Competitor and organiser Marc Perry, also known as "Hooligan" Marcus Kool, said Southern Pro Wrestling, of which he was co-founder, was pleased with how the event went in Dunedin’s Union Hall on Saturday night.
"We are still on a bit of a high. It was a really great atmosphere; we thought the crowd really got into it," he said.
"I think we hit a home run." Southern Pro Wrestling co-founder Troy "Powerhouse T-Rex" Crosbie said a second match was already being considered in Dunedin for later in the year, preferably when tertiary students were still in town.
Mr Perry said the venue was sold out, and there was a good mix of ages. The show — which featured singles matches, a tag-team event and matches between reigning heavyweight champion JK Moody and Taylor "The Gentleman" Adams — was "high energy" and involved a lot of high flying and high risk-taking as well as plenty of audience engagement, Mr Perry said.
"It’s a big part of what we do."
The event was organised with the support of the Otago University Students’ Association. Mr Perry likened pro-wrestling to an "extremely athletic and co-ordinated" stunt show and said creating a character to engage with the audience was important.
Mr Perry, whose wrestling persona is an obnoxious English football hooligan, opened the show with a match against Invercargill man Kane Bates, who wrestles under the name Kane Khan. He got the Dunedin crowd going by making fun of the Highlanders — but was put in his place by Mr Bates, who won the match, he said. Some of the league’s loyal fans from Auckland, Queenstown and Invercargill had come to see the show.
They hoped the league had made some new fans in Dunedin, Mr Perry said. The match was a lead-up to Southern Rumble in Invercargill in July, which would include former WWE superstars.
