It is the stench of bad vibes from friends becoming foes.
The bad blood between former allies is seeping through the academy’s hallowed ground of Southern Pro Wrestling in Waikiwi.
Southern Pro Wrestling New Zealand will host Aotearoa’s premier wrestling championship, Halloween Haunting, next month, pitting their own wrestlers against each other.
Southern Pro Wrestling trainer Josh (J.K. Moody) Curran said "former tag partners who were team-mates went their separate ways and now they’re coming back to go against each other for this show".
"It’s going to be high-flying, hard-hitting, entertaining stuff.
"We just keep hoping that Invercargill gets behind it like they always have and we just keep putting New Zealand wrestling on the map."
Southern wrestler Hayden Jackson (Cool Guy Sky) will defend his Southern Pro Wrestling New Zealand Championship against lifelong friend and 2024 Southern Rumble winner, Ryder, plus the newly crowned SPW New Zealand tag team champions the BLD (Black Light District) will be in on the action.
Six other wrestlers from Auckland, Christchurch, Blenheim, Dunedin and Queenstown will also be throwing it down at the event.
"I’ve wrestled up and down the country many, many, times over; but everywhere you go, Invercargill is seen as one of the absolute hotbeds because no-one draws crowds as consistently as we do.
"No-one’s fans are as passionate; and the quality of the wrestling is as good, if not better, than anywhere else in the country.
"So for me, I give it a big sense of pride just knowing that Southland, and Invercargill of all places, is a place that people want to come to for their fix of pro wrestling," Mr Curran said.
Local wrestler, Kane Bates (K9), will also make his appearance at the showdown.
Halloween Haunting will be held on October 26 at the Corinthian Convention Centre, Invercargill Working Men's Club.
Tickets are on sale now at www.eventfinda.co.nz
