Scans of Nigerian and African wrestling magazines and historic show posters
Recently, I received a package from Nigeria that I was really looking forward to. Inside was an award that is very special to me. But along with that award were some important pieces of memorabilia. This memorabilia included wrestling newspapers covering the local scene in Nigeria, show posters and programs from several events. These artifacts will help to archive some African pro wrestling history, a subject that has been lacking when it comes to the field of pro wrestling history.
There is a treasure trove of information here. Show flyers dating all the way back to 1997 and the Wrestling Update newspaper that was published in Nigeria for a time, including the very first issue that was published in 1998. Wrestling Update was a project led by WrestleMap’s own Olusesan Olukoya and serves as a great record of the pro wrestling happenings in the western African country during the time, and even touches on some international wrestling news. One of the issues even features a profile of a very young Colt Cabana. All of the big names in Nigerian pro wrestling are accounted for in these issues including Power Uti, Power Mike, Mike Bamidele, Ladi The African Tiger, Morris Atula, Tony Destroyer, Elephando Bassey, Wil Mascaras and so many more.
There are a couple of journals and programs that are also really helpful in terms of building a historical record of Nigerian pro wrestling. One that stuck out to me in particular was the Nigerian Pro Wrestling Diary 2017. This publication features portraits of several Nigerian wrestlers, a feature on deceased and female wrestlers and even lists the wrestlers birthdays, an important piece of biographical information that we never could have known otherwise.
One event flyer indicates that the Nigeria Pro Wrestling Federation will feature the first ever ladder/cage match in the history of the Nigeria. While the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (same promotion, just a different name) held a cage match back in either the 1980’s or early 1990’s, this may have been the first ever ladder match in Nigeria. It’s hard to confirm this for sure though at present time.
Along with the historical, there are also some touches of comical. One event flyer sticks out here. This is from the Universal Promotional Wrestling Federation but a year isn’t listed. Several wrestlers that are scheduled to appear have never competed in Nigeria and did not end up on this card. I’m unsure what the fate of this event was but wrestlers such as Sid Vicious, Shelton Benjamin, Dolph Ziggler, MVP, Bobby Lashley and Val Venis were advertised as being part of this event but that clearly was not the case.
I hope you’ll enjoy these scans and it can help to build a record of pro wrestling history in Africa. I plan to put an unboxing video out where I’ll go over some of these in more detail as well as talk about the aforementioned award in a little bit more detail so keep an eye out for that, hopefully coming this weekend!
Nigeria’s Wrestling Update Issues
Issue 1, October 1998
September 2001
May 2002
April 2003
December 2003
Almanacs and Programs
2017 Nigerian Pro Wrestling Diary 2017
Pro Wrestling Africa Return of Glory Asaba 2016 Program
Nigeria Pro Wrestling Federation 40th Anniversary Program
Show posters
