Heavyweight wrestler and WOS Wrestling hero Justin Sysum has gone down in the history books by claiming 2 major pro wrestling titles in a day – including one shown on ITV Sport’s World of Wrestling.
The grappling star defeated Rampage in an all action battle which has seen many fans calling this a ‘match of the year candidate’ in the final episode of WOS Wrestling.
Then just a few hours later the 33 year old from Gloucester beat ‘The Showstealer’ Nathan Cruz to capture the NGW Undisputed Championship in front of a raucous crowd at Hull City Hall.
Sysum’s double win – which happened within a seven-hour period on Saturday – capped an astonishing rise to prominence for the man nicknamed ‘Superhuman’.
The former hammer thrower and American football player only turned pro as a wrestler six years ago and was unknown outside British wrestling circles when WOS began on ITV in July.
But his turbo-charged performances on the 10-part weekly series – which marked British wrestling’s return to ITV for the first time in 30 years – have earned him legions of new admirers.
Sysum said the bout with the villainous Rampage was “like a WrestleMania match”.
“I had to make sure I stepped up to get on Rampage’s level because he’s the best in the country,” he said.
“We went all-out and I am proud of the match we had.”
Wrestling fans and Sysum’s peers bombarded social media with praise for the climactic match with Rampage after it aired on Saturday afternoon.
Luke Owen from WrestleTalk website said the match “could be in the running for one of the best matches of the year” while WOS general manager and commentator Stu Bennett said it “rounded off the series in style”.
Meanwhile Sysum’s win over Cruz came right at the end of NGW’s Ultimate Showdown event on Saturday night.
Fans in the City Hall leaped to their feet in delight and raised the roof with cheers as Justin ended the reign of Hull’s local wrestling villain.
NGW is one of the UK’s top wrestling promotions and hosts events in front of thousands of fans all over the country including at Butlin’s.
Now Sysum, Rampage and Cruz will all be part of the WOS Wrestling UK tour in early 2019.
“Being WOS Champion going into the tour is a huge privilege,” said Sysum.
“I know I will have a huge target on my back now, as champion, but I work best under pressure!”
