October 3, 2025 • 6 mins
Wellingtonians finally have the chance to enjoy a fun night of wrestling and entertainment, with All Star Wrestling: Porirua being staged at Te Rauparaha Arena on Saturday October 11.
Organiser Paul Sayers joined Adam Cooper to discuss the event.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
News Talks, it'd be eight Well, it's been more than
three decades since an arena wrestling event was staged here
at Wellington. That will change next weekend with Pottydoers to
open the arena hosting All Star Wrestling Potty Door for
a big night of entertainment. Paul Sayers is behind the event.
He's with us now. Morning to you, Paul. There'd be
a lot of excitement around this, wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Adam Cooper, good morning, and you are so incredibly right.
There's a lot of bars happening in the wrestling community
here in altiorr at the moment for the big arena show.
It's an open har arena next Saturday. I know we're
super excited to get out to Pottydoor for the first
time in a long time and the first time in
thirty five years that professional wrestling has actually taken place
(00:41):
in an arena in the Willington region since the Bushwackers
did a show in the early nineties. So yes, very excited.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Great so All Star Wrestling Potty Door. Paul give us
the loadown on who's on the bell? Are they locals,
are they from further afield? And how the event kind
of all runs and works next Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah. I've the best part of twenty years around the
wrestling fraternity, I guess, and spending a bit of time overseas,
and this is really my chance, alongside Valiant for Wrestling,
to put on this event and show New Zealand what
I've learned and seen from around the world. And by
doing that, we're bringing in wrestlers with heritage from Italy,
(01:21):
from Samola, from Ireland, from Australia, from Mexico, as well
as two locals directly from Pottidor and one will be
the first time that they are wrestling in their hometown
and that is the rock star Kias who will be
taking on the b J Priest in our first title
match of the night for the All Star Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.
(01:41):
And then we've also got another title match of the
night where I take on former WWE nxt UK superstar
from England Ringo Ryan, as well as a big fatal
four way man event including the franchise player De Hoyer
who is from Cannons Creek and Pottidor taking on who
I've is the best wrestler in New Zealand, the big
(02:02):
Man Jamie Tunger to essay from Samoa. Also in that
match is the tallest wrestler in New Zealand, standing at
seven foot tall. Big Frank and twenty year veteran Chad
Howard rounds out that fatal four way in our main
event of the evening.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Brilliant want a lineup?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
What are you expecting from Ringo Ryan?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah? Look, I've wrestled Ringo Ryan twice before he was trained.
He was the last person to come through a kind
of all star system in the United Kingdom and really
as a student of the game, he's been doing it
for about twenty five years now, has been doing it
all around the world. We're currently one and one. He
has one went over me, I've won, went over him,
(02:42):
but with my Wellington Heritage Championship on the line coups,
I don't see myself losing in pottydor Well.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
You hopefully have some home grounds advantage, right and lots
of fans cheering for you.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Correct. And you know, I spent a lot of time
working and living out in pottydor so it is a
second home to me, so I'm really excited to get
back there. Last time I wrestled in Pottydor was at
the Mungaming Community Hall about eight years ago in front
of about four hundred sands packed into that small little hall,
where I was able to beat Jonah Rock who is
now known as Bronson Reed and thewe So I've got
(03:14):
a good track record going in the pottydor and hopefully
I can call on a bit of that.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And who are you targeting here? Paul's to want to
come along and enjoy it most? Is it a family
friendly night? Is it for wrestling enthusiasts? Who would you
like to see pack into ted Okadahar Arena next week?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Who's this couldn't be any more family friendly? And I
guess that is my whole kind of copoper, my whole
kind of idea about this. It is for the two
year old all the way up to the eighty year
olds to one hundred year old and everyone in between.
It's very very family friendly. I know wrestling kind of
gets a bit of bad rap around the sports world
and around the kind of entertainment world, but this is
(03:52):
delivered specifically to the family friendly audience. You know, there's
the good guys that you're comeing chare and the bad
guys that you're come and boo and it's us a
cheap way to get out for the evening after the
kids go back to school after the school holidays. You know,
we've made ticket prices really affordable for this event because
we don't want it to be too hard to get to.
