Bombs away for local wrestler

William Woodworth

A former Marlborough Boys’ College student turned pro wrestler has returned from running the ropes in Japan to lock horns with aspiring Kiwi wrestlers.

“The Kiwi Bomber” Taylor Adams, the alter-ego of Adam Taylor, is affiliated with Japanese company Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW), based in his adoptive Japanese hometown of Chiba.

New Zealanders would associate wrestling with the Bushwhackers Butch and Luke, but plenty of Kiwis populate the scene - including New Japan Pro Wrestling’s HENARE and Bad Luck Fale, WWE’s Dakota Kai, and ‘Switchblade’ Jay White and Toni Storm in All Elite Wrestling.

After eight years of wrestling, Adam dove in headfirst and flew to Japan in 2016 before even organising a place to even train.

“I really backed myself into a corner so fear of failure made me contact training dojos and wrestlers until it worked out but it shaped me as a person as well as a wrestler.”

Adam got hooked by wrestling at age 10 after watching the acclaimed 2003 Iron Man match on Smackdown between Brock

Lesnar and Kurt Angle but found Japanese wrestling more his style.

“The serious, harder hitting Japanese style of wrestling drew me in as they treat it like a sport more than classic American wrestling, but there’s amazing wrestling across the world.”

“I met my Japanese wrestling hero Kenta Kobashi at his gym a few weeks ago to train and talk to– he’s a legend with many incredible matches.”

“It’s hard to separate Adam Taylor and ‘The Kiwi Bomber Taylor Adams’. Pro wrestlers are all larger-than-life characters, but the ‘Kiwi Bomber’ gimmick is stoic and serious.”

Taylor models his matches after Kobashi’s hard-hitting style in single and tag team matches, while also showcasing 2AW matches with English commentary alongside friend Ayato Yoshida to make it more accessible to non-Japanese speakers.

“The regimented and perfectionist training in the Dojo, emphasising tiny incremental improvements every day, is completely different – it’s basically martial arts,” he says.

Since his last Japanese match in July, Taylor wrestled for Impact Pro Wrestling in Hawke’s Bay and Wellington’s Capital Pro Wrestling.

His homecoming is a tag team match for Valiant Pro All Star Wrestling at Richmond’s Club Waimea on Saturday August 26 – with more to come through Sep- tember before looking overseas again.

“Kiwi wrestlers returning and teaching is how pro wrestling grows, and it’s refreshing for international Kiwis to wrestle the new guys coming through.”

“Funnily enough I was booed in Nelson last time because I was announced as from Blenheim, but this time I’ll have family and friends in the crowd, but I hope that anyone as interested in wrestling as I was brings hometown support”.

Use code ‘PAPER20’ for 20 per cent off tickets to Valiant Pro All Star Wrestling show at Club Waimea in Richmond on Saturday August 26.