Dominion Wrestling Union
| Acronym | DWU |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1929 |
| Defunct | 1962 |
| Headquarters | New Zealand |
The Dominion Wrestling Union (DWU) was the first professional wrestling promotion in New Zealand. It was one of two organisations first active in the Australasian region, along with Australia's Stadiums Limited, and served as the country's single major promotion for 30 years until being succeeded by All Star Pro-Wrestling in 1962. The DWU was initially under the control of the New Zealand Wrestling Union, a sort of governing body which promoted both amateur and professional bouts, until American promoter Walter Miller largely took over the running of professional events in 1935 and which remained under Miller's control until his death in 1959.
Miller eventually established New Zealand as one of the first international territories of the National Wrestling Association, and later the National Wrestling Alliance, from which many of the stars of the era were brought to face the country's top wrestlers. From its earliest days, New Zealand professional wrestlers were recruited from the amateur ranks including Lofty Blomfield in the 1930s and later Pat O'Connor, Dick Hrstich, Abe Jacobs, John da Silva and Steve Rickard during the 1940s and 1950s. Many others would leave New Zealand in the years following the Second World War, such as Eddie "Kiwi" Kingston, to pursue a career in Europe and North America.
When Miller died in 1959, wrestler Steve Rickard continued running the DWU for two years until founding his own promotion, All Star Pro-Wrestling, in 1962. This new organisation took the DWU's spot as the country's main professional wrestling promotion for the next 30 years, and as an overseas NWA territory, until its close in the early 1990s.
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