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Who is Alexis ‘Friggin’ Lee? Inside the rise of Singapore’s top female pro wrestler

Sat, 30 May 2026 13:40:10 +1000

Image credit: @markashleyfilms Alexis Lee is sitting in a Paris hotel room, cold, slightly underfed, broke after a Disney cruise booking she absolutely did not cancel, and mid-way through wrestling in five countries in one month. She has just come from Lyon. She is headed to London for her UK debut tomorrow. After that, Korea. Then Singapore. She describes herself, repeatedly and cheerfully, as a nobody. The evidence suggests otherwise. She sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about the bullying that started everything, the parents who tried to stop her and eventually became her travel companions, a wrestling scene in Southeast Asia that most of the world hasn’t caught up with yet, and what it means to do this much work for this little recognition. And why she does it anyway.

Show Up, Rise Up, Nish Up!

Sat, 23 May 2026 10:30:38 +1000

Image credit: @najywan

Nish debuted in June 2025. He is eight matches into his wrestling career, stands somewhere between 159 and 163 centimetres depending on which clinic he visits, and has accidentally invented a personal philosophy that people are now using in their daily lives. He is a trained actor, a wedding MC, and a man who has spent most of his performing life in somebody else’s shadow until he found something he could control entirely himself. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about the Undertaker at age four, his Stardust era, a tagline he said because he forgot what else to say, and why being a big fish in a small pond is only half the point.

How does Southeast Asian wrestling differ from the Australian werestling scene?

Thu, 21 May 2026 14:01:06 +1000

The professional wrestling scenes in Southeast Asia (SEA) and Australia represent two distinct developmental models within the Asia-Pacific region, differing in historical depth, artistic style, training infrastructure, and economic scale.

Historical Lineage and Stability

Australia: The scene rests on a centenary foundation beginning in the early 1900s, with a major “Golden Era” in the 1960s and 70s under World Championship Wrestling (WCW Australia). The modern independent revival began in the early 2000s, leading to a highly stable ecosystem.
Southeast Asia: Modern professional wrestling is a post-2010 phenomenon, established primarily with the founding of Singapore Pro Wrestling (SPW) in 2012. The region has faced structural volatility, characterized by frequent promotion closures and roster restructuring.

Stylistic Paradigms and Cultural Narratives

Australia: The primary style is “Australian Strong Style,” a hybrid of British catch wrestling and Japanese puroresu. It emphasizes physical realism, stiff strikes, and complex technical grappling with negligible integration of traditional combat arts.
Southeast Asia: The scene focuses on character-driven melodrama, often referred to in the Philippines as “Aksyonovela”. Matches may also integrate regional martial arts such as Silat, Muay Thai, and Bokator. Storylines are deeply indigenized, drawing from local folklore, shadow puppet theater (wayang kulit), and social themes like class dynamics or religious satire.

Training and Talent Pipelines

Australia: Operates a systematized academy model with world-class facilities and rigorous curricula. These academies function as high-frequency athletic institutes that can serve as a talent export pipeline for global promotions like WWE, AEW, and NJPW.
Southeast Asia: Facilities are generally resource-constrained dojos, often consisting of a single ring in compact industrial buildings. These dojos focus on rapid skill development and regional talent swaps, with targeted excursions to Japan.

Commercial Scale and Economic Models

Australia: The scene is highly commercialized, utilizing multi-ring facilities, corporate sponsorships, and global digital networks like TrillerTV. Venues typically accommodate 500 to 1,200 spectators.
Southeast Asia: Promotions primarily operate on tight, self-funded budgets. Venues are more intimate, often housing 150 to 500 fans. Content distribution is focused on localized platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and private digital services.

Cultural Perception and Family Support

Australia: Family support is often a primary driver. Wrestlers frequently mention parents attending shows, being well-known in locker rooms (e.g., “Mumma Hope”), and helping with merchandise.
Southeast Asia: Wrestlers often encounter a conservative cultural hurdle. Some performers keep their careers a secret from their parents to avoid conflict, while others report that their families were initially firmly against the “violent” nature of the sport.

