PWA The Climb 2026 Review (28/08/2026)

By Mick Robson

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Back with the latest PWA Black Label, and it’s The Climb! If that show title made you think of Miley Cyrus, you’re not alone- it was indeed used as the theme song for this show. 

Anyway! We’re coming off the massive King of the Metro event, where The Example, Ricky South, made his triumphant return to win the main event Rumble match. With that win, he gets a shot at Will Kiedis and his newly won PWA Championship. The title match goes down next month at Prize Fight, which will be PWA’s debut at Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul. Before that though, on this show, we get a star studded tag team match, as Ricky teams with Robbie Eagles to face Kiedis and Sam Osborne of North Shore Wrestling. 

I sat down with Ricky South this past week for an illuminating interview covering those events, his career to this point, and his thoughts on Will Kiedis, which were... less than complimentary. The full interview can be watched here: https://www.thearenamedia.net/single-post/ricky-south-interview-king-of-the-metro-wwe-tryout-power-slap-more

Aside from that, The Climb features a ladder match main event for the Golden Esky! We just saw at King of the Metro what cracking the Golden Esky can do for a wrestler’s career- it gives you a championship opportunity at any time, which Will Kiedis took full advantage of last month, defeating a weakened Big Fudge moments after his hellacious title defence against Jack J. Bonza. 

The Soul of PWA Championship is now vacated, due to the news of The Tuckman & Scott Green leaving Aussie wrestling. According to Sean Ross Sapp, The Dropouts are soon headed to NXT, and I have strong reason to believe that SRS is on the money there. So PWA needs a new person to carry The Soul that The Tuckman held so proudly! A tournament to crown a new Soul of PWA Champion kicks off on this show. 

All that to say- King of the Metro was massive, but The Climb isn’t cooling things down by any means.  

Let’s do this! 

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My live experience of this show was a unique one for me. In all the years coming to Liberty Hall (fka Max Watts), I’d never been in the mezzanine. Since the tickets for this event sold very quickly, I found myself up there. PWA is a hot ticket! Honestly was a great view, especially for this show. I wouldn’t mind doing it again. 

The YouTube video- which I’m watching back to make this the most detailed and comprehensive review I can- kicks off mid- Shay Kassidy entrance. She’s doing a brilliant performance to Dolly Parton’s 9 To 5. An excellent tribute. RIP Dolly. 

Match 1: Soul of PWA Premiership Tournament- Shay Kassidy vs. Ty Thayer 

Thayer jumps Shay before she can complete her entrance and boots Barnaby sky-high. Why do all these wrestlers hate Shay’s teddy bear so much? A crushing senton by Thayer brings the pain to the Girly Pop Sensation even more. 

Kris Gale and Mick Moretti are on commentary, and Moretti mentions that he was the first Soul of PWA Champion. Shay comes back with a massive clothesline. Twist of Fate scores for a near fall. Moretti says, “The Matt Hardy mark in me is going wild”, but I would say that Shay is likely shouting out Lita, as she cited her as an inspiration in a recent Arena interview. Shay sets up for Angel’s Wings, but Xander and Jay Sorbet of Third Eye get involved. Thayer tries to capitalise after a Sorbet clothesline- but Shay kicks out! 

Soon after, Shay is able to dispose of Third Eye. Thayer looks for a torture rack, but Shay escapes and hits Angel’s Wings for the win! 

Winner: Shay Kassidy (at 2:50) 

Thoughts: Short but sweet, this was an energetic start to the show. Shay has to be one of the favourites to win the Soul of PWA Championship, and while Thayer and Third Eye were effective nuisances here, there was little point pretending that they would be a major problem to Shay Kassidy, who is on the run of her life right now. 

And back to the Dolly Parton and the dancing! Nothing but good vibes here. 

Moretti and Kris Gale do an on-camera to hype the other matches coming up tonight. 

Match 2: Tag Team Gauntlet 

The first two teams are MK Plus Ultra and House of M. MK Plus are reeling from Michael Spencer turning on them at King of the Metro. Meanwhile, House of M are a new tag team- the combination of Melissa Averillo and MJ Eagles. 

Kai and Cosmo argue over who’s going to start. Kai seems quite hot-headed, while Cosmo attempts to be the voice of reason. Cosmo appears quite smitten with MJ’s... charms though, and finds himself booted in the head by Melissa as a result. Springboard Stunner by MJ earns an early near fall. House of M showing great tag team synergy early, but Kai trips and restrains Mel, allowing Cosmo to roll up MJ for the 3! 

The next team are The Curlies, the duo of Ol’ Curly and “The Cannonball Kid” Josh Myers. They launch themselves off the stage at MK Plus Ultra in a spirited attack, but soon fall victim to Kai Drake’s rage, yelling “Spencer!” at Myers as he KOs him with elbow strikes. 

