Mid 20th Century
110-624: The Dominion Wrestling Union ( DWU ) was the first professional wrestling promotion in New Zealand . It was one of two organisations first active in the Australasian region , along with Australia's Stadiums Limited , and served as the country's single major promotion for 30 years until being succeeded by All Star Pro Wrestling in 1962. The DWU was initially under the control of the New Zealand Wrestling Union,
220-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
330-684: A jockey , he grew too big and began racing motorbikes in grass track competitions . He left school after only two years of secondary education and travelled around the country working at various jobs and eventually settled in Waikaremoana, where he became a taxi proprietor. He also began playing senior rugby during this time, competing in Auckland, Gisborne, Murchison and Nelson, and was selected to play for Auckland against Waikato in 1929 but he declined to play so he could compete in amateur wrestling . Returning to Auckland in 1930, he participated in
440-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
550-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
660-649: A "tremendous outdoor crowd". It was the first outdoor event staged in New Zealand since Lofty Blomfield defeated Brother Jonathan prior to the Second World War . Lou Thesz was scheduled to headline an American tour of the country while visiting Australia in late-1957. He was originally promoted as the NWA World Champion by then American booking agent Ted Thye, though the title was disputed between Thesz and Edouard Carpentier , and set to defend
770-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
880-561: A career in Europe and North America. When Miller died in 1959, wrestler Steve Rickard continued running the DWU for two years until founding his own promotion, All Star Pro Wrestling , in 1962. This new organisation took the DWU's spot as the country's main professional wrestling promotion for the next 30 years, and as an overseas NWA territory, until its close in the early 1990s. Professional wrestling bouts had been held in New Zealand as early as
990-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1100-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1210-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
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#17327986915221320-519: A championship tournament to become the undisputed champion a month later. He also held the NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship which he lost to Ray Steele on 10 December 1938. That same year, Blomfield was scheduled to meet NWA World Heavyweight Champion Bronko Nagurski in a first-ever "champion vs. champion" match. Their match was to be one of the first international title defences to take place in
1430-441: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Lofty Blomfield Sgt. Major Meynell Strathmore Blomfield (18 July 1908 – 29 June 1971); also known as Lofty
1540-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
1650-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
1760-491: A few years, Miller had successfully established the promotion as one of the NWA's first international territories. In 1937, the promotion hosted a tour which included Dr. Gordon McKenzie, Tom Meade, Don Mclntyre, Hal Rumberg, Ray Richards, Sam Stein, Jack Forsgren, John Spellman, Matros Kirilenko, King Kong Cox, Chief Little Wolf , Frank Marshall, Rusty Wescoatt , Glen Wade, Joe Woods, Frank Judson, Don Noland, Vie Christy, Francis Fouche and Ed "Strangler" Lewis . Lofty Blomfield
1870-518: A governing body in order to promote events on a national scale, establish a level of professionalism and to keeping the game clean of so-called "rough-house wrestling". The sport flourished while under the control of the union and, on 22 June 1931, the New Zealand School of Wrestling was officially opened at Wellington with one-time Australian heavyweight champion “Smiler” Clark as its head instructor and operated by sportsman Pat Allen . It
1980-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
2090-799: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
2200-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
2310-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
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#17327986915222420-788: A one-time Prime Minister of New Zealand , was also a supporter and several caucus meetings were stopped at 6pm, and resumed at 10am the following morning, so that members could attend wrestling events at the Town Hall when Blomfield was making a title defence. Blomfield held the national title for well over a decade and retired as champion on 7 June 1949. Throughout his career, Blomfield vigorously defended professional wrestling and denied frequent charges that matches were rigged. In New Zealand alone, he had wrestled 490 matches with 272 wins, 105 losses and 113 draws; his combined amateur and professional bouts between 1929 and 1949 totaled an estimated 1,200 in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Mexico, Canada and
2530-459: A professional wrestler. He first travelled to Australia, in order to build up his experience, and worked in Sydney posing as a Canadian wrestler under the name Walter Browning. Though Blomfield had mixed success there, he won popularity with fans for his "non-stop aggressive style". He briefly returned to New Zealand in 1934, where he first wrestled under the name Lofty Blomfield, before heading to
