WSW Rise Against Sydney Review (18/05/2026)

By Mick Robson

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This past Monday night, I was fortunate enough to attend World Series Wrestling at the Panthers in Penrith. The Evan Theatre contained within the club is a rowdy yet intimate venue which provides a unique atmosphere. If you’ve never seen WSW, it’s a company that tours only once or twice a year, bringing over top international talent that aren’t signed to WWE. The production is top notch, and the performers openly rave about how head honcho Adrian Manera runs the organisation. And the shows themselves are often epic. Last year’s Nic Nemeth (fka Dolph Ziggler) vs. Brian Cage still rents space in my head.

Let’s do this!

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Pre-show is the meet and greet. For some reason, we appear to be in a smaller room than last year, and it’s packed and uncomfortably hot. But the meet and greets themselves were great. In my experience with WWE events, it’s very conveyer belt, get your photo and move fans along like cattle. But here at World Series, the stars were happy to take a little time, actually engage and have a chat. It was greatly appreciated and made the experience much more memorable.

I met Priscilla Kelly (fka Gigi Dolin), Shotzi, Bishop Dyer (fka Baron Corbin), Killer Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux. All great, I got prints and photos with all- sadly Corbin’s marker didn’t dry at all even a day later. Corbin’s eye was messed up from an accident earlier in the tour- he had stitches so was unable to wrestle, but he was great value to meet.

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Sean Thomas and Ben Rosenthal on the commentary as I fire up the YouTube to help recall details. Usually the commentary desk is on the stage for WSW shows, but not this time, so I have no idea where the hell in Evan Theatre they were calling the show from. The show aired live on YouTube so it wasn’t a post-production studio deal.

Anyway, the show starts with Bishop Dyer making his entrance to a rousing ovation.  His announcement that he can’t wrestle tonight gets boos, which Dyer agrees with. He also responds to a fan call that “Happy Corbin was my favourite gimmick” with “were you dropped on your head as a child?” ‘Happy Corbin’ chants. “Y’all have lost your damn minds,” he says, “The Lone Wolf was way better, I had hair back then.” He then introduces his representative for the night, Dijak!

Dijak gets a good response until he mentions Melbourne, which draws boos. So Dijak heels on the crowd, calling Sydney pussies. He issues a challenge to anyone from Sydney, and the Rapscallion, Mick Moretti, answers the call!

Match 1: Donovan Dijak vs. Mick Moretti

Moretti plays mind games with Dijak in the early going, not fully engaging and frustrating the big man. He pretends to be hurt by nothing which draws some laughs. Moretti tickles Dijak which pisses him off further. Dijak slaps Moretti in the face and we start to properly get underway.

Moretti low bridges a charging Dijak and he spills to the outside. A suicide dive follows and Moretti soaks in the adoration from the Penrith crowd. Dyer, who is at ringside for his partner Dijak, grabs Moretti’s leg, allowing Dijak to hit a big boot and take control. Later on, Dyer tries to get involved again, but this time is caught by Referee Hannah (of PWA and Newy Pro fame) and promptly ejected from ringside.

The intensity amps up as the match continues. Moretti still continues his shenanigans though- he ties Dijak in the tree of woe, before doing a headstand and beating him up from that position. Wild. Things get serious again with a running knee that scores Moretti a near fall. Dijak fights back as, weirdly, a chinlock chant starts. Dijak doesn’t give the people what they want and instead hits a spinning Death Valley Driver. What kind of alternative universe are we in...

Moretti comes back with a back suplex and hits the Sweaty Moretti elbow drop. Attitude Adjustment follows for a 2 count. Moretti tries to give the people the chinlock- blocked- then looks for the Stomp- also blocked. Sitout chokeslam gets Dijak a near fall. Big boot connects but the follow up moonsault misses. Stomp hits- razor close near fall for the Rapscallion! He looks for the snapmare driver, but Dijak blocks and hits Feast Your Eyes- and that’ll do it!