The next- and wait, last team?- are David Streamer and the “Silly Superstar” Billy Preston. Streamer carries his client, a limp Preston to the apron. Billy is completely catatonic until Streamer provides a bag of sugar, which creates the hottest of all hot tags! Big chops to the head, followed by a top rope seated senton on Drake... and it’s all over! 

Winners: David Streamer & Billy Preston (at 7:46) 

Thoughts: Very abridged tag team gauntlet, both in terms of run time and amount of teams in the match, but it was damn entertaining, got across all the characters in the match, and furthered the ongoing story with MK Plus Ultra dealing with the Spencer betrayal. Kai was clearly seeing Spencer in every opponent he had, and seeing red as a result. The current character arc of Billy Preston is far more entertaining in my opinion than the Playtime Pals thing he was doing previously. 

A promo airs for PWA Prize Fight at Anita’s Theatre in Thirroul on September 26. The main event is Ricky South vs. Will Kiedis for the PWA Heavyweight Championship. 

Weirdly, Nick Wray gets booed as he sets up for introductions for the next match. What did he do wrong? He’s an absolute gent! 

Match 3: Soul of PWA Premiership Tournament- EC Brownie vs. Jack Osborne 

Brownie meets Jack outside the ring and they throw hands. Heads get bounced off ring posts. Jack charges around the ring and runs right into a Brownie Spear! They get in the ring for the official start of the match and this time it’s Osborne with a massive Spear! Near fall. 

The two big meaty men trade kill shot after kill shot. Black Hole Slam and a Spear by Brownie gets a close 2 count. Massive Spinebuster is the return fire from Jack Osborne- and he kips up! Incredibly impressive. Brownie explodes with yet another Spear... and that’s it! 

Winner: EC Brownie (at 2:20) 

Thoughts: Holy hell! As Moretti said pre-match, more meat than your local butchery. These guys put on a monster mash spectacle that had vibes of Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg from WrestleMania 33, in the way the two powerhouses rapidly traded their biggest and best offence. This was a blast, I loved it. 

Match 4: Fatal 4 Way- Cherry Stephens vs. Neal Mercer vs. Michael Spencer vs. The Anomaly 

Kris draws comparisons between Anomaly and Mick Moretti, which the Rapscallion agrees with- “I’m a big Anomaly guy!” Cherry Stephens is a very welcome presence in PWA again after her own King of the Metro return, Neal Mercer is making history as the first wrestler from Mauritius, and Michael Spencer may be the most hated man in PWA... besides maybe Nick Wray, who is still getting grief from this Liberty Hall crowd! 

Spencer takes the fight to everyone, including an impactful Codebreaker on Anomaly and a cracking high knee on Mercer, but Cherry plants him with a huge tornado DDT! Cherry tries some savvy roll ups on Anomaly, but he goes for her toes! I hate to pass judgement, but an absolute freak, that one! Anomaly would probably take that as a compliment. 

Mercer shines for a few moments, dropping Spencer and Cherry with knees and kicks. He nails a picture-perfect dropkick on Anomaly and looks for the armbar, showing a diverse toolkit, but Spencer breaks it up. Hidden Blade on Mercer but Cherry intervenes in the pin attempt. She soon pays for it, as Spencer delivers the Widow’s Peak to end it! 

Winner: Michael Spencer (at 4:48) 

Thoughts: Another frenetic, entertaining match. Everyone’s getting chances to shine in rapid dopamine hits of matches tonight. Cherry looked as smooth as ever- I called her initial PWA rise Kurt Angle-esque, and I absolutely stand by it in terms of someone who showed an aptitude for pro wrestling absurdly quickly. Anomaly is a blast as an unpredictable character, Mercer showed flashes of athletic brilliance in his Black Label debut, but right now the established star that gets the spotlight is Spencer. Excellent work all around in this one. 

Post-match, Spencer takes the microphone and announces that he is in the Soul of PWA Premiership tournament. He doesn’t know who his opponent will be... cue the entrance of Cosmo Cooper. At Anita’s Theatre at Prize Fight, it’ll be Spencer vs. Cosmo! 

Match 5: Robbie Eagles & Ricky South vs. North Shore Wrestling (Will Kiedis & Sam Osborne) 

Kiedis feigns like he’s going to start opposite South, before tagging in Osborne. Excellent chain wrestling between Ricky and Sam before South explodes with a shoulder block. Quick tag to Robbie, and North Shore Wrestling head for the hills, getting as far away as possible. 

