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47-554: Australasian Heavyweight Championship Details Date established 1938 Date retired 1968 Statistics First champion(s) Lofty Blomfield Final champion(s) Peter Maivia Most reigns Peter Maivia The New Zealand version of the NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling regional heavyweight championship recognized by

94-673: A jockey , he grew too big and began racing motorbikes in grass track competitions . He left school after only two years of secondary education and travelled around the country working at various jobs and eventually settled in Waikaremoana, where he became a taxi proprietor. He also began playing senior rugby during this time, competing in Auckland, Gisborne, Murchison and Nelson, and was selected to play for Auckland against Waikato in 1929 but he declined to play so he could compete in amateur wrestling . Returning to Auckland in 1930, he participated in

141-606: A 1999 house show in Toronto . If there is a title change, the title usually changes back during the same show or at another show on the loop before another televised event, like several titles changes of the WWE Hardcore Championship or when Booker T and Chris Benoit traded the WCW World Television Championship back-and-forth on several house shows, with Booker (the official champion) always having

188-420: A championship tournament to become the undisputed champion a month later. He also held the NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship which he lost to Ray Steele on 10 December 1938. That same year, Blomfield was scheduled to meet NWA World Heavyweight Champion Bronko Nagurski in a first-ever "champion vs. champion" match. Their match was to be one of the first international title defences to take place in

235-399: A live audience, and with the increase in number of pay-per-view events held by promotions, angles are now typically developed during weekly shows, and resolved during the next pay-per-view (or, on occasion, a special episode of the series), rendering house shows to be mostly minor events with no long-term story significance. Since house shows are not televised, promotions do not usually deploy

282-699: A new stage was introduced that closer-resembles the stages used by televised events at the time. During the first brand extension , each WWE tour was exclusive to either the Raw or SmackDown brand. This remained the case through 2012, even after the first brand extension ended in 2011 on televised programming. In 2013, the shows were rebranded as "WWE Live", with NXT house shows subsequently branded as "NXT Live". After WrestleMania 38 in April 2022, WWE began to brand house shows held on weekends as "Saturday Night's Main Event" (reviving

329-837: A one-time Prime Minister of New Zealand , was also a supporter and several caucus meetings were stopped at 6pm, and resumed at 10am the following morning, so that members could attend wrestling events at the Town Hall when Blomfield was making a title defence. Blomfield held the national title for well over a decade and retired as champion on 7 June 1949. Throughout his career, Blomfield vigorously defended professional wrestling and denied frequent charges that matches were rigged. In New Zealand alone, he had wrestled 490 matches with 272 wins, 105 losses and 113 draws; his combined amateur and professional bouts between 1929 and 1949 totaled an estimated 1,200 in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Mexico, Canada and

376-455: A professional wrestler. He first travelled to Australia, in order to build up his experience, and worked in Sydney posing as a Canadian wrestler under the name Walter Browning. Though Blomfield had mixed success there, he won popularity with fans for his "non-stop aggressive style". He briefly returned to New Zealand in 1934, where he first wrestled under the name Lofty Blomfield, before heading to

423-585: A small fee, the money gained for the IHC was substantial. Blomfield died in Whangārei on 29 June 1971, at the age of 62. He was survived by his then wife, June, and two of their children as well as two others from his first marriage and one from a long relationship during the divorce to June Nearly thirty years after his death, Blomfield was officially inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame becoming

470-673: A successful hotelier in the years after his retirement, as Publican of the Whangarei Hotel, as well as being a noted sportsman . He was a member of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club, a founding member of both the Northland Trotting Club, the Whangarei Powerboat Association, and sponsored countless athletic organisations in Whangārei and Northland, most notably, Whangarei Inter-house rugby. He

517-411: Is abandoned. References [ edit ] ^ "Australasian Heavyweight Title (New Zealand)" . Wrestling-Titles.com . Puroresu Dojo. 2003 . Retrieved 8 July 2010 . ^ "Keeps Title" . Sydney Morning Herald . November 25, 1950. ^ Slagle, Steve (2000). "High Chief Peter Maivia" . Photos & Bios: The Stories Behind

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564-565: Is credited for inventing "The Octopus Clamp", an early version of the Scorpion Deathlock , and is the longest reigning heavyweight champion in the history of professional wrestling in New Zealand . In addition to the national title, Blomfield also held the NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship and the NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship . In 1938, he became the first New Zealander to wrestle for

611-764: Is unrecorded. 3 Ken Kenneth 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A 4 Al Costello 1 1951 N/A N/A N/A — N/A — 1951-1964 — N/A N/A Title history is unrecorded. 5 Kangaroo Kennedy 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A 6 Peter Maivia 2 1964 N/A Auckland, New Zealand Live event 7 Steve Rickard 1 1968 N/A N/A Live event 8 Peter Maivia 2 1968 192 Auckland Live event — Deactivated — 1968 — N/A N/A The title