Niche Representation

Wrestling in regions like Singapore is described as a “niche within a niche,” which has led to unique cultural representations, such as the emergence of the world’s first twin hijabi female wrestlers.

Alex Stevens

Tue, 19 May 2026 13:25:20 +1000

Alex Stevens is a South East Queensland professional wrestler who spent most of his twenties in a regional town with no wrestling school, put the dream in a box marked things that weren’t going to happen, and then watched a movie about Paige one evening and changed his mind. A Rhodes Wrestling Academy graduate who has been the lean mean yeet machine since August 2020 — well before anyone else was yeeting — Alex competes across Queensland and beyond with a journal full of every match he’s ever had and a very clear idea of what making it actually means. Read his full story at In the Gorilla Position.

Alex 'Yeet' Stevens: Twenty Dollars in an Envelope

Tue, 19 May 2026 13:23:04 +1000

Image credit: @mandaminsnaps

He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about a mother who accidentally made him love wrestling more, three months in a ring with Dustin Rhodes, a metal festival crowd who didn’t quite get him, a journal with every match he’s ever had written down in it, and why the scene being better when he leaves it matters more to him than any title he might win along the way.

Jackson Shepard

Mon, 18 May 2026 19:35:28 +1000

Navigating the Australian independent scene for nine years, Jackson Shepherd occupies the “cool middle ground” between rookie and veteran. A digital media creator and sound production student, Shepherd is a private person who manages social anxiety and functioning autism, yet undergoes a total transformation into a boisterous, “smart-ass” showman the second his entrance music hits.

Shepherd draws on years of retail experience to power his extroverted “full retail persona” at the merch table, bringing a hyper-focus to his storytelling both in the ring and through his Twitch stream. Ultimately, he aims to be more than just “really fucking good” at his craft; he strives to be a legacy of inspiration, proving that persistence can turn a childhood dream into a reality for anyone brave enough to take the jump.

The Mass Effect: How Jackson Shepard found his place in Australian wrestling

Mon, 18 May 2026 19:35:28 +1000

Image credit: @quartzphotography

He grew up in Bendigo, fell in love with wrestling because Eddie Guerrero came out in a lowrider to make the save for Rey Mysterio, moved closer to Melbourne for study, found local wrestling, and eventually realised the thing he had watched since he was ten years old might not be as impossible as it once seemed.

He is shy until the music hits. He is anxious until the character takes over. He does not especially like social media, but understands that in modern wrestling, every performer is also a brand. He has taken breaks, dropped titles, missed wrestling, come back, made merch, sold merch, worked crowds in multiple states, and learned the hard way that in wrestling, everything can change on a dime.

Nish

Sat, 09 May 2026 14:33:00 +1000

Image credit: @najywan

Nish is a Singapore-based professional wrestler competing for Grapplemax Pro Wrestling who debuted in June 2025 and has spent eight matches turning an accidentally blurted tagline into a genuine philosophy. A trained actor and wedding MC who spent years as someone else’s comic relief before finding a stage he could control entirely himself, Nish brings the instincts of a career performer to a character built around one simple idea: no matter what knocks you down, you show up, you rise up, you Nish up. Read his full story at In the Gorilla Position.

The golden child: Nate Hunter on the business of being the villain

Thu, 07 May 2026 16:06:14 +1000

Image credit: Owen Jones

Nate Hunter is two and a half years into his wrestling career, has done north of one-hundred matches, holds the MXW Tag Team Championship with his partner Killian Bates, and will tell you (without the smallest trace of embarrassment) that he is Australian wrestling’s fastest rising star. He is a Western Suburbs Melbourne boy who grew up on comic books and bodybuilding magazines, got hooked on wrestling at age four when he saw Batista strangle Mark Henry with a cord, and found his calling as a heel in year eleven legal studies. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about MJF, the Carolinas, a mother’s advice that ended a relationship, what Ric Flair has to do with being selfless, and why the kid in the front row is the only opinion that really matters.

