Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Great North Wrestling will return to Napanee’s Strathcona Paper Centre on June 29 to kick off summer with a card featuring a mix of established talent and future stars.
This show, which is sponsored by The Buckle in Kingston and Universal Plumbing and Sewer Services, marks the first GNW event in Napanee since 2017. Now under the leadership of Hay Bay resident Jack Kilby, a return to his hometown was at the top of his list. He’s teamed with Jeff Hoover to promote the event, who has been a big part in bringing wrestling events to the area.
“I wanted to actually run an event in the Strathcona Paper Centre, it just so happened that the stars aligned so to speak,” said Kilby. “We’ve got a really good show planned for June 29. I’m calling it the Napanee School’s Out Slam. I’m bringing in a couple of pretty big names and a WWF legend Paul Roma of the Young Stallions of Power and Glory and WCW and he was one of the Four Horsemen and the tag-team with Paul Orndorff, Mr. Wonderful, he’s going to be there to support. He’s going to do a meet and greet…he’s going to be there to support his good friend Mario Mancini, who competed in the WWF for 15 years in the 1980s into the 90s. He’s actually coming out of retirement to do a last match. That’s a big deal, this is going to be his last match ever.”
Also on the card is former WWE World Tag Team champion René Duprée. He’s currently involved in a storyline that saw him run afoul of the GNW vice-president.
“He’s competed for us, in the past he was the Canadian champion,” Kilby said of Duprée. “He was in Renfrew at our last show in November where he actually picked up a disqualification victory against the champion Magnum McLaren. He started demanding a title shot. He hit me in the head with a briefcase, concussed me. I was suffering the ill-effects of that for weeks. I’ve gone out and hired a hired gun if you will by the name of the Prodigy Nathan Banner who also was a title holder in Great North Wrestling in this past. He’s 6’4 and he weighs in excess of 300 pounds. In addition to being a real big man, he’s agile, he’s a phenomenal talent. What I’ve told René is, because I am the executive vice-president, I’ve told him if you want your title shot for the Canadian title, you’re not going to get that unless you beat Nathan Banner, which is almost a non-possibility. The best part for me is, if René fails to beat Nathan Banner, he’s going to be gone from Great North Wrestling for good.”
Former ECW star Angel Medina is also slated to enter the ring.
“He is coming in to defend a title he’s had for 10 years called the Hardcore Road Trip title,” Kilby said of Medina. “That’s from a series of shows that I met him at in 2013 and ’14 where I was doing security for those shows. He’s coming in to defend those titles for the first time in a decade against a man that is no stranger to us by the name of Big Daddy Roy, another big, big man in excess of about 300 pounds, but strong and agile. It’s going to be a barn burner.”
There will be some women’s action as well featuring Seleziya Sparx.
“It’s going to be quality, professional wrestling,” added Kilby.
Tickets are $34.90 for general admission and can be purchased online athttps://www.ticketweb.ca/event/great-north-wrestling-strathcona-paper-centre-tickets/13601783 or at the door the night of the event. The event is all ages.
Kilby hopes this show will be the start of a regular appearance in Napanee.
“It’s got a strong history of wrestling and I’m trying to run a circuit involving eastern Ontario and into Quebec and the towns that we run, we like to get it down again to where it was an annual event in towns such as Smiths Falls, and Renfrew and Napanee and Petawawa and put Napanee back on that schedule again,” said Kilby.