A brace of bruisers training out of Maddington will take to the top ropes at Willetton when WA’s biggest pro-wrestling promotion, Explosive Pro Wrestling (EPW) takes over the stadium for its flagship event of the year.
EPW held its first event in 2001, dubbed Awakening, and since that time its biggest card has been called Re-Awakening, and Taylor King has his eyes set firmly on the title in a three-way matchup against champion Julian Ward and The Don.
King – also known as Tayleur D’Alessio – has been a wrestling fan since about 2004, and it was an invitation from the current reigning champion Ward that took him from playing footy with the South Fremantle colts to the squared circle at EPW’s Maddington gym.
“It’s a bit of a coincidence when it comes to Re-Awakening, because my best mate Julian Ward, who I’m going up against in the title match along with The Don, he just invited me to come down because he knew I loved wrestling in high school,” he said.
“I was in pre-season with the South Fremantle colts in the WAFL, he invited me down and got me hooked, now I’m trying to take the title off him.
“I’ve loved wrestling since 2004, you know I grew up watching WWE guys like John Cena, Eddie Guerrero before he passed away, Rey Mysterio, those types of guys.”
King will be playing a “face” – a good guy – against the champion Ward and the “heel” – the bad guy – in the form of The Don.
It’s an intriguing match, made all the more interesting with the history of EPW and, of course, the venue.
“It makes it interesting because my best mate Ward has something that I’ve wanted my entire career, there’s a dynamic there, and you’d think that we might team up against The Don but as far as I’m concerned it’s every man for himself.
“Re-Awakening is always a celebration of our history, so Re-Awakening has been going for 21 years now, last year was the 20th which was a huge show, but we’ve gone bigger and better this year with Willetton Stadium.
“It’s our most ambitious venue in terms of numbers, it’s a 1200-person capacity and it’s lit a fire under everyone to sell the place out and show how good we are because we believe we’re the best wrestlers, the best promotion in Australia.”
EPW Re-Awakening XXI goes ahead on December 17 at Willetton Stadium.
Tickets are available from explosiveprowrestling.square.site