Nate Hunter

Thu, 07 May 2026 14:33:00 +1000

Image credit @sparklyroadkill

Nate Hunter is a Western Suburbs Melbourne boy who decided in a year eleven legal studies class that he wanted to make people feel the way MJF makes people feel. Two and a half years and fifty-plus matches later, he is the villain in most rooms he walks into, a student of the territory era, and a man with very clear goals and zero intention of lowering his voice about any of them.

Alexis Friggin Lee

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:41:09 +1000

Alexis Lee is a Singapore-based professional wrestler who has been competing since 2013, when she walked into SPW’s first trial class as the only woman in the room and took a bump nobody asked her to take. Over a decade later she is one of the most widely-travelled independent wrestlers in Asia, having worked across Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Australia, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Known for her distinctive skull face paint as her alter ego Skelly, she designs her own merch, hustles her own bookings, and does it all largely without anyone in the wider wrestling world paying sufficient attention. Read her full story at In the Gorilla Position.

Women in indie wrestling: why female wrestlers are the scene's future

Mon, 04 May 2026 12:30:00 +1000

For much of professional wrestling’s history, women were an afterthought. A brief intermission between men’s matches. An entertainment product rather than legitimate wrestlers.

The independent wrestling scene changed that.

Today, some of the best wrestling happening anywhere—indie or mainstream—features women. Have you seen Shotzi Blackheart?! And the indie scene is where this shifted first.

The history: why the indies led the way

Mainstream wrestling (WWE, early AEW) had gatekeepers and executives making decisions about women’s wrestling based on old ideas about what audiences wanted. Independent wrestling had nobody to answer to except wrestlers themselves and their fans.

Starting a wrestling promotion: a practical guide for promoters

Mon, 04 May 2026 12:00:00 +1000

You love wrestling. You know what good wrestling looks like. You’ve got an idea: What if I promoted?

Before you think it’s impossible, understand this: hundreds of people around the world are running successful independent wrestling promotions. Some started with nothing. Most operate on shoestring budgets and genuine passion.

This guide walks you through what it actually takes.

Step 1: Understand what you’re taking on

Running a wrestling promotion means:

Wrestling terminology 101: essential terms every fan should know

Mon, 04 May 2026 11:30:00 +1000

Professional wrestling has its own language. Spotty terminology, insider slang, and a whole vocabulary that makes sense once you understand it. If you’re new to indie wrestling, this guide will help you follow conversations and understand what’s happening in the ring.

Basic concepts

The booking

Who fights whom, and in what order. “The booking for tonight’s show” refers to the lineup of matches.

The card

The full schedule of matches for an event. A wrestling event runs through a “card” from opening match to main event.

Beginner's guide to watching indie wrestling: where to start

Mon, 04 May 2026 11:00:00 +1000

You’ve probably seen clips. A wrestler flying through the air in a way that seemed impossible. A moment of storytelling that made you feel something genuine. A crowd of passionate fans losing their minds.

You thought: Where do I find more of this?

That’s what this guide is for.

What you need to know first

Indie wrestling is different from what you might have seen on television.

It’s live. Anything can happen. Matches don’t follow a script as rigidly as mainstream wrestling.
It’s intimate. You’re often close to the action. You can see the emotion, the impact, the genuine athleticism.
It’s unpredictable. Some shows are amazing. Some are rough around the edges. That’s part of the charm.
It’s passionate. The people in those rings and in those audiences are doing this because they love wrestling, not because a corporation is forcing them to.

Where to watch indie wrestling

Live shows

The best way to experience indie wrestling is live. You’ll find local independent wrestling promotions in most major cities.

