'HeartbreakCore' Shazza McKenzie
Professional wrestling in Australia has been on the rise in recent years but sadly our best wrestlers still need to leave the country to make a full-time career out of their passion. The latest to make this big leap was Shazza McKenzie when she uprooted her life in Sydney & moved to the United States.
Speaking to Pario just a couple of months after moving Shazza explained her thought process in deciding to move, the hurdles she had to jump through, the joy at being able to follow her passion & the immense opportunities that have already presented themselves to her.
During her 15-year wrestling career, Shazza has made many short trips to the US for wrestling, but it was her last 2 trips that flipped the switch in her heart & mind. Back in 2020, Shazza boarded a plane to embark on a 3-month tour wrestling all across the US. Little did she know that trip would never really even get going.
"I got off the plane, then the world shut down because of the pandemic & I immediately got sent home," recalled McKenzie. "After that, we were locked in our houses for the better part of 2 years. So as soon as we were allowed to leave the country I knew I had to make up for that trip & did a 3-month tour in 2022."
Having had so much success, & fun, on that reboot tour Shazza knew almost instantly that she had to seize on the momentum she had built.
"Wrestling has been my life for the last 15 years but within a week of coming home I got in contact with a lawyer to start the visa process," McKenzie said. "I'm at the point in my career where if I'm going to make a move, I have to make a move now."
Although the decision to move to the US happened quickly the legal process to do so took much longer. From the outside, it all appeared to happen very quickly, with Shazza relocating within 2 weeks of her social media announcement. However, as she revealed to Pario, it was in fact "a very long, exhausting & expensive" legal process that took almost 8 months to complete.
To be approved for her US visa Shazza had to prove to the US government that she was exceptional in her field & that no US citizens could emulate what she brings to professional wrestling. Something that she was able to do & immediately set about proving again when she popped up on Ring Of Honor (ROH) television mere days after arriving in the US.
Reflecting on her ROH debut Shazza's passion & joy came through clearly.
"Ring Of Honor was always 1 of the companies that I never got to perform for before, so I was very sad when it closed. For me, opportunities like that were the whole reason I wanted to get a work visa. Some American wrestlers take for granted how easily accessible success is for them because if they just applied themselves they could do it, it's right there! Whereas in Australia there are so many hoops that we've got to jump through just to get seen.
"I posted the video announcing my move on Twitter & got asked to come to the ROH taping 8 minutes later. So now I've gotten to wrestle in ROH, wrestle on TV again & be seen by a whole new fan base. Even if I never get to go back just being able to legally do that was all I wanted."
While Shazza would like to do more TV wrestling, much to our surprise, her goals now are much more personal, "I just want to make a living doing what I love, which is independent professional wrestling. I'm very creatively & mentally satisfied doing that."
Follow Shazza's Creative Journey on social media at: @Shazza_McKenzie
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