When did you first start watching pro wrestling, and what intrigued you to become a fan?

I first started watching wrestling in February 1998 with Nitro. The story that grabbed me was the lead up to the Mask vs Title match between Chris Jericho and Juventud Guerrera. It was a combination of the cruiserweights and the characters that kept me interested. Guys like Sting, Nash, Hogan and Hall as well as Shawn Michaels from the 3-month old episodes of Superstars that came through on Sports Australia.

When did you first hear about the Australian wrestling scene, and what were your first impressions?

Well I went to the Superstars of Wrestling show in Brisbane in 2000, that was my first taste of live wrestling. In late 2004 I discovered a wrestling forum called The Sell. On there I saw mention of a Major Impact Wrestling show in Warwick. I told my Dad and mate Shane about it and so on the first weekend of 2005 we drove to Warwick to watch our first local show. I had fun and was impressed. In retrospect most of it was awe. We then started going to the MIW shows in Southport after that.

When did you start considering actually getting involved in wrestling?

As soon as I saw it of course! I started training in 2008 at the PWAQ school under Mason Childs and Esteban Molina. In May 2008 due to a no show I was asked to referee the Rise of the Warriors shows. I refereed through to November of that year. With PWAQ booking the talent they were booking at the time I got to ref an awesome array of talent.

Was promoting shows something you were thinking of at this time, or were you happy to be a referee or do other duties?

Well I'd always seen the creative side of wrestling as something that really interested me. At that time though I just wanted to get into the business. So booking shows was a long-term goal, but not something I was really in a position to pursue at the time.

What led to the decision to start Pacific Pro Wrestling, and what are your long term goals for the company?

Well after successfully booking a PROWL Wrestling show in February 2012 I had the taste for it. It had always been a plan to start a promotion and upon consultation with my now co-promoter Mark, we decided that now was the time (back in October). We ran our first Pacific Pro branded show in February 2013.

We've started running shows in the Ipswich area which various other promotions have had success in, but never really managed to capitalise on it. Our goal though is to expand and get the brand out there and known across the country, and eventually... world domination! Big goals I know. We're planning to start the DVD market - an area a lot of promotions nation-wide seem to overlook and our online video component (coming soon) pretty much should open us up worldwide.

Ideally I want Pacific Pro Wrestling to be the name people associate with wrestling in Australia. Similar to how you think of AAA or CMLL for Mexico, New Japan or NOAH for Japan, WXW in Germany and so on. Of course not to take away from or disparage the works of promotions like EPW, Zero1 Aust, PWA, MCW, Warzone and the like (who are a lot closer to it than we are). It's a goal we've got and it's something to aim towards. I want to put on the best possible shows, with the best possible talent to reach the biggest possible audience.

Talk us through the days leading up to First Strike (February 16, 2013). What were the expectations and were you pleased with the overall quality of the debut?

Well having six months to prepare for the first show was really one of the best decisions we'd made. We'd constantly refer back to our to-do list and it really came into line nicely.