The accountant turned pro wrestler trying to put Australian wrestling on the map

Real-life accountant ‘Jack Bonza’ transforms into a villainous wrestler who thrills crowds while his five-year-old son cheers from the audience.

Big hits: Jack Bonza slams Vinnie Bronson. Picture: David Cossini

Jack Bonza describes pro wrestling as “combat theatre – a weird, unique art form performed in front of a live audience”. Here he is in action, executing a move called a Military Press Slam on opponent ­Vinnie “The Hooligan” Bronson at a match in Sydney.

It’s from photographer David Cossini’s series on this unusual subculture, exhibiting at the Head On photo festival.

In the violent soap opera of pro wrestling, athletes inhabit a stage persona – broadly, they’re either “faces” (good guys) or “heels” (bad guys) – and follow a storyline, with an ending that’s predetermined.

“But the skill and athleticism are real; the big hits and the risks are real,” Bonza says.

In everyday life, the 37-year-old has a business degree and a masters in accounting, plays chess competitively, practises yoga and is a devoted dad to a five-year-old son.

But in the ring he’s a heel, a “mean drill sergeant” sort of character who goads the crowd and revels in the boos.

“Part of the fun is that you get to say and do things you’d never do in real life,” he says.

Bonza – he demurs when asked his real name – was 16 when his family in Manly got Foxtel and he saw WWE wrestling from America for the first time. He was enthralled.

Two years later, after training at the Pro Wrestling Academy in Sydney, he was performing in his first matches.

While juggling work as an insolvency and tax accountant he has toured America half a dozen times (promoters there christened him Outback Jack Bonza, which half-stuck); he’s now devoting himself full-time to pro wrestling, and trying to raise its profile in Australia.

“Most people don’t even know there’s a scene here,” he says.

­Sydney has almost a dozen promoters, in fact; this event was put on by Integrity Wrestling, a newcomer staging family-friendly events at RSLs and league clubs in ­western Sydney.

If a storyline requires Bonza to win, he’ll do it with his ­signature finishing move, the Napalm Thunder Driver. If he has to lose, so be it.

Either way, if he’s done his job everyone in the crowd will be on their feet, all fired up, roaring with joy or outrage. At a couple of recent matches, Bonza’s young son has been among them.

“He bounces up and down in his seat shouting ‘That’s my daddy!’” he laughs.