Jason Conlan, a New Zealand-born cartoonist known as Pro Wrestling Illustrated's "Mr. J", began drawing a popular comic strip for the publication in 1995.

[2][3] Prior to his retirement, Robin and Stanislaus Zbyszko, a one-time World Heavyweight Champion, faced each other in a three-match series at the Auckland Town Hall in 1926.

In 1937, the promotion featured 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.

[2][8] Other stand-out stars included Dean Detton, Ken Kenneth, John Kattan and African-American wrestler Jack Claybourne.

[5] Miller negotiated with NWA promoters Toots Mondt, Lou Daro and Tony Stecher for Nagurski to travel to New Zealand in exchange for the largest guarantee ever offered a boxer or wrestler in the Southern Hemisphere.

Though Nagurski ultimately cancelled the trip at the last minute, Blomfield followed the world champion to Canada where the two wrestled to a time limit draw in Vancouver on 17 March 1938.

[19] On 9 January 1959, O'Connor defeated Dick Hutton in St. Louis, Missouri to become the first wrestler from New Zealand to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

[23] In 1959, Miller died and was succeeded by Steve Rickard who ran the Dominion Wrestling Union for two years until starting All Star Pro-Wrestling in 1962.

Fellow wrestler John da Silva[14] also began a rival promotion, Central Wrestling Association, around this time[1] but it eventually closed in the early 1970s.

[7] In that time, a number of local stars were developed in New Zealand including Tony Garea, Peter Maivia,[24] Al Hobman,[2][3] and The Sheepherders.

[26] South Pacific Wrestling, another small promotion started by referee Ernie Pinches, produced Johnny Garcia and Onno Boelee during the 1970s.

By the end of the decade, Rickard and Australian wrestling promoter Jim Barnett managed to attract foreign stars back to the Pacific.

In 1972, Big Bad John, Bulldog Brower, Les Wolff, King Curtis Iaukea, Spiros Arion, Mark Lewin, Thunderbolt Patterson, Sweet Daddy Siki, Tarzan Tyler, Dewey Robertson and Haystacks Calhoun all toured New Zealand.

[7] The debut of Rickard's On the Mat during this period,[27] a counterpart of Britain's World of Sport, replaced the once popular radio broadcasts and showcased many New Zealand and international stars[28][self-published source?]

including Pat Barrett, The Destroyer, Man Mountain Link, Les Thornton, Leo Burke, Ripper Collins, Rick Martel, Tiger Jeet Singh, Ali Vizeri, Abdullah the Butcher,[29] and Siva Afi.

[24] This title changed hands between Ric Flair and Harley Race in Wellington, New Zealand and Geylang, Singapore in 1984[30] but these would not be acknowledged by the NWA for several years.

[31] Though the retirements of O'Connor and Garea[24] left a void, talents such as Ox Baker, Tor Kamata, Al Perez,[8] Rip Morgan, Samoan Joe, Johnny Garcia, Bruno Bekkar[28] and A.J.

New Zealand-born cartoonist Jason Conlan, also known as Pro Wrestling Illustrated's "Mr. J", began drawing a monthly comic strip for the publication around this time.

Mazer also contributed to author Nicholas Sammond's Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling (2005).

[34] Children's science fiction author Debbie Renner claimed to have once competed under the name "Tasmanian Devil" prior to becoming a full-time writer.

This was the WWE Smackdown Road to WrestleMania 22 Tour, which featured a main event triple threat match between Kurt Angle, Undertaker and Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship.

These new promotions also brought back televised wrestling, which had been absent since the days of Rickard's On the Mat, with the debut of IPW Ignition and KPW's Off the Ropes.

Promotions featured included UCW, Maniacs United, IPW, PWE, Hughes Academy, Asylum Pro, NZWPW and SPW.

This announcement was made on Three's The Project current affairs television program, by WWE NXT superstar Dakota Kai.