(04:12):
So yeah, really family friendly. But then also in the
same breath, those hard, die hard WWE, aw WWF WCW fans,
it's for you too. You know you're you are all
going to be entertained.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Awesome. How is wrestling as a sport doing around around
Wellington at the moment. Give us a bit of insights
in terms of my numbers, competitions and things like that.
Where does the sport sit at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, we have a couple of companies in Wellington with
Valiant really leading the charge, which is great. Who is
putting on All Star Wrestling Pottadora alongside myself. We probably
have about I would say fifteen to twenty active wrestlers
in the Wellington region and then bringing in those wrestlers
from Auckland then from down South into the mix for
the show makes it even more special. But it's growing,
(04:58):
I think with WWE being on the flicks now and
the social media game around WWE with people like Logan
Paul in there and John Sena retiring this year, I
think puts a lot of eyes onto wrestling and we
get to ride that wave now here locally too, which
is exciting, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We'll give us the rundown in terms of timings next Saturday,
and I'm not it's a family friendly start time as well.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, I want to get home to coop so doors
open at five pm, show begins at six o'clock. From
five pm to six pm, we have former DMC world
champ DJ Gooder, who if you have been the Oneington
Saints games, plays there as well. He'll be playing from
five to six pm to keep you entertained. The show
will start off with a bang at six pm and
(05:39):
we aim to be wrapped up by eight pm to
get those little ones back in bed before Sunday rolls around.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Good on your Paul sounds fantastic And if people do
want whats some more info or even tickets to purchase,
where can they find that?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yep, if you can get your tickets at ticket space
at dot co dot nz or check out the Valiant
Pro socials and they start from just fifteen, so super
cheap and it's not like it's cheap action on cheap entertainment.
You're really getting your money's worth of that money. Next Saturday,
the eleventh October, Tobah Arena thaws at five. Really really
looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
And before you go, Paul, I wanted to ask about
a stat you said, the first arena show in thirty
five years in our region. What was the last show
thirty five years ago?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yep, it was a WWF joint promotions with the Bushwhackers
that was at the old McKay Stadium I believe it
was called and yeah, it was headlined by the Bushwackers
and Demolition and a tag team match in the early nineties,
late eighties. So yeah, we're really excited to have the
first arena show in that amount of time here in Wellington.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
For more from News Talks B listen live on air
or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you
go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
News Talks, it'd be eight Well, it's been more than
three decades since an arena wrestling event was staged here
at Wellington. That will change next weekend with Pottydoers to
open the arena hosting All Star Wrestling Potty Door for
a big night of entertainment. Paul Sayers is behind the event.
He's with us now. Morning to you, Paul. There'd be
a lot of excitement around this, wasn't there.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Adam Cooper, good morning, and you are so incredibly right.
There's a lot of bars happening in the wrestling community
here in altiorr at the moment for the big arena show.
It's an open har arena next Saturday. I know we're
super excited to get out to Pottydoor for the first
time in a long time and the first time in
thirty five years that professional wrestling has actually taken place
(00:41):
in an arena in the Willington region since the Bushwackers
did a show in the early nineties. So yes, very excited.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Great so All Star Wrestling Potty Door. Paul give us
the loadown on who's on the bell? Are they locals,
are they from further afield? And how the event kind
of all runs and works next Saturday.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah. I've the best part of twenty years around the
wrestling fraternity, I guess, and spending a bit of time overseas,
and this is really my chance, alongside Valiant for Wrestling,
to put on this event and show New Zealand what
I've learned and seen from around the world. And by
doing that, we're bringing in wrestlers with heritage from Italy,
(01:21):
from Samola, from Ireland, from Australia, from Mexico, as well
as two locals directly from Pottidor and one will be
the first time that they are wrestling in their hometown
and that is the rock star Kias who will be
taking on the b J Priest in our first title
match of the night for the All Star Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.
(01:41):
And then we've also got another title match of the
night where I take on former WWE nxt UK superstar
from England Ringo Ryan, as well as a big fatal
four way man event including the franchise player De Hoyer
who is from Cannons Creek and Pottidor taking on who
I've is the best wrestler in New Zealand, the big
(02:02):
Man Jamie Tunger to essay from Samoa. Also in that
match is the tallest wrestler in New Zealand, standing at
seven foot tall. Big Frank and twenty year veteran Chad
Howard rounds out that fatal four way in our main
event of the evening.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Brilliant want a lineup?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
What are you expecting from Ringo Ryan?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah? Look, I've wrestled Ringo Ryan twice before he was trained.
