrounded by a card that complimented the calamitous main event. It was a perfect recipe for a perfect night. Or so Valentine thought.

The fact of the matter is that in the heat of the battle, in an effort to ensure there was no outside interference during the Burns/Fury contest, Valentine grabbed Benjamin Keen by the tie, wound back and clocked him with a vicious right hand.

The IPW General Manager had laid his hands on an active member of the Impact Pro Wrestling roster, albeit, one that has consistently broken the rules and flaunted his lack of respect for any authority outside of Mr Burns. Continue Reading →

Did you miss the historic first ever Steel Cage Match in IPW history?

It’s online now for your viewing pleasure thanks to Pivotshare!