By Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
A trio of WWE ‘Attitude Era’ stars will headline Great North Wrestling’s return to Napanee on Sept. 30, set to take place at the Community Arena at 170 York St.
Gangrel, best known from his time with the WWE as a member of The Brood .where he partnered with superstars Edge and Christian, will headline the Napanee event. Known for his gothic and vampire-like demeanour, he’ll take on GNW’s reigning Canadian Champion Hannibal in a title match.
“I think it’s going to be a very hard hitting match and that he will be an extremely tough opponent but I believe I will retain the Canadian Championship because I have youth on my side, am more technical of a wrestler than he is and I also have the strength advantage despite him still being in top shape,” said Devon Nicholson, who wrestles under the name Hannibal. “It will be a big match for me.”
Also on the bill will be three time WWE tag team champion ‘Quebecer’ Jean Pierre taking on two-time Canadian Champion Jeremy Prophet, while former WWE legend Flash Funk will face off against ‘The Prodigy’ Nathan Banner.
British star Ad Hutchinson will also be in town, wrestling against Catalyst.
GNW’s Women’s Championship belt will also be on the line when the reigning champion Lady Yasmine takes on Ailani Iolana.
A tag match featuring Freak Nation against The Bruiser and The Crimson Shadow is also on the bill, as is an appearance by Napanee’s own Harley Davidson.
“There hasn’t been much wrestling in Napanee in recent years,” said Nicholson, who also works as a promoter for GNW. “It’s not only going to be great wrestling but it’s going to be recorded for our Youtube channel, which has over 41,000 subscribers. We also have a television deal with a French television station called Channel Z, which airs all across Canada. It’s going to be a pretty big set up, definitely the best production value we’ve had in Napanee.”
This will mark the third time GNW has hosted an event in Napanee, the previous two at the Strathcona Paper Centre. Nicholson says the York Street arena will make for a better setting as they can set up over head lighting and make the arena dark when need be to help create an atmosphere.
Advanced tickets for the event are $10 and available at La Pizzeria in Napanee, or will be $15 at the door the night of the event. The first match gets underway at 7:30 p.m.
Nicholson says GNW has been well received in their previous visits to Napanee, drawing 750 fans when they held an event headlined by Brutus Beefcake in 2009 and 650 people when Hacksaw Jim Duggan came to town in 2011.
Nicholson says now that he’s seen the York Street arena, GNW hopes to make a stop in Napanee an annual visit every September going forward.