He was the last person to come through a kind
of all star system in the United Kingdom and really
as a student of the game, he's been doing it
for about twenty five years now, has been doing it
all around the world. We're currently one and one. He
has one went over me, I've won, went over him,
(02:42):
but with my Wellington Heritage Championship on the line coups,
I don't see myself losing in pottydor Well.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
You hopefully have some home grounds advantage, right and lots
of fans cheering for you.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Correct. And you know, I spent a lot of time
working and living out in pottydor so it is a
second home to me, so I'm really excited to get
back there. Last time I wrestled in Pottydor was at
the Mungaming Community Hall about eight years ago in front
of about four hundred sands packed into that small little hall,
where I was able to beat Jonah Rock who is
now known as Bronson Reed and thewe So I've got
(03:14):
a good track record going in the pottydor and hopefully
I can call on a bit of that.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And who are you targeting here? Paul's to want to
come along and enjoy it most? Is it a family
friendly night? Is it for wrestling enthusiasts? Who would you
like to see pack into ted Okadahar Arena next week?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Who's this couldn't be any more family friendly? And I
guess that is my whole kind of copoper, my whole
kind of idea about this. It is for the two
year old all the way up to the eighty year
olds to one hundred year old and everyone in between.
It's very very family friendly. I know wrestling kind of
gets a bit of bad rap around the sports world
and around the kind of entertainment world, but this is
(03:52):
delivered specifically to the family friendly audience. You know, there's
the good guys that you're comeing chare and the bad
guys that you're come and boo and it's us a
cheap way to get out for the evening after the
kids go back to school after the school holidays. You know,
we've made ticket prices really affordable for this event because
we don't want it to be too hard to get to.
(04:12):
So yeah, really family friendly. But then also in the
same breath, those hard, die hard WWE, aw WWF WCW fans,
it's for you too. You know you're you are all
going to be entertained.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Awesome. How is wrestling as a sport doing around around
Wellington at the moment. Give us a bit of insights
in terms of my numbers, competitions and things like that.
Where does the sport sit at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, we have a couple of companies in Wellington with
Valiant really leading the charge, which is great. Who is
putting on All Star Wrestling Pottadora alongside myself. We probably
have about I would say fifteen to twenty active wrestlers
in the Wellington region and then bringing in those wrestlers
from Auckland then from down South into the mix for
the show makes it even more special. But it's growing,
(04:58):
I think with WWE being on the flicks now and
the social media game around WWE with people like Logan
Paul in there and John Sena retiring this year, I
think puts a lot of eyes onto wrestling and we
get to ride that wave now here locally too, which
is exciting, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We'll give us the rundown in terms of timings next Saturday,
and I'm not it's a family friendly start time as well.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, I want to get home to coop so doors
open at five pm, show begins at six o'clock. From
five pm to six pm, we have former DMC world
champ DJ Gooder, who if you have been the Oneington
Saints games, plays there as well. He'll be playing from
five to six pm to keep you entertained. The show
will start off with a bang at six pm and
(05:39):
we aim to be wrapped up by eight pm to
get those little ones back in bed before Sunday rolls around.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Good on your Paul sounds fantastic And if people do
want whats some more info or even tickets to purchase,
where can they find that?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yep, if you can get your tickets at ticket space
at dot co dot nz or check out the Valiant
Pro socials and they start from just fifteen, so super
cheap and it's not like it's cheap action on cheap entertainment.
You're really getting your money's worth of that money. Next Saturday,
the eleventh October, Tobah Arena thaws at five. Really really
looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
And before you go, Paul, I wanted to ask about
a stat you said, the first arena show in thirty
five years in our region. What was the last show
thirty five years ago?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yep, it was a WWF joint promotions with the Bushwhackers
that was at the old McKay Stadium I believe it
was called and yeah, it was headlined by the Bushwackers
and Demolition and a tag team match in the early nineties,
late eighties. So yeah, we're really excited to have the
first arena show in that amount of time here in Wellington.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
For more from News Talks B listen live on air
or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you
go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
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