2640-414: A significant financial loss, as attendance for these events had been very high, and were forced to offer a refund to all ticket holders. In February 1959, 61-year-old Jim Londos wrestled New Zealander Fred Wright at Auckland's Western Springs Stadium in front of 6,000 fans. The match ended in controversy as Londos' opponent hit the referee with a haymaker and disqualified and received some attention by
2750-598: A small fee, the money gained for the IHC was substantial. Blomfield died in Whangārei on 29 June 1971, at the age of 62. He was survived by his then wife, June, and two of their children as well as two others from his first marriage and one from a long relationship during the divorce to June Nearly thirty years after his death, Blomfield was officially inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame becoming
2860-439: A sort of governing body which promoted both amateur and professional bouts, until American promoter Walter Miller largely took over the running of professional events in 1935 and which remained under Miller's control until his death in 1959. Miller eventually established New Zealand as one of the first international territories of the National Wrestling Association , and later the National Wrestling Alliance , from which many of
2970-716: A successful hotelier in the years after his retirement, as Publican of the Whangarei Hotel, as well as being a noted sportsman . He was a member of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club, a founding member of both the Northland Trotting Club, the Whangarei Powerboat Association, and sponsored countless athletic organisations in Whangārei and Northland, most notably, Whangarei Inter-house rugby. He
3080-697: A top star for the National Wrestling Alliance and the American Wrestling Association , and later won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Dick Hutton . O'Connor was the first New Zealander to win the NWA World title and his success encouraged others to follow him to North America. A year after his world title victory, O'Connor was challenged by fellow DWU veteran Abe Jacobs in New York marking
3190-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
3300-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
3410-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
Dominion Wrestling Union - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
3630-590: Is credited for inventing "The Octopus Clamp", an early version of the Scorpion Deathlock , and is the longest reigning heavyweight champion in the history of professional wrestling in New Zealand . In addition to the national title, Blomfield also held the NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship and the NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship . In 1938, he became the first New Zealander to wrestle for
3740-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
3850-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
3960-566: The NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship , left to compete for a rival promotion. The title was subsequently awarded to another Canadian, former Olympian Earl McCready , who legitimised his claim to the title by defeating Walker on 9 November 1937; his second and final reign lasted from 1940 to 1953. Other foreigners to become major stars for the DWU included Dean Detton, Ken Kenneth, John Kattan and African-American wrestler Jack Claybourne. Within
4070-437: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship when he fought then champion Bronko Nagurski to a time-limit draw. He also had a successful amateur career winning the Auckland and New Zealand heavyweight titles prior to becoming a professional wrestler. Blomfield wrestled 490 matches in New Zealand and an estimated 1,200 matches in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Mexico, Canada and the United States between 1929 and 1949. Blomfield became
4180-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
4290-690: The New Zealand Army . He served both at home and abroad in Egypt reaching the rank of sergeant major prior to his discharge at the end of the war. His second wife, Lily May Balenzuela, died in 1945 and married a third time to Heather June Ingley on 20 February 1946. Shocker Shaw , New Zealand SAS soldier and founder of the Armed Offenders Squad , was friend of Blomfield's and often visited him when in Whangarei. Peter Fraser ,
4400-603: The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame . He is the first and only wrestler, amateur or professional, to be an inductee. He was also profiled in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and featured in a special editorial by the Northern Advocate in 1999. In 2009, Blomfield was named one of the "Top Ten New Zealand Born Wrestlers" by Fight Times Magazine and ranked #1 of the country's top ten favourite wrestlers by The New Zealand Herald . Meynell Strathmore Blomfield
4510-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
Dominion Wrestling Union - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
4730-517: The 1860s, with modern professional wrestling taking shape around the turn of the 20th century, and were generally held by private and local athletic associations. Gisborne Katene defeated Frank Findlay for the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship in 1919 but subsequently became vacant. The first champion officially recognized by the National Wrestling Association was Maori wrestler Ike Robin who won
