Northern Championship Wrestling hell bent on starting up in Lismore

“It’s true, it’s damn true” – an ex-rugby player has plans to bring WWE-style wrestling to the NSW northern rivers. Do you have what it takes to go from pencil neck geek to John Cena?

The world of high-drama, good vs. evil, and power smackdowns is on track to launch in Lismore thanks to an ex-rugby player keen to bring professional wrestling to the region.

Northern Championship Wrestling was born out of ex-Perth rugby player Kris Pisarek’s 30-year love of “synchronised brutality”.

With its epic storylines and outlandish characters beset with sublime athleticism, Pisarek told the Northern Star if he knew wrestling was available when he was a teen, he never would have played footy.

Kris Pisarek.

“I did some training with Perth promotion Explosive Pro Wrestling (EPW) but then put it on the backburner while I finished off some rugby league,” Mr Pisarek said.

“But if I’d known I could have done wrestling I never would have played rugby.”

He said learning there were multiple promotions in every capital city opened his eyes in a “massive way”.

“Some tour as well but there isn’t anything regional,” he said.

Mr Pisarek was building semi-trailers in Western Australia before post-Covid expenses caught up with him, forcing him to rethink his future.

The idea to build his own ring came about while waiting for steel to be delivered to his workshop.

“I was paying my welder to do nothing, and we ended up putting our heads together and built a wrestling ring,” Mr Pisarek said.

“When I was helping them (EPW) out with a couple of their shows, I went in early to help set the ring up and later break it down so I have learned a lot from that.”

Kris Pisarek (right) with Joe Smith testing out Northern Championship Wrestling’s new ring.

“When I started floating this idea past a couple of friends of mine we got talking about Byron Bay’s Scott Pankhurst, known as Scott Justice,” Mr Pisarek said.

“They went to school with him and he followed his dream and trained with world renowned ECW, WCW, WWF/WWE former champion Lance Evers, also known as Lance Storm.”

Scott Justice made his pro debut on October 10, 2009 in Winnipeg in Canada.

Known as the “Australian Playboy” and “The Prodigal Son” his signature moves included the Southern Cross, Foster’s Plunge, Superkick and trademark finisher the One-Winged Angel.

Former pro wrestler from Byron Bay, Scott Pankhurst aka Scott Justice (right) has been in talks with Northern Championship Wrestling about running some training.

“Since then I’ve been doing all I can to try and bring professional wrestling to the region because apart from the odd stop in from a Sydney promotion or something like that we don’t get to see a lot,” Mr Pisarek continued.

Northern Championship Wrestling aims to make it easy for locals to get a taste of the dynamic entertainment sport here on their doorstep.

Mr Pisarek said he would model his school on Perth’s methods where students will learn basics of falling safely before moving onto more technical manoeuvres.

With support from other wrestling schools, trainers have shown interest to help get the fledgling club off the ground.

“Once you have the basics down-pat and you’re running the ropes trainers will move you through progressions until you reach a stage at the intermediate level and that’s when you can start creating a character,” Mr Pisarek said.

Rhea Ripley holds the title belt after defeating Charlotte Flair in the WWE Smackdown women's championship in April 2023 in Inglewood, California. Picture: WWE

The net worth of the WWE is estimated at US$6.87 billion.

Famous Aussie wrestlers also include Adelaide’s Demi Bennett – known professionally as Rhea Ripley – who made her world wrestling debut in 2017 after being spotted by World Wrestling Entertainment scouts on the Australian Independent Circuit.

Ripley will be featuring in an upcoming promotion with Perth’s Explosive Pro Wrestling in February.

“I was always told your wrestling persona is an extension of yourself – maybe a little of who you’d like to be and then you turn that up to 15,” Mr Pisarek said.

Mr Pisarek hopes to develop some top local baby-faces (heroes) and have them overcome the big heels (villains).

“It’s large personalities, creating drama in a simulated violent environment,” he said.

“It’s doing everything you can to leave the people that have come to see you in awe of what you’ve done on an athletic level but also leaving them wondering what’s going to happen next (in the characters’ story).”