“The Business” Slex, is a 31 year-old worker from Down Under, whose name is just beginning to seep into international wrestling circles. This past week, Impact Wrestling aired a match of his from World Series Wrestling, an Australian based promotion, that featured Impact’s own Brian Cage, giving Slex incredible visibility to an American audience. This is only the beginning for The Business. So let’s get to know someone whose presence will soon be felt on the international indy scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeOBvMdS5VM
Hailing from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Slex debuted in 2003, working the small independent scene that there was in Australia at the time, and by 2006, he started working for WrestleRock, where he became a staple for that promotion in the early years. Additionally, he wrestled for EPW-Adelaide, where he worked Mickey Nicholls (now known as Nick Miller in NXT) a couple of times. The next couple of years saw him add WrestleClash and Warzone Wrestling to his resume, before debuting in Explosive Pro Wrestling in Perth, where he wrestled Shane Haste (now known as Shane Thorne in NXT) in his first contest there. He worked regularly for that promotion throughout 2009, even capturing the tag titles there with Carlo Cannon, which they dropped four months later to the team currently known as TM-61. The following year saw Slex work PWAQ, PWAC, and NWA promoted shows. He even got a title shot at the PWA Heavyweight Championship in his debut match for the company, despite falling short. In 2011, though, his career would reach new heights. On February 19th Slex made his debut for Melbourne City Wrestling, based out of his hometown, where he was successful in his first bout there, over Mike Petersen and Rocky Menero. After scoring another victory the following month against Cletus, Slex earned a shot at the MCW Heavyweight Championship in April. At MCW New Horizons 2011, he defeated Danny Psycho to win the crown. Later that summer, he made his first tour of Japan, working two shows for ZERO1. Slex held the MCW title for 287 before dropping it in January of 2012 to Matt Silva. With the exception of a couple NWA shows, Slex worked almost exclusively for MCW in 2012, with it essentially becoming his home promotion. After a show in November of that year, where he defeated his tag team partner Carlo Cannon, Slex took approximately six months from MCW, and from wrestling as a whole.
The following May, however, at MCW Ballroom Brawl, he was a surprise entrant in the Ballroom Brawl Rumble (think Royal Rumble), returning to a massive pop. But there another twist to his return: during the evening of the show, vignettes played that teased a new TMDK member (The Mighty Don’t Kneel), and as Slex entered the ring, it became apparent that he was wearing a TMDK shirt, revealing his new allegiance. While he was unsuccessful in his attempt to obtain the MCW Heavyweight Championship the following month at New Horizons, on that same show he and his new stablemates of Jonah Rock, Mickey Nicholls, and Shane Haste were victorious in their eight man tag match. In June and July of 2013, Slex worked a full tour of Japan, performing on a whole slate of shows for Pro Wrestling NOAH, working the likes of Jushin “Thunder” Liger, KENTA (aka Hideo Itami), Zack Sabre Jr, and Naomichi Marufuji, just to name a few, and teamed with Roderick Strong on several occasions during the tour. Slex finished the year off with wins over Adam Brooks and Sean Kustom. His match with Brooks in October at MCW, was the last time he’d work with the company for over two years.
But 2014 and 2015 saw Slex work a much lower profile of a schedule. In January of 2016, though, Slex made his return to Melbourne City Wrestling with a bang: a one on one showcase against Tyler Bate (yes, that Tyler Bate), where he emerged victorious. After his long absence, Slex worked consistently for MCW throughout the year (so much so that the only other company he performed for that year was PCW), highlighted by a tag team title run with fellow TMDK member Marcius Pitt, and a performance with Marty Scurll. He also participated in a Team MCW versus TMDK eight man cage match, that was mildly reminiscent of the famous 1973 “The War” angle in WCW Australia. While Slex again stayed out of the spotlight for much of 2017, possibly the highlight of his career occurred on November 11th of that year. At MCW Seven, in October, Slex challenged anyone from New Japan Pro Wrestling to show up and face him in Melbourne. He was answered by a video response from none other than the IWGP Heavyweight Champion himself, Kazuchika Okada. One month later on that November 11th date, at MCW November Rain, Slex and Okada had an absolutely killer main event together, which ended with Okada’s hand being raised, and with the champ asking the crowd if they would like more New Japan in Australia (an obvious lead in for their Aussie tour that would happen three months later). While Slex did not get the win, he did demonstrate that he can perform with some of the best in the world. New Japan World, NJPW’s streaming video service, even put this match on their site, highlighting Slex to new eyes. He also worked a four date tour with New Japan in February, as the company made a trip Down Under, and utilized some Aussie talent for their shows. Slex moved afterwards into a feud with Robbie Eagles over the MCW Intercommonwealth Championship, which culminated in a phenomenal ladder match at MCW Clash of the Titans, which he won. His first defense was against “The Messiah” Davis Storm, who in a lot of ways is the elder statesman of the current Australian wrestling scene, and is even known as the “Godfather” of contemporary Aussie wrestling. After successfully defending against Storm, Slex had a series of high-profile matches for World Series Wrestling, one of which was aired this past week on Impact Wrestling. This past April he had another one on one showcase against an international star: Pete Dunne. At MCW Ballroom Brawl this year, with PROGRESS Wrestling in town, Slex again had a terrific performance with one of the best in the world, and although he fell short, the response from both Dunne and the crowd after the match proved that they are well-aware of how good he actually is.
With rumors that New Japan will be coming back for an Australian tour as early as this fall, you can fully expect that Slex will be in that mix one more time. In the past six months he had the most global attention he’s had since his NOAH days, so only time will tell of where Slex may end up on the international scene. The future does look bright, though, for one of Australia’s best.