658-569: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship when he fought then champion Bronko Nagurski to a time-limit draw. He also had a successful amateur career winning the Auckland and New Zealand heavyweight titles prior to becoming a professional wrestler. Blomfield wrestled 490 matches in New Zealand and an estimated 1,200 matches in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Mexico, Canada and the United States between 1929 and 1949. Blomfield became

705-701: The National Wrestling Alliance and competed for by wrestlers in the Australasian region . It was largely defended in New Zealand's Dominion Wrestling Union from around 1938 to 1951 and in All Star Pro Wrestling from 1964 to 1968. The earliest-known champion was New Zealand wrestler Lofty Blomfield who defended the title until losing it to American wrestler Ray Steele in Auckland on December 12, 1938. Peter Maivia and Steve Rickard feuded over

752-664: The New Zealand Army . He served both at home and abroad in Egypt reaching the rank of sergeant major prior to his discharge at the end of the war. His second wife, Lily May Balenzuela, died in 1945 and married a third time to Heather June Ingley on 20 February 1946. Shocker Shaw , New Zealand SAS soldier and founder of the Armed Offenders Squad , was friend of Blomfield's and often visited him when in Whangarei. Peter Fraser ,

799-589: The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame . He is the first and only wrestler, amateur or professional, to be an inductee. He was also profiled in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and featured in a special editorial by the Northern Advocate in 1999. In 2009, Blomfield was named one of the "Top Ten New Zealand Born Wrestlers" by Fight Times Magazine and ranked #1 of the country's top ten favourite wrestlers by The New Zealand Herald . Meynell Strathmore Blomfield

846-764: The WCW Cruiserweight Championship on an unspecified house show (thereby giving the title to Psychosis), after WCW management was forced to drop Lane's gimmick that was perceived as offensive by the GLAAD . The phrase has been used to pejoratively describe WWE pay-per-views intended primarily for specific markets, including UK-only pay-per-views such as Insurrextion and Rebellion , and WWE's events in Saudi Arabia . In 2019, Shawn Michaels defended his one-off return at WWE's 2018 Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia (reuniting D-Generation X to participate in

893-474: The face wrestlers win most matches, largely to send the crowd home happy. If a heel defends a title, the face may win by disqualification, preventing the title from changing hands. Until the 1990s, most televised professional wrestling programs were taped weeks in advance in small studios and featured primarily matches with lesser-known wrestlers while interviews revolved around feuds between upper level talent that were to be settled at an upcoming major show at

940-447: The 20 February 1946 was to occur resulting in three children being born, a daughter and two sons. They were divorced in 1958. A further relationship with a Whangarei landowner was to eventuate with one female child being born. Blomfield was also to father a further two children. In all a total of 9 issue. Encouraged by his successes in the amateur ranks, and inspired by foreign wrestlers competing overseas, Blomfield decided to become

987-592: The Northland IHC branch and established St. Nicholas Home and Blomfield Special School and Resource Centre . The school was later named in his honour. Among his more memorable fundraising ideas, Blomfield would start building "penny piles" on the counter of the hotel's public bar and any patrons would be obliged to offer spare pennies to the pile. Blomfield actually "camped out" in front of the penny piles to guard them from would-be thieves. These penny piles grew so large in size that when they were finally knocked down, for

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1034-714: The Ropes On the Mat Other NZPWI Invitational WWE in New Zealand Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NWA_Australasian_Heavyweight_Championship&oldid=1240764063 " Categories : National Wrestling Alliance championships Heavyweight wrestling championships Intercontinental professional wrestling championships Lofty Blomfield Sgt. Major Meynell Strathmore Blomfield (18 July 1908 – 29 June 1971); also known as Lofty

1081-558: The Rougeau's home town of Montreal. This change (and the eventual "decision reversal") was only ever mentioned during segments taped specifically for and shown in the Montreal market. A fictional house show can be used to explain a sudden vacation or change of a title caused due to backstage issues on television. For example, on October 4, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro , the commentators stated that Psychosis had defeated Lenny Lane for

