- She will make her PWA debut in October
- Tag team match against the Australian champion
- It comes after a beating in football.
What started with a few beers at a Newtown Jets match turned into former NRL player James Graham taking on the challenge of taking on professional fighters at their own game.
The former Bulldogs and St. George Illawarra mainstay will officially make his professional wrestling debut on October 13 at Sydney’s Metro Theatre with Pro Wrestling Australia (PWA).
He will team up with Jack J. Bonza in a tag team match against The Regime, consisting of Ricky ‘The Example’ South and Backman Lex.
And it all happened after some friendly football chats took a sinister turn.
Graham was enjoying some downtime at the Beer Footy & Food Festival at Henson Park in July this year when he met the PWA organisers, who urged him to give it a go.
Not taking the conversation entirely seriously, Graham half-heartedly agreed, earning the ire of Australian heavyweight champion South, who said he “wouldn’t last two minutes” in the ring.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to actually train for something,” Graham said on his podcast, wryly.
“I’m totally out of my element.”
The fires were fanned when South made a radio appearance on Triple M where she was told Graham had been dismissing her comments.
Australian heavyweight fighter Ricky ‘The Example’ South has called out former NRL executive James Graham to step into the ring
Graham never took a step back in his playing career and has no intention of starting to take one now before his wrestling debut.
And suddenly the former NRL star was called upon to make his wrestling debut and put his words into practice.
“I’ve been called out for this. I’ve been told to get in the ring, anytime, anywhere,” he said.
Sur launched the challenge on Instagram.
“I heard on Triple M Sunday Scrum that a certain James Graham decided to speak a bit badly about the PWA and The Example Ricky South,” he said.
‘Well, listen, bro, James Graham, you may be one of the greatest strikers of all time, but I’m the best professional wrestler in the world.
‘Graham, if you ever want to get in the ring with The Example and delve into the world of PWA, you have an open invitation from The Example.’
South had initially scoffed at suggestions that Graham could succeed in the wrestling ring.
Graham is a lifelong wrestling fan and wants to prove he has the “minerals” to put his money where his mouth is.
Graham then invited South onto his podcast, where he was formally challenged and accepted the challenge.
“He’s challenging me. And if you want to challenge me and if you want to fight and prove your point and see if you’ve got the guts, let’s do it,” South said.
“Do I have the guts?” Graham laughed. “Let’s do it then. Let’s do it.”
“I’m not the kind of person who says he’s going to do something and then regrets it, I’m not going to lock myself into my plans,” he said.
South stood by his original comments and said he didn’t think Graham would be able to back up his words in the ring.
“Brutality is going to be present,” Graham said.