SuperSlam coming your way

“To be quite honest, Brakpan has always been a stronghold of professional wrestling in South Africa. If you take a look at the days of Jan Roets, Danie Brits and down to the days of Steve Eden when we were Africa Wrestling Alliance (AWA) that was on e.tv for two years,” said National Wrestling Federation (NWF) creative director Michael Potter as he discussed the event they host at the Brakpan Indoor Sports Centre.

The event labelled SuperSlam will be held on March 2. Potter said the NWF wants to bring back the excitement fans used to have for professional wrestling before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

“This is a mission statement from NWF saying, ‘We back, we bigger than ever’. We have new talent and old returning talent,” he said.

“It’s basically a nice night of reverence, a nice night of wrestling. We have big-guy fighting. I mean, that’s what pro wrestling is, right?”

Potter is excited about the new talent that will be on display.

“The top guy we have to look out for is Chris Kotze. He is our NWF heavyweight champion. This kid is amazing. He’s about 24 years old but is six foot four inches (1.93m), blond and muscular.

“The guy looks like what would happen if Brock Lesnar had a baby with John Cena. Incredible athlete,” said the creative director.

“I’d say the other guys are Mega Mandla and Leroy Jenkins.”

Potter is happy with the emergence of NWF because it caters for all wrestling fans.

“For a long time, professional wrestling in South Africa was a kind of thing where you had predominantly African federations and federations that were predominantly white.

“NWF has said, ’We are going to have a combination and make sure everyone is on the same page, and the demographics of the federation can reflect the demographics of the community’,” he said.

“It’s so nice that we have Chris Kotze, a big bruising Afrikaans guy, and then we have Mandla and Jenkins, fast-moving guys from the kasi who are unbelievably trained.

“These guys can do backflips, and the acrobatics are insane. Then there’s a young man named Matthew Hammar, a 10-year veteran of the sport but probably, in my opinion, the top competitor in the country right now.”

There are other veterans Potter wants Brakpan people to look out for.

“We must give it up for the Brakpan legend and staple, Crow. He has been wrestling for as long as I have been around.

“ You recognize him as soon as you see him – white face paint, black eye shadow, black trench coat. I don’t just call him a wrestler; he’s more of a fighter. He is the staple of East Rand wrestling,” he said.

“We also have Hector Payne, who’s been part of the fabric of pro wrestling history since the early 2000s. I can’t even speak about all the guys who are coming because there will be a few surprises.

“There will be a lot of returning favourites who will bring back a lot of nostalgia to the people of Brakpan.”

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