AustralianWrestling.org interviews Greg Prowse, promoter of PROWL Wrestling in Queensland - days before PROWL's February show in Ipswich, QLD.

When did you start watching wrestling?

I remember being in sixth grade and someone brought in a few of the old WWF magazines, and one of them was a Spotlight on Hawk and Animal. They were the first from memory that really jumped off the pages, up until then I had no idea pro wrestling existed. From there I was lucky the local video store had a big shelf of tapes, bought a few magazines here and there.


Who were some of your favourites growing up?

Hulk Hogan was the man, at least when I was watching the old videos. Not having internet and up to date programming, I was watching 80s stuff on the tapes in the early 90s, when Hulk was kinda being phased out of the WWF. But those tapes I watched were Hogan as the undisputed king of the WWF. I gravitated towards the guys that got me interested in the first place, such as the Legion of Doom. Guys like Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Andre the Giant - there were so many.


Why did you start PROWL?

I was a small kid in school when I first discovered wrestling, and as I mentioned earlier, I was watching all the 80s stuff, when if a wrestler wasn't at least 250-300 pounds, he wasnt in the hunt for an upper card push. So I never seriously envisioned myself ever being a wrestler. I remember renting a video, I think it was one of the old Supertapes, and they had a "fan requested match" from someone purported to be from Melbourne. Whether this fan really existed, I dont know. But when they said it was someone from Melbourne who requested a match for the tape, I got the idea that maybe there was a shot for me to start my own company, and be Vince McMahon, etc.

When I found out about Australian wrestling and ECW in high school, that really accelerated my thoughts about starting a wrestling company. AWF was the first Australian company I really got interested in, because they were going the Psychoticslam shows with Sabu, Marty Jannetty, Chris Candido and Sunny, Gladiator Vulkan, etc. That was a big deal for me to not only discover there was a local wrestling fraternity, but they're bringing out people I had seen on these tapes.

ECW was a big influence, first I saw was a Cactus Jack compilation, with matches against Sabu, who I became a big fan of after watching that tape. The whole aura of ECW intrigued me. Here was a company that didnt have the bright lights and big stars of WWF and WCW as I was accustomed to, but had a rabid audience, the action was fast and furious, and was a little more close to reality then some of the goofiness you saw in WWF and WCW (especially as the early 90s tapes rolled in).

So to summarise, in looking at companies like AWF and ECW, there was a glimmer of hope that perhaps one day I could start my own company, and that wrestling wasnt necessarily all about million dollar production and jacked up superstars.


What role has Jason Frost played in the creation of PROWL?

I know this is breaking "kayfabe" but Jason is one of my best friends in life. He helped out a lot when many people put us down and didnt credit us with even getting to our first show. Jason still stuck with us, even though he never wrestled he had done training with companies like XSE, so he taught those rudimentary basics and psychology to guys like Rip Reilly and Silver Dragon. He was honest in telling the guys there was only so much he could teach, so then we reached out to interstate talent, guys like Jake Nova also came into the fold. Later we had guys like Tama Williams and Mimic do seminars on the day of the shows. There was a lot that happened because of Jason, and I will always be thankful and appreciative.


How do you feel PROWL's first year went on the whole?

Started shaky, finished on a higher note. The more experienced guys that have come over like Mason Childs, Josh Haze etc have helped out a lot in the standard of training and the matches so we finished the year much stronger then at the beginning.


What has been your favourite match in PROWL so far?


I actually liked the first main event we had, between Jake Nova and Jordan James. It was quite heated, Jake took some great bumps, Jordan was actually over! Just a shame about the table, I think its on Botchamania or somewhere on Youtube.

I also liked the triple threat from Back in Black I think it was, Phoenix versus Jake Nova versus Seth Gunner. It was a last minute addition, and it came off pretty well.

More recently, I liked Mark Davis against Josh Haze, and not to jinx it, but really keen to see the triple threat at Ipswich between Davis, Robbie Eagles and Mitch McCarthy.


If you could book any international talent - money aside - who would you book?

Tough question, I'm not sure to be honest. I would have liked to have booked Kijimuna against Mason. To be honest I'm not really sure because international talent hasn't really been on my agenda.

Interview conducted by Chris Dalgleish.