By Chris Small
20 Competitors. 12 months of opportunity. 19 runner ups. 1 undisputed winner.
When it comes to Melbourne City Wrestling’s annual Ballroom Brawl, it’s all about the numbers. Yet while the above digits make up the core of the highly anticipated spectacle, peel back the layers of this unique match and a bevy of data presents itself. Here are a select few key statistics to further fuel the excitement heading into Australian Wrestling’s biggest night of the year:
10
With its first inception emanating from Thornbury Theatre in 2012, This year will be the 10th Ballroom Brawl in the match’s history! A decade of mayhem that was triggered with Danny Psycho winning the inaugural Brawl, who will have their name written as winner in the same history books as Psycho on this prestigious anniversary?
17
While one would think that drawing 20 as their entrant number would statistically present a sure-fire road to success, it is in fact the number 17 that has produced the most Ballroom Brawl winners. Carlo Cannon, Jonah Rock, and Adam Brooks entered at this lucky spot and, more importantly, all three men went on to successfully use their entitled championship opportunity to win the MCW World Heavyweight Championship!
854
The number of days in the fabled “Loose Legacy” reign of Adam Brooks. Brooks won the title by cashing in his Ballroom Brawl contract against “The Business”; proceeding to hold the championship longer than anyone in the history of the promotion. Ironically, the end of “The GLOAT’s” run as Champion came when another individual used their Ballroom Brawl contract to win the title in an epic and hard-fought match: the current champ Mitch Waterman!
4
While the structure of The Ballroom Brawl lends itself to unlikely alliances emerging, none were more formidable than the 4 individuals who shockingly took out arguably the biggest threat of the 2021 Brawl: “The Final Boss” Jake Andrewartha! Emman the Kid, Zane Zodiac, Jett Rouka and Tony Villani assembled into a cohesive unit that spelt game over for Jake with no continues to be had. Will Andrewartha fare better in 2022?
58:47
In 2017, Jonah Rock entered the Ballroom Brawl and set two records that still hold up to this day. Not only did the “King of Monsters” tally up the most eliminations in a single Brawl with 10, he also cashed in his title opportunity quicker than any previous winner before or since. When all was said and done, the time between Jonah winning the Brawl and strapping the MCW World Heavyweight Championship around his waist was a mere 58 minutes and 47 seconds; not even an hour between winning the Brawl and becoming Champion.
364
On the other side of the coin, however, is the reigning Champion Mitch Waterman. With the caveat of having a full calendar year of dates to choose from, Waterman waited until the last possible day to cash in his opportunity. This strategy clearly worked for Mitch, as he used all of 2021 to evolve into the wrestler that now sits atop the mountain of MCW.
Unbelievably, this moment almost never happened were it not for Nick Bury. With an irate Mitch having lost the Tag Team Championships to current Title holders The Natural Classics, Waterman declared he would be using his Ballroom Brawl contract to force a rematch for the belts. In an act of genuine friendship and pure selflessness, Bury talked down his partner and encouraged him to save the opportunity for the ultimate singles prize in MCW.
66 and 2/3rds
Out of 9 Ballroom Brawl matches, 6 of its winners have gone on to use their contract to win the MCW World Heavyweight Championship. Convert this to a percentage, this is a 66.6% success rate. Wrestling fans have no doubt heard the phrase “there’s a 66 and 2/3rd chance of winning”, but in this case, the numbers truly don’t lie, and they spell disaster for whomever the Champion will be that will be challenged!
23.07.2022
No matter where you stand on numerology, undeniably the most important integer is the one that spells out the date for this year’s epic event at Thornbury Theatre. On July 23rd 2022, a sold out crowd and everyone watching around the world LIVE for the first time on Fite TV will be treated to a match for the ages!
Ballroom Brawl 2022 streams LIVE on FITE on Saturday 23rd July from 7:30pm (AEST). ORDER NOW
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