4840-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
4950-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
5060-509: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
5170-447: The 20 February 1946 was to occur resulting in three children being born, a daughter and two sons. They were divorced in 1958. A further relationship with a Whangarei landowner was to eventuate with one female child being born. Blomfield was also to father a further two children. In all a total of 9 issue. Encouraged by his successes in the amateur ranks, and inspired by foreign wrestlers competing overseas, Blomfield decided to become
5280-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
5390-512: The Auckland media. Although he relented slightly in his later years, Miller had maintained a strict control over the sport and talent throughout his 30-year involvement with the promotion. He was specifically dedicated to the older-style popularised by the Gold Dust Trio and, with "gimmick characters" and less focus on athleticism becoming popular in the US, believed that "American gimmickry" would drive away fans in New Zealand. Miller died in 1959 and
5500-494: The DWU as the single major promotion in the country. This is not an exhaustive list, as DWU was the only national promotion in New Zealand until 1962 and many wrestlers, both New Zealanders who competed for a brief time and then retired, or foreigners who came for a single tour, were booked. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
5610-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
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#17327986915225720-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
5830-599: The Northland IHC branch and established St. Nicholas Home and Blomfield Special School and Resource Centre . The school was later named in his honour. Among his more memorable fundraising ideas, Blomfield would start building "penny piles" on the counter of the hotel's public bar and any patrons would be obliged to offer spare pennies to the pile. Blomfield actually "camped out" in front of the penny piles to guard them from would-be thieves. These penny piles grew so large in size that when they were finally knocked down, for
5940-493: The United States. Walter Miller , then booking agent for the Dominion Wrestling Union , was so impressed by Blomfield that he managed to convince Blomfield to return to his native country to compete exclusively for his promotion. Miller was then bringing in major international talent to New Zealand but felt he needed a strong New Zealand-born wrestler as a legitimate challenger to these newcomers. Blomfield
6050-499: The United States. He remains the longest reigning champion in New Zealand's wrestling history . After his retirement, Blomfield became a hotelier and took over the licence of the Whangarei Hotel where he and his wife Heather June were popular hosts in the area for many years. A well-known sportsman, Blomfield was a member of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers club and helped form the Northland Trotting Club and
6160-539: The Whangarei Powerboat Association. He also financed a large number of sporting competitions and organizations in Whangarei and Northland such as Whangarei Inter house rugby. Blomfield was a lifelong supporter of many charities, especially those dealing with mentally handicapped children (one of his children was born mentally handicapped), and served as president of the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Association . He later founded
6270-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
6380-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
6490-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
6600-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
6710-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
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#17327986915226820-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
6930-512: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
7040-540: The country and was expected to attract over 40,000 people. In negotiations with NWA promoters Toots Mondt , Lou Daro and Tony Stecher, Miller agreed to pay Nagurski the largest guarantee ever offered a boxer or wrestler in the Southern Hemisphere. Nagurski cancelled the trip at the last minute, however, and the two met in Vancouver instead where they fought to a time-limit draw on 17 March 1938. Blomfield
7150-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
7260-401: The decade. Although its older stars such as Blomfield or McCready retired in the years following World War II , a new generation of wrestlers emerged during the 1950s including Pat O'Connor , Dick Hrstich , Abe Jacobs , John da Silva and Steve Rickard . Discovered by visiting American wrestlers Joe Pazandak and Butch Levy, O'Connor was taken to the United States where he eventually became
7370-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
7480-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
7590-589: The first and only wrestler, amateur or professional, to be included. A bronze bust of Blomfield was donated to the Hall of Fame by the Lofty Blomfield Family Trust. Inscribed are the words "Momentum requieris circumspice" ("If you seek a monument look about you"). Winston McCarthy , a popular radio commentator, dedicated an entire episode of his "Sportsman of the Week" programme to Blomfield. and