How to become an independent wrestler: a complete guide

Mon, 04 May 2026 10:30:00 +1000

You’ve watched wrestling your whole life. You know the moves, the characters, the stories. Now you’re asking yourself the question that separates fans from workers: What would it actually take to do this?

The short answer: passion, commitment, financial sacrifice, and a willingness to get hurt more times than you can count.

The longer answer is this guide.

Step 1: Find a wrestling school

The first thing you need to do is find a trainer. Professional wrestling is a physical craft that requires instruction from someone who knows it. You cannot learn to professionally wrestle from YouTube videos or backyard experimentation (though many wrestlers will tell you they started that way, and most will also tell you they were lucky to survive it without permanent injury).

Best Indie Wrestling Interviews | In the Gorilla Position

Mon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 +1000

The Best Indie Wrestling Interviews

If you’re serious about understanding independent professional wrestling, you need to hear from the people living it. These interviews go deep—into the business, the craft, the struggles, and the reasons wrestlers risk everything to step into a ring with nothing but passion and conviction backing them.

These are long-form conversations with independent wrestlers from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and beyond. They’re not promotional pieces. They’re honest, unfiltered, and built on the understanding that the people wrestling in regional promotions, community halls, and sold-out independent venues have just as much to teach us as anyone on a national stage.

The Calamity: MJ Russo and the kid who was always too much

Sun, 03 May 2026 17:49:01 +1000

MJ Russo is twenty-seven years old, Italian, hyperactive, and will freely tell you that his entire wrestling career exists because his brother picked a fight with him. He is the longest-reigning MXW Upload Champion, a committed heel who has made children cry and grown men want to climb the barricade, and a person who is — beneath all of that — one of the more genuinely thoughtful performers in the Melbourne indie scene. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about a brother’s challenge, the hyperactive kid he had to suppress for years, why it’s easier to be hated than loved, and what it means to leave the business better than you found it.

Doomslayer

Sat, 02 May 2026 12:36:55 +1000

Doomslayer is a Tasmanian-born Australian independent wrestler known for his pink gear, chaotic physical comedy, and a twenty‑year journey from a school yearbook dream to the ring. A late starter who debuted at thirty‑six, he has wrestled for fourteen promotions across Australia, taken a superkick from James Storm, and built a cult following as the “bloody idiot” who will bump off anything for a laugh. Beneath the humour is a thoughtful, relentlessly travelling performer whose promos, creativity, and willingness to get on a plane have made him one of the most recognisable characters in the Australian indie scene.

The world's end: Doomslayer and the dream he wrote in his yearbook

Sat, 02 May 2026 01:58:59 +1000

Image credit: ASHJO Photography

He is, by the character’s own design, a bloody idiot. He is also, beneath the pink gear and the physical comedy and the frog splashes into empty canvas, one of the more thoughtful people in Australian indie wrestling. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about a twenty-year gap between a school yearbook and a wrestling debut, the character who was born from a British sitcom, what it means to make it when you’re the furthest from everywhere, and why he keeps getting on planes.

Swamp creature, showman, storyteller: A conversation with Frankie Grime

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:25:59 +1000

There’s something immediately disarming about Frankie Grime. The man who steps into wrestling rings wearing face paint pulled from the pages of a Nosferatu fever dream, something black-inked and feral, elegantly grotesque turns out to be a softly-spoken, thoughtful bloke from Mildura who’s just really passionate about telling stories. He’s between places at the moment, shuttling back and forth between regional Victoria and Melbourne for training and shows, usually on the bus because it’s cheap and, for now at least, free. He laughs easily, thinks carefully, and has a habit of talking himself to the edge of a big idea and then landing it perfectly.

