Mana Mamau: The Greatest Show On Earth

Is there a better show on TV than Mana Mamau? I doubt it.

Mana Mamau’s professional wrestling from New Zealand’s IPW harks back to the old school 1960’s and 70’s World Championship Wrestling, but with the added treat of commentary in Maori.

Until I saw Mana Mamau, I had believed they just don’t make wrestling like they used to. Here’s a WCW clip from the early 70’s of the “Golden Greek” Spiros Arion vs Abdullah The Butcher. Where else would you hear commentary such as:

“Because the Butcher’s Axe from the top rope has been declared illegal in 17 countries”.

Here’s another WCW clip from 1973: Abdullah The Butcher & Bulldog Brower vs Mark Lewin & Killer Karl Kox in a tag team match, which of course ended in chaos.

And of course, my all time favourite, Bruiser Brody, seen in this video clip against Texas Red, who would later appear in the WWF as The Undertaker.

Now here’s Kingi vs Dal Knox for the IPW heavyweight championship, with an awesome, modern variant of the aeroplane spin, plus a tag team match.

You don’t get entertainment like this in the NRL without a streaker.

Looking at the IPW’s roster, what they are lacking is a couple of big, fat blokes. They have a man mountain in 6’10” former MMA fighter Reuben De Jong, but what they need to round out the stable is an old school fatman like King Kong Bundy.

Surely there are sufficiently many Bundy sized Islanders in NZ to rectify this problem. Slamming them would be a true test for Reuben De Jong. In spite of this oversight, in Mana Mamau vs the WWE, it’s TAHI! RUA! TORA! to Mana Mamau!