7700-438: The first national amateur championships hosted by the New Zealand Wrestling Union and won the Auckland and New Zealand heavyweight titles. Blomfield first married Agnes Myra Lawton at Wairoa on 14 July 1927 resulting in two children born of this marriage. The two divorced 10 years later in 1937 and Blomfield then married Lily May Balenzuela on the 2 June 1937. There was one child born of this union. A further marriage to on
7810-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
7920-464: The first time two New Zealanders fought for a world heavyweight championship , and on foreign soil. Miller also continued to bring in major names such as Al Costello , Don Beitleman, The Great Zorro and Johnny Kostas. A 1956 bout between Samoan wrestler Alo Leilani and Pat O'Connor, in his first appearance since going to the US, was in front of a sellout crowd at Rotorua . O'Connor also defeated Australia's Al Costello at Carlaw Park in Auckland before
8030-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
8140-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
8250-552: The height of popularity during the 1950s, and by 1956, it was regarded as the most popular spectator sport in New Zealand along with horse racing . Much of this popularity was due in part to radio broadcasts from live events in the interwar and post-WWII years; the Wellington Town Hall Concert Chamber was one of the more popular postwar venues for wrestling events. New Zealand champions also began travelling oversees, as far as Western Canada , during
8360-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
8470-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
8580-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
8690-429: The late-1930s. It was primarily arranged by Miller, working in partnership with NWA promoters Toots Mondt , Lou Daro and Tony Stecher, and included Nagurski being offered the largest guarantee ever offered a boxer or wrestler in the Southern Hemisphere. The event was expected to have over 40,000 fans in attendance. Nagurski cancelled the trip at the last minute, however, Blomfield followed the world champion to Canada where
8800-616: The match had to cease". Though separated by thousands of miles, professional wrestling as practiced in the South Pacific region would continue to follow along the same lines as in Canada and the United States . The New Zealand Wrestling Union was officially founded on 22 July 1930, at the Central Fire Station in Wellington . Its purpose was to unite the various amateur and professional wrestling associations under
8910-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
9020-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
9130-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
9240-571: The promotion. They would have a total of 28 bouts against each other with McCready winning 17, Blomfield 2, eight draws, and one no-contest when the referee was injured. Both men later become close friends during their career. By 1936, he had become the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Champion . He briefly lost the title to Dean Detton in Auckland on 22 August 1938, but regained the belt five days later. He also defeated another claimant, Pat Fraley, on 10 September and won
9350-528: The quality of its imported talent. A year later, Gus Sonnenberg , Wong Buk Cheung and Dan Koloff agreed to tour the country. By 1935, however, it had become difficult to find enough professionals, and American promoter Walter Miller was hired as a booking agent. He was eventually granted control of the professional wrestling groups, under the Dominion Wrestling Union, and was able to bring in many National Wrestling Association stars of
9460-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
9570-454: The stars of the era were brought to face the country's top wrestlers. From its earliest days, New Zealand professional wrestlers were recruited from the amateur ranks including Lofty Blomfield in the 1930s and later Pat O'Connor , Dick Hrstich , Abe Jacobs , John da Silva and Steve Rickard during the 1940s and 1950s. Many others would leave New Zealand in the years following the Second World War , such as Ernie "Kiwi" Kingston , to pursue
9680-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
9790-579: The time, the majority from Canada and the United States, to face some of the country's leading wrestlers. Miller's organisation would sign wrestlers on a seasonal basis, usually from May to November, and required wrestlers to have licensing for that period. Canadians were especially important draws as they were then subjects of the British Empire and not subject to the same taxation as were required by American wrestlers. The same year that Miller took over, Canadian wrestler George Walker , then holder of
9900-611: The title against Ricky Waldo and Ski Hi Lee in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. Though an agreement had been made between Thye and Miller, Melbourne promoter Dick Lean refused to allow them to compete for the DWU while they were still under contract in Australia. The promotion made a late bid to prevent the late cancellation, including a last minute phone conversation between Lean and then Dominion Wrestling Union secretary Bert Steele, but were unsuccessful. The promotion suffered
