His opponent, Josh Shooter, is still in his street clothes—somewhat snug footy shorts and a singlet. He tugs on the singlet so frequently that it’s hard not to feel anxious when near him. Like a rubber band drawn to its limits, it seems plausible that Josh might snap at any moment.

“The only reason we don’t kick each other’s teeth in is because we want to do this five days a week,” says Shooter, the current Heavyweight Champion of local Victorian promotion New Age Wrestling (NAW). “It’s just all about business.”

NAW is just one of dozens of small wrestling promotions currently operating throughout Australia. It regularly stages shows at Melbourne community halls, RSL clubs and pubs. The average grappler can make around $100 per bout.

“A lot of guys understand that wrestling here is either a part-time or casual job, and they treat it as such,” says Mark Mercedes, co-promoter of NSW-based promotion IWA Pro-Wrestling. “But the guys who are more serious about it try to make money elsewhere.”

Mercedes is one of the few Australians in recent times to get anywhere near the big stages—and big money—of American wrestling. In the 1990s, he performed in front of tens of thousands of people on the same bills as US legends such as Hulk Hogan, Paul ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Orndorff and the Junkyard Dog. Mercedes tells us that timing is as vital as talent when it comes to finding fame in the USA, citing the career of Aussie wrestler Peter Stilsbury, aka Outback Jack, as an example.

“Back in the days of WCW [World Championship Wrestling] and Outback Jack, they were looking for very gimmicky wrestlers, and Outback Jack’s gimmick came with [the success of] Crocodile Dundee. It was the right place and the right time. When you’re trying to break overseas, unless you’re over there [in America], constantly in their face, it’s very easy to be forgotten.”

“WWE is not going to worry about going overseas and looking for talent when [it's] got so much happening in America,” says wrestling historian Barry York. “America’s population is more than 10 times ours, so it’s reasonable to think there is 10 times as many up-and-coming pro wrestlers there.

“And the Australian market isn’t that significant. If they had a guy who entered the ring with a slouch hat or a boomerang, it might make it a bit more interesting for an Australian audience, but they’re not going to stop watching if there’s no Australian in the WWE. So there’s no great economic incentive to recruit from the Australian talent pool, which must be very frustrating for locals.”

While the US is pro wrestling’s financial promised land, it’s not the only option for Aussie grapplers with international aspirations. New Japan Pro Wrestling, which is screened during primetime on Japan’s Asahi TV, is actually more popular with purists than the American product, mainly because it values athleticism over soap-opera acting skills.

Melbourne wrestler, Krackerjack, whose body looks like it’s been through a mincer thanks to the ultra-violent barbed-wire matches he’s been involved in, spent some time in Japan in 2005.

“Wrestling is a national pastime in Japan,” Krackerjack tells Penthouse. “It’s not as counter-cultural as it is in Australia. It’s been popular ever since the end of World War II, so [Japan] has its own legends of the business over there.

“They do shows that regularly draw 20,000 people and even the small independent shows I was working were getting 500 to 1000, and they were running those shows three or four times a week.”

Consequently, World Championship Wrestling Australia was established and shown on TV from 1964, taking wrestling to the mainstream. Ron Miller, who co-owned WCWA from 1976, says Channel Nine chose to drop wrestling from its schedule at the end of 1978, thanks in part to its interest in World Series Cricket.

This decision triggered local promotions to fold, and while some continued to stage events at small clubs in the 1980s, things were never the same again.

Back at the Maltese Cultural Centre, better known tonight as the ‘NAW Arena’, a colourful cast of oddballs make flamboyant entrances to the ring, accompanied by cheesy hard-rock theme music.

The two standouts tonight are Iron Horse Morrison, an Andre the Giant-type brute with the fluency of movement of a slasher-flick goon, and Mickey ‘Fantabulous’ Jackson, a showboating pretty boy who grabs a female audience member’s drink and erotically pours it all over himself as he climbs into the squared circle.

The hundred or so hardcore fans snap photos with everything from high-end SLRs to smartphones, and clearly enjoy themselves as they cheer on the heroes and heckle the villains. BIG Huss and Josh Shooter demonstrate athleticism and genuine technical skill befitting the main event, and the ebullient atmosphere of the crowd conveys that this evening has been a fun night out, and 15 bucks well spent.

While wrestling for the NAW won’t make these guys household names or wealthy superstars, they will keep competing for as long as they can, because while Australian wrestling may be down on the canvas, it’s not ready to tap out just yet…