Winner: Donovan Dijak (at 14:27)

Thoughts: Insanely entertaining opening match. Started with some trademark Rapscallion silliness but got properly competitive down the stretch, it truly had a bit of everything. Fun in just about every way that pro wrestling can be. Also, it served as an example of one of my favourite things about WSW- yeah, it’s great seeing the international stars, but I love seeing the Aussies matched against them proving that they’re on the level, and Moretti is among the best we have.

Post-match, Dijak helps Moretti up, kisses him on the head and raises his arm in a show of respect. He gives Moretti the ring, but the Rapscallion collapses to the mat then comically slowly flops his way backstage. Brilliant.

Ryan Nemeth makes his entrance to his AEW “Walk Of Fame” theme- underrated banger of a tune. Nemeth cuts a promo saying that he can’t wait to go back to Hollywood where everyone’s good looking like him. Moose makes his entrance and promises to punch Ryan in the face 50 times during their match.

Match 2: Ryan Nemeth vs. Moose

Ryan hilariously responds to a “you’re a wanker” chant with “I don’t do that anymore!” It might stop him from being so angry and frustrated, just saying.

It doesn’t take long for Moose to nail the first 15 punches in the corner as the crowd counts along. Soon after, another bunch in the corner, as the crowd keeps count with the match goal. Ryan goes to the outside and manages to ram Moose into the ring post. He looks for his own 10 punches but Moose cracks him with an atomic drop, and hits another bunch of punches in the corner. Moose’s hand is starting to hurt! Poor guy.

Ryan comes back with a chop block but only gets a 1 count. He continues the leg work to gain an advantage. The ring post becomes his friend yet again. Nemeth with a figure four but Moose makes the ropes. Ryan hits the elevated DDT- shades of his big brother- but Moose powers out- Hulking Up style. Man, I feel like Hogan would hate that. He hits a uranage, followed by a senton, and Ryan is in trouble!

Moose delivers the final 10 punches, and lines up for the Spear, but Ryan pulls Ref Rach in the way. Moose hits the brakes. Ryan with the roll up- feet on the ropes, but Rach catches him! Ryan gets in Rach’s face and she pushes him back- right into a Moose Spear for the 3!

Winner: Moose (at 7:32)

Thoughts: Our Aussie refs don’t take any shit! Another fun match. I like that WSW aren’t afraid to be silly and fill the show with shenanigans. It’s still getting suitably intense at key moments, but it’s overall a very fun vibe. Shoutout to Moose too- he had a very hard-hitting match with Killer Kross in a main event title match earlier in the tour, and worked a very different style of match here and killed it as well. Versatile!

Match 3: WSW Australian Championship- Matt Riddle (c) vs. Man Like DeReiss

I had vaguely heard Man Like DeReiss’ name before, but this was my first time actually seeing him perform. After his interactive rapping entrance, I was immediately a massive fan. Could he wrestle? I didn’t know. Didn’t matter.

(Sadly, the audio mixing was quite bad on the YouTube video, although based on the rest of the show’s audio quality, that might’ve been a conscious thing for copyright reasons?)

Onto the match. Big “RKO” chants and both Riddle and DeReiss take turns doing the Orton pose in the corner, and both take turns attempting the RKO. They own Randy some royalties after this! Riddle also shows his amateur wrestling acumen with a big gutwrench into a suplex. DeReiss comes back and builds momentum with a scoop slam, followed by a big leg drop. Riddle fires back with some big kicks. We started with friendly sportsmanship but it’s starting to get more serious.