10010-665: The title in Auckland on 17 March 1925, and retired as champion the following year. Shortly before his retirement, Robin faced one-time World Heavyweight Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko in a three-match series at the Auckland Town Hall in 1926. According to one account by the New Zealand Railways Magazine , one of their matches ended in a time-limit draw after having "gone on for many weary hours and when midnight Saturday chimed and Sunday commenced
10120-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
10230-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
10340-505: The two wrestled to a time limit draw in Vancouver on 17 March 1938. Blomfield was the first New Zealander to challenge for the NWA World title. Seven months later, he won a tournament to become the undisputed New Zealand Heavyweight Champion. Blomfield held the title for over a decade until his retirement on 7 June 1949. Throughout his career, Blomfield vigorously defended professional wrestling and denied frequent charges that matches were rigged. Both amateur and professional wrestling were at
10450-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
10560-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
10670-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
10780-465: Was a New Zealand professional wrestler , also known by another ring name; that of Walter Browning . Lofty was arguably the country's most popular wrestler during the 1930s and 40s. He competed primarily for promoter Walter Miller and the Dominion Wrestling Union for nearly 20 years where he defended the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship against many of the top stars of the National Wrestling Association from 1936 until his retirement 1949. He
10890-492: Was also involved in numerous charity fundraisers and organizations, especially those involving mentally handicapped children, and served as president of the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Association . He later founded the Northland IHC and the Blomfield Special School and Resource Centre in Whangārei, the latter institution being named in his honour. In 1990, Blomfield was officially inducted into
11000-473: Was also profiled in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography plus; featured in a special editorial by the Northern Advocate in 1999. In September 2006, Blomfield was one of several Whangārei athletes including former All Black Ian Jones , Black Stick field hockey player Charlotte Harrison, and triathlete Sam Warriner portrayed in a community theatre production of "Way to Go" starring 320 students and 14 staff members of Hurupaki School . The play
11110-412: Was an instant success with crowds in New Zealand. His popularity was helped by announcer Gordon Hutter's vivid commentaries during radio broadcasts of his matches. His finishing move, " The Octopus Clamp ", was especially popular with fans. During his early career, he was a rival with NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Champion Earl McCready . The two wrestled to a time-limit draw during his first year with
11220-445: Was arguably New Zealand's most popular wrestler of the period. He had turned pro shortly after becoming the first national heavyweight amateur champion in 1931, and within a few years captured the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship . One of the first international title defences to take place in New Zealand was to have been a "champion vs. champion" match between Blomfield and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Bronko Nagurski during
11330-427: Was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 18 July 1908, to newspaper cartoonist John Collis Blomfield and Edith Amelia (Amy) Shakespear. His uncle was William (Bill) Blomfield, the second mayor of Takapuna , (whom Blomfield Spa is named after). His family moved to Takapuna and, while still a child, he began working with horses there by visiting stables and doing track work for local trainers. Though Blomfield hoped to be
11440-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
11550-650: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
11660-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
11770-652: Was succeeded by Steve Rickard who ran the Dominion Wrestling Union for next three years. In 1961, the amateur side of the sport decided to break away from the New Zealand Wrestling Union and was accepted into the International Amateur Wrestling Federation, followed by the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Associations. Rickard established the All Star Pro-Wrestling in 1962 which succeeded
11880-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
11990-436: Was the first New Zealander to challenge for the NWA World title and would wrestle five world champions during his professional career in New Zealand. Blomfield feuded with another NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Champion, John Katan, and defeated him for the title in Wellington on 7 August 1940. The following month, he lost the championship to Katan in Auckland. After New Zealand entered World War II , Blomfield enlisted in
12100-442: Was the first facility to provide "ideal gymnasium conditions" for developing top level amateur talent. The first national amateur championships were held with Lofty Blomfield becoming the first heavyweight amateur champion; he entered professional wrestling shortly afterwards and became the first undisputed New Zealand Heavyweight Champion seven years later. In 1933, NZWU President H.D. Bennett travelled to Australia seeking to improve
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