Ont Road Fanzine: 17 Malaysia - Nor Phoenix Diana heads to the UK making her farewell matches and MYPW Endgame 2019 review

I finally made it to my first wrestling show in Malaysia, and it was a great experience. What follows is a focus on the success story of one particular Malaysian wrestler, an overall commentary on the show I went to, and some pictures that I took.

Nor Phoenix Diana

Nor Phoenix Diana heads to the UK making her farewell matches

At 19 years of age and with 3 years of in ring experience, Nor Phoenix Diana has been making waves in the Malaysian & Asian wrestling scene, and at her peak had a run as the MYPW 'World to Regional' champion. This young high flyer is one of the first female Islamic wrestlers to perform wearing a hijab, following a short stint at the start of her career wearing a mask.

The promoters of UK based, feminist pro wrestling company 'EVE', have obviously taken note, and have booked her to appear at their marquee event 'WrestleQueendom 3', which takes place at the legendary York Hall in London in January 2020, in front of a sell out crowd of over 1000 fans, which will give her a platform and a springboard opportunity to make waves across the world. In fact, I can reveal that she is going to spend a whole year living and working in the UK, so many grapple fans throughout that part of the world can look forward to seeing her in action. This could well be a trailblazing opportunity to not only showcase her talents, but set a positive example and become a role model for many female and Islamic wrestlers and fans throughout the world.

At this show, Diana will have her final three farewell matches before heading over to the UK to start the next stage of her journey.

Link to mini documentary about her: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6BQh-WznUs8

MYPW Endgame 2019 Match Results & Event Analysis:

For more information about the start and history of wrestling in Malaysia, see this link about MYPW

There were probaly about 100 in attendance, with individual plastic chairs spread around three sides of the ring. The venue was an open-sided Futsal Court, which was part of a sports complex, and next to the MYPW performance centre. Three people provided live commentary over the matches during the night. The card went right through with no breaks.

This was a 'mini-show', mainly used as a showcase for all the recent trainees that had graduated through the boot camp, and was propped up by experienced wrestlers peppered in throughout the show.

Nor Phoenix Diana over Development Centre Trainee Graduate - Surprise match following an interview with the traineem and an excellent opportunity for the young graduates in her debut. Basic match.

Eddie Powers over "The Trickster" Kyle Black - Black had some cool magic tricks that he worked into well the match, and he was allowed to shine thanks to Powers. Solid match.

Harpokratis (with Izz Dolus) over Khai. Khai was the babyface flyer announced as from the village, and Harpokratis is actually mute and deaf in real life, and he sported a clown mask whilst using a stiff gimmick - the manager was a classic well dressed cocky heel.

Steektin Hill & Fionn McCool over "Lethal" Daus & Revolver Roy - Good, fast and well worked tag match from all the debutants here, with each given a chance to showcase their talent. Fionn McCool is actually Irish too, and Revolver Roy is a great name.

Mojo Fist vs Ace Rizzo - Not sure who won this, yet the big guy went over the enthusiastic guy. Big guy had a good look about him and carried well despite having the ring movement of Yokozuna.

Nor Phoenix Diana over Orion Black - Decent, well-worked match, which went a lot longer than previous matches, and slotted in nicely on the bill as a pre main event. As it was a number one contenders match for the Wrestlecon Championship, it leaves the door open for a Diana return.

Shaukat over the Feral Alliance - Veteran & established wrestlers in the main event. It was orginally meant to be a handicap match, yet it was changed to a triple threat before it began, with the angle of giving the newest established star an equal shot at the belt. Shaukat became the four time 'World to Regional' Champion. A long, slow placed, hard-hitting match, featuring an array of moves, which must have gone nearly 20 minutes. This stood out compared to all the other matches on the card.

Following the match, Shaukat cut a promo, in which he broke kayfabe somewhat - talking about how hurt he got in the match, and how physical wrestling is - you could tell be his mannerisms that this was true. He even got a worker to hold up the aprons to show how hard the mats were. He put over Diana for being put through the training in the same way as everyone else, and made public that she was leaving to go and fight for EVE.

This then led to Shaukat going over Diana in a post-show farewell match. It was a no strikes / grapple only match that ran for a few minutes before Diana bowed out on her back. The segment ended as she took a few moments and a bow in the ring, before leaving to applause from the crowd.

Following the conclusion of the event, Shaukat thanked all the trainees and congratulated them for graduating from bootcamp, and then they all came out to take a bow to the audience. Now we can wonder which ones are going to make it to the regular roster.

Photos