Kiedis gets back in and immediately falls victim to classic Robbie Eagles offense- the springboard arm drag, the snap rana, the spinning heel kick. Our new PWA Champion is reeling! Kiedis takes a cheap shot at Ricky on the apron, providing the opening for North Shore to take advantage of the match through nefarious means. Osborne chokes Robbie with the apron skirt, and Kiedis follows up with the Taker leg drop. North Shore continue to isolate Robbie Eagles as the smaller man as Ricky tries to encourage him from the apron. 

Robbie eventually gets the hot tag after avoiding a Kiedis back suplex. Ricky comes in and Kiedis runs away again! So Osborne cops the onslaught of chops and high impact moves. Massive lariat by South gets a great near fall. Kiedis tags himself back in at an opportune time to hit a high knee. North Shore with a flapjack/cutter combo for their own near fall. Love them or hate them, you can’t deny North Shore’s tag team cohesion.  

Ricky shows great power and resilience, tossing both Osborne and Kiedis with a double Northern Lights suplex. Eagles tags back in and applies the Ron Miller Special to Sam Osborne. Osborne makes the ropes, but Robbie has a target now, going after the leg with surgical precision. Kiedis slows down the momentum by hitting a tornado DDT- slipping a little in the process, but it’s effective enough! Ricky blocks a Shining Wizard from Kiedis, lifting him into powerbomb position... and Robbie hits a Sliced Bread from the top! Osborne’s on clean up crew as he clears the ring and rolls into a kneebar on Eagles! A slight taste of his own medicine for the Limb Reaper! Robbie rolls out and goes back on the attack before a suicide dive out to Kiedis! He almost headbutted the stairs in the process. Ricky back in with a huge clothesline on Osborne, followed by the piledriver- and the Example gets another monumental win in his PWA return! 

Winners: Ricky South & Robbie Eagles (at 14:20) 

Thoughts: After a series of quick sprints on this card, Ricky South, Robbie Eagles, Sam Osborne and Will Kiedis put on a display of PWA’s talent at the fleshed out, main event level. A war between four of PWA’s best that served as excellent build for the big title match at Prize Fight. Technical brilliance, high impact, high flying, shenanigans... whatever you’re looking for in your pro wrestling, this had a bit of all of it. 

Intermission. 

Match 6: Mana & Manoush (Marley Peleti & El Phoenician) vs. The Influence (Lachy McIntyre & Carter Deams) 

Ricky South has replaced Mick Moretti on commentary here. El Phoenician is besides himself as the entrances take place- Lachy broke into Phoenician’s house and trashed it, and stole his cherished headdress.  

Phoenician, much like Kai Drake earlier, is extremely aggressive to start as he tries to get his hands on Lachy. Since Carter is being paid the big bucks by the TikTok star, he does the grunt work for his team. Lachy tags in to take some shots but Phoenician just absorbs them, fueled by rage. After interfering from the apron, Carter tags back in to enforce his will on the smaller Phoenician.  

Lachy tags back in to do something impressive with a slingshot senton- gotta hand it to him, he’s another one who has taken to wrestling absurdly quickly. PWA’s Logan Paul, without the crypto scams or Japanese forests. He also hits a nice slingblade! Of all things, an errant superkick by Carter striking Lachy opens the door for a hot tag to Peleti! Marley stacks them both in the corner and hits the 10 punches on both, although the camera doesn’t do a great job showing it. Could see it clearly from the mezzanine on the night though. 

Marley avoids both the End of Days and the scissors kick, hitting a Samoan Drop for a near fall on Deams. Phoenician tags back in and gets monkey flipped into Deams in the corner- love that spot, very inventive, vintage Mana & Manoush. They set up for their finish but Lachy distracts Phoenician by wearing his headdress! Scoundrel. He then passes it to Carter before distracting Referee Hannah, allowing an undetected hit for the win! 

Winners: The Influence (at 11:15) 

Thoughts: A fun match that adds a win to Lachy’s “undefeated” record (not counting losses). Carter is excellent in any role he’s given, Mana & Manoush are unquestionably the future of tag team wrestling in Australia,and Lachy McIntyre is crossing from celebrity guest star to a bonafide PWA wrestler at this point. Top stuff all around between both the story and the action. 

Post-match, Carter and Lachy look to powerbomb Peleti through a ringside table, but Jax and PWA staff stop it. So McIntyre hits his trademark kick in the nuts instead. 

Match 7: Nikki Van Blair (w/ Charlton) vs. Skater Boy Pidgey (w/ K8ieee xD) 

Nikki is “the Real Housewife”, a character she debuted at King of the Metro, complete with a new sommelier this time, Charlton. Pidgey and K8ieee are a team that I believe have been doing the rounds at PWA food festival shows, but it’s the first time seeing them on a Black Label show. 

