You’ve probably caught the whispers. WWE-style wrestling, in Ashfield, beneath the kitschy institution of the Polish Club. It sounds too good to be true, but, as the organisation’s Official Beer, TGBC can vouch for the rumours. Even if the action might look a little… theatrical. 

Suit-clad announcers bellow one-liners like “Big hits, cold sips” and “Let’s get ready to ruuuuummmbbllleee” in Americana twang. They intro bare-chested, brightly spandexed heroes with epithets like “the Australian Heavyweight Champion of the World…” 

You can almost feel the sweat flying from the ropes as they launch competitors through the air and into other bodies. Performers like Tony Sin, Otis “The Grub”, Bronson King, The Tradie and Fly Guy. We met them at their Bexley HQ, sitting down with Fly Guy, to get to know the people behind the show and what’s gradually making them the hottest ticket in town.

The Origin Story

After having their first show at Bondi RSL, Australian Wrestling Superstars found a home at an old Masonic Hall in Bexley. Built in 1923, it’s where they still meet for training today, the hall transformed into a wrestling school to develop their own talent. As a yard stick for how far AWS has come, they’ve recently fitted the space out with mats and bleachers, as well as an office for taking care of all the admin that comes with running the growing organisation.  

Fly Guy is part of the three-person team who keeps the wheels turning, joining back in those humbler days. “Debra started AWS and found us the hall, which was pretty rundown back then. Our early shows were very small, not looking good by any stretch. ‘Very, very independent’ is what we call it. We were definitely struggling.”

The year was 2020 – not the ideal time to start a business, let alone one in contact sports and live performance. But Debra persevered, joined by Mitch (“Tyson Gibbs”) and Alex (Fly Guy) to help book talent and promote AWS. It wasn’t until 2023 that the organisation really took off, however, when they found their niche. Today, they do regular shows across the state, although mostly at Mortdale RSL and Ashfield. 

Niche Product, Big Appeal

The appetite for wrestling in our nostalgia-loving, post-ironic epoch is growing. Yet with it, the pool of options for punters to choose from expands, too. According to Fly Guy, there are roughly fifteen different crews putting on wrestling shows around Sydney right now. 

“The issue then is that you’re all producing and showing the same talent. So, how do you differentiate yourself? Debra was a long time fan who saw a gap in the market for a grittier, old-school brand of wrestling. Something that appeals to a wider audience as opposed to the wrestling intellectual.” 

What a wrestling intellectual looks like is probably hard to visualise for the uninitiated. Yet it’s clear Fly Guy isn’t that, in his vibrant red-and-blue, antennae-crowned mask and Spiderman-esque costume. “I grew up on the Attitude Era of wrestling in WWE,” he shares, “It was gritty, and it wasn’t meant to be a clean, acrobatic display. It was meant to be a suspension of disbelief.”

It’s this dynamic that Fly Guy loves about what he does. And this is what he sees as setting AWS apart from the rest. “There’s a lot of wrestling out there that’s very tongue-in-cheek, making it obvious that this is performative and not 100% real. But there’s nothing better than the hypnosis of wrestling, where you blur the lines between reality and performance. That’s what we try to do; the money is in suspending people’s disbelief.”

Part of that process is the characters and the narratives they interweave. According to Fly Guy, this is also one of the biggest challenges: predicting how a character will be received by the audience. 

“People love an anti-hero, right? Especially Australians, with Chopper Read, Ned Kelly... Yet we also love a redemption story and an underdog and all of that at the same time. So, if you’re trying to predict what people want, you can end up chasing your tail. We’ve got a group called “Inner West Unrest”. They’re a bit punk, alternative, they’ve got tattoos, they’re progressive. So, at Ashfield, they’re local heroes; people get behind them. Then we go to Parks or Bathurst or Orange, and those same guys get booed out of the building.” 

Your Everyday Joes

While the characters are elaborate and the action staged, the people on the receiving end of boos and applause are real. Despite the label of “pro wrestling”, those people have to hustle to make a living. 

“AWS is a business that’s self-sustainable, but at the same time, it’s not lining anyone’s pockets. The “pro wrestling” name, in itself, is what we call “a work”, which in our lingo means it’s fake, it’s a ruse. Very few “pro” wrestlers actually live off wrestling. I’m at uni and I do DoorDash sometimes to make money. We’ve got people at our school that are personal trainers, others that are laborers. We’ve got university-educated people that just wrestle as their release. It can appeal to anyone. But yeah, wrestling definitely isn’t a feasible way to make a living in Australia.” 

Working other jobs or several to make ends meet is no small thing, especially when the physical demands of their passion can see wrestlers train 3-4 times a week while competing over the weekend. Fly Guy continues, “I work with 4 or 5 different wrestling companies regularly in Sydney, just to get my reps in. When you’re a pro wrestler, you have to go around to all these different shows. It’s like the music scene. You’re trying to get your stuff out there, trying to make connections...”  

Why We Should Care

With all of that pressure and the demands the job places on their bodies, you might ask why these guys do it. Why is wrestling so important to them? Why does any of it matter at all? 

“When you come to a wrestling show, you get this catharsis.” Fly Guy shares, “Yelling, being able to forget your 9–5. Everything else doesn’t matter anymore. I think that’s the gap we fill for people. Wrestling is entertainment that people can come and scream at. There’s not many spaces where you can do that. Metal gigs, maybe, but there’s not a lot. We want people to come along and make noise.”  

With their school a rare example of spaces where wrestlers can come together and educate themselves, and their shows rare spaces where audiences can come to blow off a specific kind of steam, the value of AWS is clear. And that value is all directed at the community that supports them – something that resonates at TGBC. This is why our partnership makes sense. 

“It’s local businesses helping each other. TGBC are big into the live-event scene and I think there’s a mutual love for art and community,” Fly Guy says, warmly, “Grifter is our first real sponsor. We’ve done collaborations with smaller companies and we’ve done charity work in the past. But this is our first big partnership. I think it’s the perfect combination of two brands with a rebellious nature, and that’s really cool. We love working with Grifter.”

Great Minds Think Alike

Our work together is set to blossom with the next season of wrestling ahead. AWS is about to launch their Summer Series, a three-month event kicking off in January, sponsored by TGBC. Taking place in the familiar battle grounds of the Ashfield Polish Club, the tripleheader builds on the momentum generated across what’s been a massive year for AWS. Most excitingly, this will be the debut of the brand-new, Grifter-branded Lightweight Belt, handmade in Sydney’s south-west.

“The Lightweight Belt has been in the works for a long time. It’ll give opportunities for a lot of athletes in Australia to come and fight for something. There’s plenty of heavyweights out there who are big and bad and rule the roost. But it’s time for the little guys to get their shot. Because they’re just as rough and tough as the rest of ‘em!”

So, get down to the Polish Club this summer and throw some support around local wrestling and AWS – a little guy who’s going big and bringing the community along for the ride.

Recognise the character from the Lightweight Belt? That’s right – he’s on our cans of Extra Light! Wrestle some together from the online store now, a prize that could be yours with just a few clicks.