More kicks in the corner knock DeReiss’ durag off his head. No! That’s the source of his strength! Flying knee by Riddle follows, then running forearms in the corner, then an exploder suplex. Riddle starting to fire on all cylinders here. Suddenly, DeReiss ducks a penalty kick, kips up and nails the RKO! DeReiss starts attacking Riddle’s legs with the dragon screw. DeReiss goes up top and hits a blockbuster for a near fall. DeReiss looks for a pumphandle, but Riddle counters into a fisherman buster for a 2 count of his own! DeReiss fires back soon after with a shotgun dropkick- Riddle's head bounces off the bottom turnbuckle- and follows up with a 450 splash onto Riddle’s leg!

DeReiss continues the leg attack with an ankle lock as the crowd chants “suck his toes!” Weirdos. Riddle counters into a O’Connor roll which should be 3 but the ref didn’t count it. We continue anyway. Ripcord knee, powerbomb, another knee by Riddle, kick out.  DeReiss goes to the apron, Riddle hits the draping DDT. More cash for Orton. Mid-ring exchange, DeReiss looks for the pumphandle again, and hits the Bitter End for a near fall! Few dollars for Dunne. DeReiss grabs Riddle’s ankle and appeases the foot freaks by biting Riddle’s toes, into the Sharpshooter. Riddle gets the ropes. We then get crazy with a top rope Destroyer by DeReiss! 450 splash the regular way- and Riddle somehow kicks out!

Sharpshooter attempted again but Riddle reverses into an inside cradle. Near fall. Then a pop up RKO by the champ! Bro Derek and that’s all she wrote!

Winner: Matt Riddle (at 15:46)

Thoughts: Egregious amount of Randy Orton tributes aside, that was a hell of a match. Think what you will about Matt Riddle, but as a pro wrestler, the man can GO. And the charismatic DeReiss answered my initial question- could he wrestle?- with a resounding yes. Equal amounts of style AND substance for Man Like DeReiss, and I can’t wait to see more of him in the future.

Match 4: Hardcore Match- Shotzi Blackheart vs. Priscilla Kelly

There’s bad blood between these two on this tour, to the point that Priscilla doesn’t do her full entrance, she rushes the ring and starts belting Shotzi with a trash can lid! Shotzi comes back with a trash can lid assisted 619 in the corner. The fight spills outside the ring, up the stairs, and they waste little time pulling out a bunch of weapons.

They fight on the apron and Priscilla nails an STO! She then hits a running dropkick with a trash can into Shotzi’s face for a near fall. The big hits keep coming with a powerbomb on Shotzi through two chairs! Shotzi comes back with a rolling Liger kick. She suplexes Priscilla into what’s left of the trash can in the corner. Another steel chair is used and Shotzi just hurls it all at Priscilla, the chair, her body and all the force she can muster... near fall.

They trade kicks then Shotzi hits a roll up for another 2 count. Priscilla fires back with a running knee for a 2 count of her own. Spinning powerbomb on the chair gets Priscilla another near fall. Shotzi gets up and grabs a kendo stick and starts blasting with it. Shotzi with an RKO now. Shotzi then grabs a chain and chokes Priscilla in the corner. Priscilla appears to go out and Referee Hannah yells “ring the bell!” but no one does. So Shotzi hits the top rope senton, we get a 3 count and Shotzi’s music plays. But still no bell. Weird.

Winner: Shotzi (at 10:29)

Thoughts: That finish was extremely strange and took me out of it a lot. But everything else was great for what it was- intense, weapon-filled and wild.

Post-match, Shotzi chokes Priscilla with the chain. Commentary say “hopefully they’ve got this out of their system”- without that context, I interpreted as them holding onto the rivalry for the next tour- Megamania this Oct/Nov.

They show the commentators on camera- they do appear to be in some kind of studio. Guess they somehow set that up to go live for the YouTube viewers. They recap the first half of the show with video highlights while we were at intermission live in Penrith.

