Not even a broken hand could stop the rampant wrestling force that is Jack Panne.
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On Saturday night, the Crookwell local set about establishing his reign in the Suplex Heavyweight division, following his first successful title defence against JXT in Hexham.
Having won the title in November, JXT was Panne’s first title defence, and Suplex could hardly have given the 20-year-old a tougher challenger first up.
JXT has wrestled professionally since 2011, and is one of the most experienced and highly regarded competitors on the Australian circuit, and Panne said that the highlight of his night was not the fight, but what he learned.
“It was wonderful, he’s just full of knowledge and anything you’d ask, he’d have an answer for,” Panne said.
“He’d watch everyone’s matches, not just ours. He’d sit backstage and he’d watch the people before and and tell them what they were doing wrong and how to fix it.
“It was good to have him in the locker room.”
Early in the match, Panne broke his hand badly during a move, however the adrenaline of the moment meant that he did not feel the pain until after all was said and done.
“I didn’t feel it, but after the match it was black and blue so I went to hospital,” he said.
“It’s all good now, I’ve got it strapped up and in a cast. I’ll have a bit of a break and get back in next year.”
The injury now means that Panne will not be able to defend his title as quickly as first thought, however that will not faze the 20-year-old. Following the victory, there was some discussion of Panne potentially competing in Melbourne, the heartland of Australian wrestling.
“I might be going down to Melbourne soon,” he said.
“Melbourne’s the top tier in Australia. If you wanna get anywhere [in the sport], you go down there.”
For now though, Panne will nurse his injury and reflect on a year that exceeded his wildest expectations.
“You can’t. I only started doing this two years ago, I didn’t think this’d ever happen to be honest,” Panne said.
“It sort of just happened so quick, you don’t really get time to look back on it.
“Now, because I’m a bit hurt and injured, I can take a couple of weeks off and look back at it all and take it easy for a little bit.”