1128-3228: The Stars . Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame . Archived from the original on 17 March 2006 . Retrieved 8 July 2010 . ^ Hunter, Ian (February 27, 2008). "Torch Trivia: Test your knowledge - and learn new things - about latest WWE Hall of Fame entrants" . Torch Trivia . Pro Wrestling Torch . Retrieved 26 July 2010 . ^ Hunter, Ian (March 5, 2008). "Torch Trivia: Test your knowledge - and learn new things - about WrestleMania history" . Torch Trivia . Pro Wrestling Torch . Retrieved 26 July 2010 . v t e [REDACTED] Professional wrestling in Australia Promotions Current Explosive Pro Wrestling Impact Pro Wrestling Australia Melbourne City Wrestling Riot City Wrestling World Series Wrestling Former AWA Superstars of Wrestling Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin I-Generation Superstars of Wrestling Pro Wrestling Women's Alliance World Championship Wrestling World Wrestling All-Stars Wrestling Alliance of Australia Australian championships Australian Heavyweight Championship Australian Light Heavyweight Championship Australian Middleweight Championship Australian Tag Team Championship NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (Australian version) World Brass Knuckles Championship (Australian version) World Light Heavyweight Championship (Australian version) WSW World Heavyweight Championship Other Impact Down Under Tour WWE in Australia v t e [REDACTED] Professional wrestling in New Zealand Promotions Current Impact Pro Wrestling New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling Southern Pro Wrestling Former Dominion Wrestling Union New Zealand championships Current IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship SPW New Zealand Championship SPW New Zealand Tag Team Championship Former He Toa Cup NWA Australasian Heavyweight Championship NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship (New Zealand version) NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship Television programming Ignition Mana Mamau Off

1175-483: The United States. Walter Miller , then booking agent for the Dominion Wrestling Union , was so impressed by Blomfield that he managed to convince Blomfield to return to his native country to compete exclusively for his promotion. Miller was then bringing in major international talent to New Zealand but felt he needed a strong New Zealand-born wrestler as a legitimate challenger to these newcomers. Blomfield

1222-541: The United States. He remains the longest reigning champion in New Zealand's wrestling history . After his retirement, Blomfield became a hotelier and took over the licence of the Whangarei Hotel where he and his wife Heather June were popular hosts in the area for many years. A well-known sportsman, Blomfield was a member of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers club and helped form the Northland Trotting Club and

1269-609: The WWF Championship from Bob Backlund in 1994 at a live event in Madison Square Garden . There have also been occasions when title changes occur but are not recognized by the promotion. Some notable house show title changes include an August 10, 1987 match where The Rougeau Brothers ( Raymond and Jacques ) won over the champion Hart Foundation ( Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart ) to take the WWF Tag Team championship in

1316-525: The Whangarei Powerboat Association. He also financed a large number of sporting competitions and organizations in Whangarei and Northland such as Whangarei Inter house rugby. Blomfield was a lifelong supporter of many charities, especially those dealing with mentally handicapped children (one of his children was born mentally handicapped), and served as president of the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Association . He later founded

1363-419: The advent of WWE Network , WWE has televised portions of what are otherwise house shows as hour-long specials on the service, such as Starrcade —an event that shares the name with the flagship pay-per-view of the now-defunct WCW (whose assets were acquired by WWE), and The Shield's Final Chapter —a special which featured Dean Ambrose 's final WWE appearance with his stable The Shield before his departure from

1410-588: The branding of a former WWE television series ) and "Sunday Night Stunner". Because house shows are not televised, sometimes controversial things occur during them (although this is rare) which might not happen on a televised show. For example, on May 19, 1996, the MSG "Curtain Call" , which was also a rare example of a shoot , occurred at a house show taped at Madison Square Garden . At the same show, The Bodydonnas lost their WWF Tag Team Championship to The Godwinns . With

1457-526: The country and was expected to attract over 40,000 people. In negotiations with NWA promoters Toots Mondt , Lou Daro and Tony Stecher, Miller agreed to pay Nagurski the largest guarantee ever offered a boxer or wrestler in the Southern Hemisphere. Nagurski cancelled the trip at the last minute, however, and the two met in Vancouver instead where they fought to a time-limit draw on 17 March 1938. Blomfield

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1504-569: The first and only wrestler, amateur or professional, to be included. A bronze bust of Blomfield was donated to the Hall of Fame by the Lofty Blomfield Family Trust. Inscribed are the words "Momentum requieris circumspice" ("If you seek a monument look about you"). Winston McCarthy , a popular radio commentator, dedicated an entire episode of his "Sportsman of the Week" programme to Blomfield. and

1551-508: The first national amateur championships hosted by the New Zealand Wrestling Union and won the Auckland and New Zealand heavyweight titles. Blomfield first married Agnes Myra Lawton at Wairoa on 14 July 1927 resulting in two children born of this marriage. The two divorced 10 years later in 1937 and Blomfield then married Lily May Balenzuela on the 2 June 1937. There was one child born of this union. A further marriage to on

1598-411: The promotion's flagship venues. Prior to the 1980s, these were house shows, though with the advent of closed-circuit television , and later pay-per-view , these became televised events as well. Later on in the 1990s, the advent of weekly shows such as WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro , where competitive matches between upper level talent and storylines play out as they happen in front of