All In: Ben Barnett, the Gambler, and the bet he made on himself

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 17:56:44 +1000

Image credit: @themar00481

Ben Barnett is from Melbourne and has been wrestling for two years. This is long enough to have had collarbone surgery, invented a character, reinvented a character, main evented his home promotion, dumped a bag of dice on a man, and rolled a Singapore cane like a casino table. He is the Gambler. He is also, in a different shirt, Mr. All Night Rod Long. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about Jeff Hardy in 2008, what Razor Ramon looks like at the TAB in 2025, the woman who believed in him before he believed in himself, and why journalism and wrestling turn out to be the same job.

Frankie Grime

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:25:39 +1000

Frankie Grime is an Australian professional wrestler based in Victoria, competing primarily for MXW across regional Victoria and beyond. Known for his striking horror-inspired face paint, dark character work, and high-energy in-ring style, Frankie has quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive and entertaining performers on the Australian independent wrestling scene. Born and raised in Mildura, Frankie got his start in the backyard before transitioning to professional training and making his debut on the Victorian indie circuit. Since then, he has shared cards with international names including Brian Kendrick, James Storm, and Super Crazy, while building a loyal fanbase through his unique blend of physical intensity and compelling character work — a style rooted equally in his love of horror cinema, black metal, and over a decade of experience as a performing musician. Frankie competes regularly for MXW and has also appeared for promotions including Malice Wrestling and PWSA in Adelaide, with bookings across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and the ACT. Whether he’s working a crowd of 20 or 200, his commitment to performance never wavers. Equal parts Nosferatu nightmare and feral showman, Frankie Grime is a name to watch on the Australian pro wrestling circuit.

MJ Russo

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:25:39 +1000

Pete Morgan

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:44:10 +1000

Image credit @sparklyroadkill

Pete Morgan has been wrestling for five years. The most significant portion of which has been spent doing death match for DMDU while also training the next wave at Malice Wrestling Federation. He is made of kintsugi philosophy, MMA retirement, light tubes, rugby league instincts, and a degree of self-awareness that has recently led him somewhere important: toward help.

The Broken Heart: Pete Morgan and the gold that holds him together

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:24:43 +1000

Image credit: @jhmedia.jpeg

He has just had a death match in his hometown against Joel Bateman. After that, he doesn’t know how long he’ll be away. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about tempered glass and trust, the art form he found in the place most people look away from, and why he’d rather see you cry at 3am than read your name on a tombstone.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out. Lifeline: 13 11 14. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636. You are not alone.

There is a Japanese art form called kintsugi. When a ceramic piece breaks, you repair it with gold, filling the cracks, making the fracture visible rather than hiding it, revealing the history of the object rather than pretending it never shattered. The philosophy holds that something broken and repaired is more beautiful than something that was never broken at all.

Paddy Fitz

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:43:18 +1000

Paddy Fitz is a heel because being Irish in Australia makes that very easy, he studies wrestling on a treadmill, he wants to do improv comedy classes, and he has a very clear sense of where he is going and why it matters. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, the peculiar arithmetic of the Irish scene, what it means to have ego as a tool rather than a flaw, and why legacy matters more to him than money.

Ireland's Ego: Paddy Fitz and the long road to Queensland

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:00:24 +1000

He is a heel because being Irish in Australia makes that very easy, he studies wrestling on a treadmill, he wants to do improv comedy classes, and he has a very clear sense of where he is going and why it matters. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, the peculiar arithmetic of the Irish scene, what it means to have ego as a tool rather than a flaw, and why legacy matters more to him than money.

Ben Barnett

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:33:04 +1000

Image credt: @digital_beard

Ben Barnett is a Melbourne-based professional wrestler competing across the Victorian indie scene as the Gambler and Mr. All Night Rod Long. Known for his expressive character work, sharp storytelling instincts, and a Hawaiian shirt you can spot from the back row, Ben has made a rapid rise through Mayhem Pro, Renegades of Wrestling, and beyond since his debut in May 2024. Read his full story at In the Gorilla Position.

