Mickie James, Conrad Thompson & Nick Aldis Announce Oceania 2023 Wrestling Event
Wrestling fans Down Under have some good news with Mickie James, Nick Aldis, and Conrad Thompson working on a huge wrestling event for Oceania in 2023.
Former WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James and her husband, former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis have been named as co-executive producers for what is being called a “new mega wrestling event and fan festival targeted for late 2023, in Oceania.”
Podcast impresario Conrad Thompson will act as co-promoter for the event alongside Cam Vale, the former CEO of Baseball Australia, CEO of Hockey Australia, and COO of North Melbourne Football Club.
A media release for the event touts the possibility of bringing the “best international wrestlers” to Australia for the event:
“Based around the successful Starrcast format, a similar styled event with a unique Australian flavour is being targeted for October to December 2023 in a major regional Australian city. A mix of the world’s best international wrestlers and the best of Australian wrestlers will feature over a four day “international festival of professional wrestling.”
“Importantly alongside the wrestling matches, will be extensive fan engagement activities with the wrestlers and a select group of high-profile legends and hall of famers of wrestling also appearing. This event will be a combination of a major sporting event and a major cultural event like a Comic-Con all rolled into four days.”
The event is being touted for the last quarter of 2023 with the team behind it looking for a venue capable of hosting at least 5,000 fans.
Mickie James is quoted as hailing the event as a being a great opportunity for women’s wrestling internationally:
“Australian sport has embraced Women’s athletes across sports like cricket, AFL and NRL as good as any country in the world.”
“As the Executive Producer of the highly successful Women’s only EmPowerrr PPV event in 2021, I will be building a program of women’s wrestling matches that will captive Australian and NZ wrestling fans.”
“This event can be a centrepiece annually for Women’s Professional Wrestling, and as someone who knows everyone in wrestling – expect some exciting match ups and outstanding talent, to a country that appreciates its female athletes, matching up with Australia’s best.”
While Nick Aldis is clearly spoiling for a fight at the event with a big-name Australian sports star as he said:
“As an Englishman though, I have a certain love as well of beating up on the old colonial Aussies and Kiwis and want to throw down the challenge now to a particular group of them.”
“I would love to see one of those so-called tough guys of AFL or NRL – active players or retired, train up and step in the ring to challenge me in 2023 at this event.”
“I have beaten most of the wrestling talent around the world, let’s see if there is an AFL or NRL player – or both, willing to step up and take me on in 12 months’ time.”
Conrad Thompson noted his own excitement at bringing a version of his Starrcast convention to a whole new market half a world away from the US:
“Wow…to bring a version of Starrcast to Australia, a country I have long wanted to visit, and which ranks as the biggest audience outside of North America for podcast listeners, is as an exciting as a project as I could plan for in 2023.”
“The fans of Australia are in for something super special in the unique combination of wrestling and fan engagement that I have built my brand and events around, as fans like me and those in Australia, deserve an annual event to celebrate what is great about professional wrestling.”
“Starrcast is a concept I am proud to have developed that should have its own version down under, that is a combination of the existing USA event and its success but with an Australian flavor – let’s spread some good old Vegemite in a showcase wrestling event down under!”