Match 5: WSW Tag Team Championship- The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (c) vs. The Dropouts (The Tuckman & Scott Green)

The crowd goes crazy for the Aussies and the Chelsea Dagger. It’s been a big year for the Dropouts- a WWE tryout for both, and Scott Green was on Survivor, becoming the runner-up. I had thought Dropouts may have been signed off that tryout and just finishing up some commitments- with the next PWA Black Label based around them- but the dates keep filling up and Nikki Blackheart, who was part of that tryout, just debuted on NXT, so I guess not. Major shame, they’re clearly stars, and the Penrith crowd are absolutely treating them as such. Everyone’s doing the Dropouts dance and pointing the fingers in the air.

They run it back, and even Gallows is getting into it, only stopping when Anderson shoots him a look. The audio goes completely silent on YouTube, so it must be a rights issue, playing too much of a licensed song. Killing the best part of the show tbh. Even the Good Brothers run it back, going backstage to do the entrance! The audio does come back for that, thankfully. Then Riddle comes back out to join the Daggering!

After all that, we’ve still got a WSW tag title match to have! The Brothers jump the Dropouts and start the beat down. Anderson even bites Scott Green! Gallows in with a big back elbow and Scott is hurting here. He eventually creates separation and tags in Tuckman, who comes in with fists flying. Northern Lights suplex on Anderson gets a near fall. There’s some hope as Tuckman flies to the outside with a suicide dive on Gallows, as Green comes back in with a rolling Stunner on Anderson. Tuckman follows up with a top rope crossbody... near fall.

The Dropouts have momentum and play to the crowd with a little more Daggering- then the Good Brothers boot their heads off. Magic Killer on Tuckman, scene.

Winners: The Good Brothers (at 5:15)

Thoughts: All the ga-ga, very little of the actual wrestling in this one, but hey, the people absolutely love it! I mentioned earlier how WSW clearly aren’t afraid to be silly and fun, and this was a perfect example of that. It’s wild how on a card/roster filled with international stars, The Dropouts felt like the biggest stars of the show. Even Gallows and Anderson seemed a little taken aback by it. Insanely entertaining stuff. Wrestling is the best thing ever- mainly because it can be anything at any given time.

Post-match, the Good Brothers run back the Dagger yet again and show respect to the Dropouts.

Match 6: WSW Women’s Championship- Ash By Elegance vs. Myla Grace (c)

The crowd get on Myla Grace’s case, claiming that her fur coat is from Temu. Much like Dereiss earlier, this is my first time seeing Myla wrestle. I met Ash (fka Dana Brooke) on last year’s tour and she was a sweetheart.

This was a rematch from the previous night of the tour in Melbourne, where Myla won the title, so these two ladies are familiar with each other’s game. They tie up to start, and there’s pushing, shoving, a lot of tension. Lot of stalling in the early going really. Myla takes early control with a headlock takeover. Ash escapes and one of Myla’s hair extensions falls out, prompting another “Temu” chant.

Apparently, Ash has a clause in her contract that her matches are under “Elegance Rules”, meaning anything goes. So we get weapons, including doors! Myla comes back with a sliding dropkick through the ropes and sings, “I’m That Girl”. Commentary gives the YouTube live chat some grief for being thirsty, but I mean... I get it. We’re all only human over here. Myla rams Ash headfirst into the door. They brawl through the crowd and borrow a fan’s lightsabers for a battle. Myla gets the better of it and yells, “I am Star Wars!”, breaking character with a laugh as she says it.

They battle back to the stage and Ash hits a handspring elbow for a near fall. I guess Elegance Rules is falls count anywhere too. They continue to brawl around the theatre. Eventually we get back to the ring and they put 2 doors in the ring, in opposite corners. Ash looks to Spear Myla through a door, but Myla pulls the ref in the way! He goes right through the wood. There’s still one more door, and that proves to be far less breakable, but on the third try, Ash gets Myla through it with a Spear for the win!

Winner: Ash By Elegance (at 16:05)

Thoughts: This was a chaotic brawl. I did not expect these two to out-hardcore Priscilla and Shotzi, but here we are! Great character work from both- I completely understood Myla’s deal after a few moments in the match, and of course, Ash is a veteran and a known commodity- although still wrestling like she has something to prove, which is commendable. Enjoyed it from start to finish- something I can say about this match and also the show as a whole to this point.