Nikki slaps Pidgey and talks trash, but backs off squealing when the Skater Boy swings back. K8ieee gets knocked off the apron by Nikki, and the camera misses it again! Damn, between the weird start to the stream and some of these camera misses, not PWA’s best night for production. Pidgey sends Nikki with a nice headscissors, followed by a dropkick. As Ref Rach deals with the commotion on the outside of the ring, Charlton slides in and hits a satellite DDT on Pidgey! Impressive.  

Pidgey comes back with a Fameasser for a near fall. Charlton tries to get involved again, is thwarted by K8ieee, and eats a superkick from Pidgey, followed by the Helmet Buster (brainbuster!) Nikki takes the opportunity to throw a glass of champagne in Pidgey’s face, followed by the Homewrecker (Rack Attack) for the win! 

Winner: Nikki Van Blair (at 4:25) 

Thoughts: Okay match. A strange array of characters in this one, clearly designed as a bit of a buffer before our main event. It was nice to get a longer look at the Real Housewife character of NVB. It was interesting, and I’d like to get more of a look at our sommelier as well! 

Main Event: Golden Esky Ladder Match- Big Fudge vs. Tony Sin vs. Rita Stone vs. Benjamin vs. Jimmy Zero 

Jack J Bonza, originally scheduled for this match, suffered an injury in training, so we’re down to 5 wrestlers for this main event. EC Brownie surely could’ve represented for the Brotherhood of RANGA here after his short night at the office? 

It doesn’t take long for everyone to get ladders. A bit of cross promotion as several ladders have Newcastle Pro Wrestling stickers, and one of the PWA black and green ladders is absolutely mangled to start! Jimmy Zero shows his crazy aerial ability by hitting a springboard corkscrew dive onto the opposition. Benjamin stops his ascent and slams him. Fudge- wearing a beautiful blue outfit- does the Terry Funk ladder spot. Tony Sin ups the ante and unveils some unique weapons with large wooden crosses! Fudge is the recipient of the mega sized cross, taking a crucifix powerbomb through the crucifix! 

Sin scales the ladder but Rita stops him with a sunset flip powerbomb! It needs a lot of help and looks rough, but the climb (TM) is stopped for now. Jimmy and Rita batter Benjamin with the ladder, then Jimmy lawn darts Rita into it. Bodies are getting broken here. Rita recovers and looks to grab the Esky but Mick Moretti gets involved! He shoves Rita off the ladder but Benjamin catches her.  A little CBK moment. Rita fights back and disposes of Benjamin and Moretti.  

We have a ladder bridge set up, which Jimmy Zero eats first, then Sin cops a Fudge chokeslam on it! Carnage. Benjamin stops Fudge’s ascent, Fudge tries to stop his in return but takes the modified Pedigree. And Benjamin’s climb is now uninterrupted, and he takes the Esky! 

Winner: Benjamin (at 17:34) 

Thoughts: Absolute mayhem in this ladder match, it was a lot of fun, we had some hurt wrestlers and bloody bodies, hopefully everyone involved is okay. As for our winner, the Benjamin arc is intriguing. As Ben Braxton, he couldn’t win Colosseum, but under the guidance of Mick Moretti, Benjamin has a guaranteed title opportunity with the Esky. But as they made clear with Rita Stone and the CBK story, it can be cashed in for a tag title, so will Benjamin be forced to share the glory with Moretti? Many possibilities with this story, with Benjamin molded as Frankenstein’s Monster while the Rapscallion plays Dr. Frankenstein. 

Overall Thoughts 

A high quality outing once again by PWA. Zero slowing down by Sydney’s lead promotion coming off the massive King of the Metro event. Thoroughly enjoyed it as a live experience, with some amazing talent and high quality matches, as well as consistent storytelling month to month, which few indie promotions do and even fewer promotions do well. The YouTube stream showed some production issues uncharacteristic of PWA’s usual high standards- stream started late, lighting wasn’t great at times, cameras missed some key stuff, and even some graphics issues- Fudge is no longer PWA Champion. Knowing Jax and the team’s usual attention to detail, I’m sure those things will be ironed out in the future. Being there live, I wasn’t aware of any of it until I watched it back- the only thing I noted in that realm was the wrestlers in the pre-show match (Sahara def. Volmark) walking out to no music for some reason. 

But overall, this show continued PWA’s strong momentum in a post King of the Metro world. The talent is world-class, the roster is deep enough to where the likes of Tuckman and Scott Green can take off to take over the world and PWA still shines bright! Very keen to see what comes next at Prize Fight in September! 

Overall Score: 9/10 

Until next time, take care.