1645-583: The promotion. Starting in March 2023, All Elite Wrestling launched a series of house shows under the "House Rules" brand. Most major promotions try to develop their angles only during televised shows and will rarely book a major development (such as a title change) for house shows. House show title changes can occur both to gauge how fans would react to a certain outcome, and allow for outcomes that would appeal to local fans—such as Edge winning his first WWF Intercontinental Championship over Jeff Jarrett at

1692-557: The promotion. They would have a total of 28 bouts against each other with McCready winning 17, Blomfield 2, eight draws, and one no-contest when the referee was injured. Both men later become close friends during their career. By 1936, he had become the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Champion . He briefly lost the title to Dean Detton in Auckland on 22 August 1938, but regained the belt five days later. He also defeated another claimant, Pat Fraley, on 10 September and won

1739-481: The same setup for staging or pyrotechnics used for their television counterparts. In the past, a WWE house show would consist mainly of a ring, essential lighting, and a crowd. In late 2011, WWE invested US$ 1.5 million in production improvements, which included three LED -lit entrance stages (one each for Raw and SmackDown , and one backup) featuring a ramp and video display, and leveraging venues' existing AV equipment for multimedia such as entrances . As of 2021,

1786-532: The title back in time for Nitro . Edge similarly lost the aforementioned Intercontinental Championship back to Jarrett at Fully Loaded the next evening in Buffalo . Even rarer is the top title of a promotion changing hands. This has occurred relatively few times, notable occurrences include Bret Hart winning the then- WWF Championship from Ric Flair in 1992 at a live event in Saskatchewan and Diesel winning

1833-431: The title during the mid-1960s with Maivia regaining the title in 1968 shortly before it was abandoned. Much of the title's history is unknown, however, there were 7 officially recognized champions during the three decades it was defended. Title history [ edit ] # Order in reign history Reign The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed Event The event in which

1880-685: The title was won — Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign N/A The information is not available or is unknown + Indicates the current reign is changing daily Reigns [ edit ] # Wrestlers Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref. 1 Lofty Blomfield 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A Earliest known champion. 2 Ray Steele 1 December 10, 1938 N/A Auckland, New Zealand Live event — N/A — 1938-1951 — N/A N/A Title history

1927-619: Was a New Zealand professional wrestler , also known by another ring name; that of Walter Browning . Lofty was arguably the country's most popular wrestler during the 1930s and 40s. He competed primarily for promoter Walter Miller and the Dominion Wrestling Union for nearly 20 years where he defended the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship against many of the top stars of the National Wrestling Association from 1936 until his retirement 1949. He

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1974-482: Was also involved in numerous charity fundraisers and organizations, especially those involving mentally handicapped children, and served as president of the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Association . He later founded the Northland IHC and the Blomfield Special School and Resource Centre in Whangārei, the latter institution being named in his honour. In 1990, Blomfield was officially inducted into

2021-473: Was also profiled in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography plus; featured in a special editorial by the Northern Advocate in 1999. In September 2006, Blomfield was one of several Whangārei athletes including former All Black Ian Jones , Black Stick field hockey player Charlotte Harrison, and triathlete Sam Warriner portrayed in a community theatre production of "Way to Go" starring 320 students and 14 staff members of Hurupaki School . The play

2068-412: Was an instant success with crowds in New Zealand. His popularity was helped by announcer Gordon Hutter's vivid commentaries during radio broadcasts of his matches. His finishing move, " The Octopus Clamp ", was especially popular with fans. During his early career, he was a rival with NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Champion Earl McCready . The two wrestled to a time-limit draw during his first year with

2115-479: Was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 18 July 1908, to newspaper cartoonist John Collis Blomfield and Edith Amelia (Amy) Shakespear. His uncle was William (Bill) Blomfield, the second mayor of Takapuna , (whom Blomfield Spa is named after). His family moved to Takapuna and, while still a child, he began working with horses there by visiting stables and doing track work for local trainers. Though Blomfield hoped to be

2162-417: Was directed by actress Jan Fisher, best known as Mrs. Doslic from the comedy television series Outrageous Fortune . In March 2009, Fight Times Magazine ranked Blomfield #3 of the "Top Ten New Zealand Born Wrestlers". That same month, Chris Rattue named Blomfield the country's #1 favourite wrestler in an article for The New Zealand Herald . House show House shows are also often scripted to make

2209-541: Was the first New Zealander to challenge for the NWA World title and would wrestle five world champions during his professional career in New Zealand. Blomfield feuded with another NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Champion, John Katan, and defeated him for the title in Wellington on 7 August 1940. The following month, he lost the championship to Katan in Auckland. After New Zealand entered World War II , Blomfield enlisted in

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