Southern Showdown hits Melbourne and Sydney this weekend, two cities in the south east corner of Australia. Mikey Nicholls is from Perth, on the south western corner of the country, a 3400km distance away. From a Japanese perspective, that’s a distance greater than from northernmost Hakodate to Kyushu in the south, but distance won’t be a factor in Festival Hall on Friday June 29. Mikey will be home.

‘As big as Australia is, there’s a small town mentality,’ Nicholls comments. ‘Wherever you’re from, as long as you’re from Australia itself, you’ll be embraced by the people there.’ For a wrestling community that has only garnered global attention in recent years, Nicholls was an early international ambassador, rising from a barely visible Perth indie scene in the early 2000s. For Mikey, the glory days of Jim Barnett’s WCW Australia, where the soundtrack of weekend lunchtimes was Jack Little’s growling voice relaying the technical expertise of Ron Miller and the dropkicks of Mario Milano, were the stuff of family folk legends.

‘Perth itself actually had a big scene back in the day. I remember my dad telling stories of his grandmother, my great grandmother taking him to the wrestling there. I grew up hearing all this stuff, but by the time I got into wrestling, it was a distant memory. When I got into wrestling myself, it was a matter of  “right, somebody has to get in there and get this ball rolling”‘.   

For Nicholls to help Australian wrestling get the traction it deserved, he would have to gain notoriety on the global stage. At 18, with ‘no real plan, the Internet wasn’t much of a thing then, either. I just knew to get to LA,’ Nicholls took a gamble on himself and booked a plane ticket to California. Eventually he would end up in the original LA Dojo, where a veritable who’s who of professional wrestling honed their skills. 

‘The La Dojo exemplified everything I loved about wrestling,’ Nicholls explains. ‘It had the discipline, the hard training, everything I felt I needed. It was one of the best times of my life, honestly. Prince Devitt, Karl Anderson, Alex Koslov, who came through Mexico and Japan later on. Rocky Romero of course, who has been instrumental in my career. He’s been a real mentor.’

Romero would be the driving force behind Nicholls joining CHAOS in 2019, but it was in a different team that he found fame both in Australia and Japan. The Mighty Don’t Kneel would be a strong force that included rising prospects Jonah Rock and Slex at home, while Nicholls and partner Shane Haste spread TMDK’s message in Pro Wrestling NOAH. It was there that Nicholls became two time GHC Tag Team Champion, and engaged in a series of both tag and singles battles with KENTA. Rivals became friends when they shared a Stateside employer.

‘When we were in WWE together we became quite good friends. It was a whole different world there, different circumstances (to NOAH). I’m really excited to see him in the G1.’ 

KENTA and Nicholls would both leave WWE and find their way into a New Japan ring in 2019. Nicholls would have felt like he was 18 again as he once more bet on himself, leaving WWE and a long term partnership with partner Haste to go it alone in the New Japan Cup.

‘It was nerve racking,’ Nicholls admits. ‘A big change of environment, but that nervous energy was good. I think wrestling in singles matches is a bit like riding a bike. You don’t really forget how to do it. It’s just a matter of taking a couple of hits to knock sense into you and make you remember that you can do it. I think having high profile singles matches back to back right away made me produce, made me get better in order to keep up.’

It’s back in a tag team though, that Nicholls comes to Australia. With Juice Robinson Nicholls has ‘a great connection, and it’s getting better every time we team. Maybe next year’s G1 Climax is a good long term goal, but in the short term I want to make a mark any way I can. I like to think I’m a good tag partner, but I’m definitely good at choosing partners, too. We have a lot in common, and we can definitely do a lot together.’

That could even include snatching IWGP Tag Team gold in Melbourne, with the world’s eyes on them. After Nicholls pinned Tama Tonga in Sendai on June 25, the stakes were raised for their Melbourne rematch with Guerrillas of Destiny in Melbourne, now an IWGP Tag Team Championship match. Mikey is proud to represent his country on a night where the world’s eyes will be on Australia. ‘Australia is a scene that you can’t ignore anymore,’ he explains. ‘Guys like Slex (who wrestles Aaron Solow in Melbourne) particularly. He’s been keeping it down for TMDK for the years I’ve been away, and he’s really a world class talent.’

An added element to Southern Showdown is its legendary setting. Festival Hall, scheduled for demolition only to be protected as a heritage site, has over a century of combat sports history, and is every bit the Australian equal to Korakuen Hall in Japan. 

‘It’s really something special. To be able to wrestle there is huge. For me to help bring professional wrestling back to Festival Hall is a big deal, and to do it with New Japan is even bigger.’