DMDU's event, called Come Correct, is set to take over Volta Arts and Culture on Saturday, July 10.

DMDU brings an alternative style of pro wrestling from what many might remember from the glory days of Mario Milano and Festival Hall or the polished product of modern-day WWE, favouring the somewhat more violent flair of deathmatch wrestling.

Taking inspiration from the famous deathmatches of the 1980s and 1990s across the United States and Japan, some DMDU matches can feature weapons such as chairs, tables, barbed wire and fluorescent light tubes to inflict maximum damage.

Head of brand expansion and performer Joel Bateman described deathmatches as a stunt show meeting a live-action horror movie.

"The stunt show is crazy but everyone knows exactly what they're doing, same thing with a horror movie. There is a margin of error that is quite slim, that's why not everybody does deathmatches but for those of us who do it and know how to do it right, there's nothing else like watching deathmatches," he said.

"People who are very skeptical of it come and see one live and go 'that was amazing'. I don't know if something primal like primal bloodlust or whatever it is, but the first time you see light tubes smashed in-person, the mood in the room changes.

"Everyone goes, 'This just got real. All that other stuff might have been predetermined but that's the same light bulb that I've got in my garage and they just broke 15 of them'. Everyone's attention just goes laser-focused on the ring when deathmatches are happening."

However, it is not all blood and gore as DMDU also showcases some of Australia's best technical and high-flying wrestlers, including the promotion's heavyweight champion 'Smash Mouth' Ritchie Taylor, Jessica Troy and Charlie Evans, with an intentional focus on intergender competition.

"We said we wanted to have a balance, there's no point in doing deathmatches just because we all like doing deathmatches, that runs thin pretty quickly. We wanted to put on the best wrestling that we can," Mr Bateman said.

"We have a predisposition for heavyweights, we do like watching big humans belt the living sh*t out of each other, it's really entertaining - especially live. One of the things we said is a pillar of the promotion is everything is intergender, there's no genders and it's something we're very proud of."

IN OTHER NEWS:

It has been seven years since pro wrestling regularly featured in Ballarat, with the now-defunct Ballarat Pro Wrestling promotion once being the standard bearer for the industry in Australia.

Mr Bateman said there was a time between 2008 and 2011 when Ballarat Pro Wrestling was putting on the best shows in the country.

"They were drawing 600, 700, 800 people a month to these shows that were really solid, but for whatever reason, wrestling's a great touring form of live entertainment, all the companies went out then around 2014, everyone just stopped doing regional shows and brought it all back into metropolitan Melbourne," he said.

"Ballarat's always been an amazing market, the fans up there are really cool, very genuine as well, and there are still a couple holdovers from those BPW days who are still competing."

With the venue for the show, Volta, being used primarily as a live music venue, Mr Bateman said he was excited about how intimate the atmosphere will be.

"It's super exciting to be coming back to Ballarat and the venue we're running is really cool as well. That venue is steeped in history in Ballarat...," he said.

"It's a standing room only show, we're not gonna seat the show and we're not gonna have crowd control barriers anything like that so the fans will have the opportunity to get as close or as far back as they want.

"There haven't been too many shows like that in Australia period but it's something they do overseas so it's going to be a super unique atmosphere, I'm super excited."

While the action in the ring may be not for the faint of heart, one of the promotion's goals is to create a welcoming atmosphere for anyone attending a DMDU show.

Mr Bateman said while the pandemic forced the entire industry to take a break, it also allowed people to take a step back and look at what could be improved in wrestling culturally following the Black Lives Matter movement and #SpeakingOut, wrestling's own version of the #MeToo movement.

"We had a live event pencilled in for May 2020 but during the lockdown, the Black Lives Matter movement happened, which as an Indigenous man, that hit me really, really hard," he said.

"As bad as the pandemic was for professional wrestling, I say we had the blessing of the pandemic where we were able to sit back, take a step back from the industry and look at what was so wrong with it.

"We want to do deathmatches and want to do this extremely risky style of wrestling, but we also want to create a safe space - not just for our performers and make sure that they don't get hurt - but for the fans as well, where everybody genuinely feels welcome to be able to come out of the house and leave real life outside for a couple hours."

Deathmatch Downunder's Come Correct will be at Volta Arts and Culture on Saturday, July 10. Doors open at 7.30pm. Tickets are available at www.voltaartsandculture.com.au

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.