Bruno the Kodiak

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:33:04 +1000

Bruno the Kodiak is twenty-four years old, has been training for eleven months, made his professional debut exactly one year to the day after he vowed he would, and drove home from that debut playing his own theme song on repeat the entire way from Melbourne to Ballarat. He is, by any measure, one of the most purely enthusiastic people in Australian wrestling right now. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about TNA at his auntie’s place, a vow made in an Uber at two in the morning in Las Vegas, the sleeping bear that lives inside a quiet anxious kid from Frankston, and why he wrote someone’s name on his wrist before he ever stepped through a curtain.*

Waking the Bear: Bruno the Kodiak and the dream he couldn't delay

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:32:55 +1000

Bruno the Kodiak is twenty-four years old, has been training for eleven months, made his professional debut exactly one year to the day after he vowed he would, and drove home from that debut playing his own theme song on repeat the entire way from Melbourne to Ballarat. He is, by any measure, one of the most purely enthusiastic people in Australian wrestling right now. He sat down with In the Gorilla Position to talk about TNA at his auntie’s place, a vow made in an Uber at two in the morning in Las Vegas, the sleeping bear that lives inside a quiet anxious kid from Ballarat, and why he wrote someone’s name on his wrist before he ever stepped through a curtain.

Brave enough: Eleaine Hope and the dream she refused to leave behind

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:47:07 +1000

Image credit @mcphotoplay

There’s a tattoo on Eleaine Hope’s body that reads courageux. It is her word for being brave. It is not decoration. It is instruction.

She has needed it. She has needed it on the nights when the matches weren’t coming, when the work felt thankless, when a coach she trusted turned out to be someone she couldn’t defend. She has needed it in every locker room she’s entered as an outsider, in every city she’s travelled to alone, every time she’s climbed to the top rope and trusted the person below her to catch what she was throwing.

Eleaine Hope

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 19:30:07 +1000

Selina

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:40:21 +1000

The sensational teacher: Selina and the quiet revolution of Singapore pro wrestling

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:40:04 +1000

There is a moment in Selina’s match against “Mad Kat” Karina for the Queen of Asia title where the match stops completely. Not because something has gone wrong. Because something has gone exactly right.

Selina is down. She is selling a knee injury with a commitment that makes the ringside crowd hold its breath. The referee is crouched over her. The whole show pauses. And then because she is, above all else a cheat, she kicks her opponent square in the face with the supposedly injured leg, and the crowd erupts in a fury of middle fingers and expletives that she finds personally gratifying.

Anna Wood

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:19:04 +1000

The zebra in the spotlight: Anna Wood on safety, storytelling, and survival

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:45:26 +1000

Introduction

In the world of independent wrestling, referees rarely get the spotlight. They’re the quiet heartbeat of the match. They’re the timekeepers. They’re the safety officers and the storytellers who guide the chaos without ever stealing the scene. But in New Zealand, one referee stands out whether she intends to or not.

Anna Wood, known to fans as Lady Reffington, is NZ’s first and only full-time female official. She’s a former film and TV creature‑effects artist, a survivor of chronic injury, a deathmatch referee with a wicked sense of humour, and a woman who has carved out a place in a scene that’s equal parts tight‑knit, chaotic, and deeply passionate.

TJ Wylde - Pillman's got a gun

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:11:52 +1100

TJ Wylde grew up in Albury-Wodonga, straddling the border of New South Wales and Victoria: not exactly a hotbed of professional wrestling culture. Nobody in his family was particularly plugged in. His dad was, in his own words, “just an old school country bloke.” His mum had a passing familiarity with the old school names but it wasn’t something that carried forward into the household. His brother wasn’t interested. The older cousins who might have passed something down lived up near Wagga, too far away to make much of an impression when he was small.