“Mr. WSW”, Adrian Manera, makes his entrance. He steals CM Punk’s “it’s great to be alive on a Monday night” line, and thanks Sydney for selling it out in record time. Had a few empty seats next to me though. Maybe some people had tickets and couldn’t make it? He hypes the main event before throwing to it.

Main Event: WSW World Heavyweight Championship- Nic Nemeth vs. Killer Kross (w/ Scarlett Bordeaux) (c)

Damn, Kross has a LOT of titles from around the world. Scarlett’s struggling a little to carry them here.

Classic start with a tie-up right into a headlock by the champ. Nemeth is outsized here, but that’s nothing new for the Wanted Man. Kross has submission skills too, sending Nemeth scrambling for the ropes on a Texas Cloverleaf attempt. Nice mat wrestling early on with both working for different submissions.

The pace quickens and Nemeth drops Kross with a beautiful dropkick. Nemeth then returns to the submission game with a rear naked choke. Kross fights his way up but is dropped again with a superkick. A second kick is blocked and Kross hits a huge Stunner! They trade strikes and Kross builds momentum with a big clothesline, back elbow, and a cutter! Cutters galore on this show.  It’s not an Orton rip-off though as Kross throws up the DDP diamond signal. Doomsday Saito follows. He loads up for a running forearm but blasts the ref inadvertently!

Ryan Nemeth runs in to low blow Kross. Nic takes immediate advantage with the Fameasser. Adrian Manera comes in to serve as ref, but Kross kicks out! Scarlett gets in the ring and spears Ryan. Myla Grace runs out and drops Scarlett. Ash is back and takes out Myla with a Codebreaker. Dijak boots Kross, then Moose Spears Dijak! Nemeth grabs the title belt and blasts Kross- and Adrian is just going to count it? Kross kicks out! An angry Nemeth grabsAdrian, but Scarlett slaps him. Adrian hits Nemeth with a superkick, right into the Kross Jacket, and Nemeth taps!

Winner: Killer Kross (at 10:22)

Thoughts: Not the classic that Nemeth vs. Cage was in Penrith a year prior- although that’s an incredibly high bar- but still extremely entertaining in its own right. This almost felt like WSW’s version of the WM40 “Endgame” finish. And good on Adrian Manera for finding a way to get a little more work out of all his talent there. And on the topic of Adrian- shoutout to production on the camera work there because the superkick did not look great live. But yeah, I can’t watch that mayhem unfold and truly fault it. Bat shit crazy fun, I was thoroughly sports-entertained there. 

You could argue that it jumped the shark a bit in terms of not holding up logically- if Adrian’s going to be a ref, why he didn’t he call for a DQ, why was he counting when Nemeth did a blatantly illegal move etc etc. But that feels a bit nitpicky when everyone loved it. I’m not here to be a killjoy. It was entertaining for sure.

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Post-match, we have a little party with all the international wrestlers coming back out, then inviting the Dropouts back out, doing the Dagger for like the 6^th time in the show and having beers. Outstanding stuff. We had shoeys, Riddle used his thong (the Australian version) to have a shoey, while Scarlett used Priscilla’s thong (the American version) to have a shoey. Crazy scenes. Audio cut out on YouTube with the Dropouts entrance, with the video feed jumping to recaps right after, but it’ll live in my memory forever.

Overall Thoughts

One of the most fun shows I’ve ever been to. Chock full of shenanigans in the best possible way. The opener was a genuinely great match, as was Riddle vs. DeReiss... and the rest was just unabashed joy and fun at every turn. With personal life being a little rough right now, it was the perfect escapism. Can’t wait for the next WSW tour!

Overall Score: 9/10

Until next time, take care,

Mick.