'The Chief' Rig
The nickname 'The Chief' has been synonymous with one man for many years, former NRL player Paul 'The Chief' Harragon. Recently though, there’s been a new Chief in town, the Newcastle Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion & huge Newcastle Knights fan 'The Chief’ Rig.
Pario sat down with the champ to discuss how he came to adopt the iconic nickname & his dream Newcastle Entertainment Centre main event.
Becoming The Chief
During his now almost decade-long career Rig has dabbled with several names & characters in his journey to adopting 'The Chief' moniker.
For the earliest part of his career Rig performed under the alias Oliver Young, a name which he explained was thrown together quickly when he was suddenly told he would be debuting at the next show. He would go on to perform as Oliver Young for approximately 2 years before changing things up & debuting his next character, HeadHunter Rig.
HeadHunter Rig was a much more colourful character who was instantly recognisable as a big game hunter/bushman type. As Rig explained, "HeadHunter was the epitome of character, as soon as he came through the curtain you knew who he was & what he was about. So that made it a bit easier to get over with the crowd."
The HeadHunter would stick around for a few years before the entire world changed when lockdown hit. During this time without wrestling Rig's other athletic passions, rugby league & golf, recaptured his attention as he simply had more time to indulge those loves. As such, when wrestling reawakened 2 new characters emerged from the slumber; Matt Callaway & 'The Chief' Rig.
Using these two different characters on different shows for different audiences Rig can showcase the contrasting sides of his personality. On one side he has Matt Callaway, a silly, fun character, inspired by his love of golf & then conversely you have 'The Chief' a much more serious NRL-inspired persona.
Learning from his time as the HeadHunter the debut of Matt Callaway & 'The Chief' saw Rig incorporating very identifiable elements for the character. Callaway is always seen in outlandish golfing attire, often clutching a golf club, so it is very quickly recognisable. Then for 'The Chief' Rig said, "All I really had to do was put the head tape on & 'The Chief' name is folklore here in Newcastle so people instantly understand what the character is."
Although cliche both Matt Callaway & 'The Chief' are simply elements of Rig's real-life personality "turned up to 11", so performing becomes much more instinctual.
"What I'm doing now is probably the most fun I've ever had because I'm the most relaxed I've ever been," said Rig. "I've noticed in the last year or so there's been a lot of times in the ring where I'm not super focussed on this, this, this. I'm just happy to feel it & do what I think works best, & so far it has been working pretty well."
Newcastle Dream Match
As we closed out our interview we looked to the future by asking Rig what dream match he would want to headline a show at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
"I'd definitely have to get 'The Chief' Harragon on my side, that's a no-brainer. Then Andrew Johns is the greatest NRL player of all time, so you'd probably want him on your side as well... On the other side, I'd have to put 2 Queenslanders because it's just folklore to hate them. So I'd go with Petero Civoniceva & Shane Webke because they're monsters & I hated them as a kid because there just so good. Finally, I'd add a high-flyer like Mat Diamond to their team because the rest of us are big boys & you want someone who can do the exciting flips & crazy stuff."
Follow 'The Chief' Rig's Creative Journey on social media at: @thechief.rig
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