Alpha Purpose 2025 - Rochelle Rogue vs Miss Fortune

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 15:39:01 +1100

This match took place at Alpha Purpose 2025 (Saturday the 22nd of February, 2025). It was held under the banner of Alpha Pro Wrestling (also referred to as “Alpha Pro”), a promotion where Rochelle Rogue had maintained an undefeated streak in one-on-one competition prior to this contest.

The match between Rochelle Rogue and Miss Fortune was a high-stakes contest where Miss Fortune needed a victory over the “undefeated” Rogue to earn a match against Slade Mercer. Rochelle Rogue, a member of the Cool Guy Squad (CGS) and one half of the Alpha Tag Team Champions, entered the ring with the support of her teammates Charlie Rose and Papa V at ringside.

What Is Indie Wrestling? The Complete Guide to the Independent Scene

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 15:48:54 +1100

There is a show happening tonight in a hall somewhere. The ring is borrowed. The lighting rig is a handful of LED strips zip-tied to a scaffold. The crowd is maybe two hundred people all pressed together in folding chairs. They’re holding cans of beer and handmade signs. By the time the main event is over, they will be on their feet cheering the victor.

There is no television deal. There is no pyrotechnics. And there is no corporate mandate dictating who gets pushed and who gets buried. This is just wrestlers who have given up weekends, sleep, and often financial stability because they cannot stop doing it. This is the fans who have found something primal in these rooms that the big shows stopped giving them a long time ago.

I'm just Adam from Dingley who likes wrestling

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:38:58 +1100

Image credit: Owen Jones

He grew up in a suburb of Melbourne watching a Jeff Hardy VHS tape at a neighbour’s house and decided, on the spot, that this was his life. He was signed to a Ring of Honor contract when a pandemic swallowed the world whole. He never made it to America. He’s still here, still wrestling, still the most recognisable face on the Australian indie scene and still, somehow, genuinely surprised when people know his name. Adam Brooks is a pivotal part of Australian wrestling. He just wishes someone would tell him that in a way he could believe.

You grew up in Dingley watching Jeff Hardy on a VHS tape. How do you look back on that kid now?

Adam Brooks

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Adam Brooks is the most recognisable face on the Australian independent wrestling scene and he’d be the last person to tell you that.

He grew up in Dingley Village in Melbourne’s south-east, a suburb that doesn’t exactly have a history of producing professional wrestlers. The path there began at a neighbour’s house, halfway through a VHS of WrestleMania 2000. The match was the TLC bout between the Hardy Boyz, the Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian. The kid watching was transfixed. When Jeff Hardy climbed to the top of a ladder and the flashbulbs popped, something clicked that never unclicked.

TJ Wylde

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What he wants people to say when it’s all over isn’t about titles or bookings or fees. He thinks about George Julio, a figure who’s become something of a folk legend in Australian wrestling circle whose name conjures stories wherever it’s spoken, whose presence in a room makes the stories stop being adequate.

That’s the template.

Not a dickhead. A good bloke. Good to be around. Made everyone feel comfortable. And then he’d get out in the ring and he’d kill you. But it was fun. Everything he did was fun.

About In The Gorilla Position

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It Started With a Title Change

It was January 1984. On a Saturday afternoon, a kid in Australia was flipping through channels, looking for something to watch on that tiny little colour TV that was his obsession. Wide World of Sports came on and he saw something he’d never seen before! All the way from far off America came pictures of a packed Madison Square Garden. The crowd was absolutely losing their mind as a man the size of a small building, named Hulk Hogan, ripped his shirt clean off his body.

Wrestling Glossary

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Language of the Business

Professional wrestling has its own language which is a rich, evolving lexicon built up over more than a century of carnivals, territories, locker rooms, and living rooms. Some of it comes from the desire to protect the business. Some of it is pure tradition. All of it is worth knowing if you want to talk wrestling seriously. This glossary covers the essential terms, from the basics every fan should know to the deep cuts that separate the casual viewer from the true student of the game.

Game Changer Wrestling

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Last updated: May 2026

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