In the ring with Maya Maddox, reigning two-time SLAM! Women’s Champion

Posted on 11 November, 2026

When the Canberra woman known as Maya Maddox steps into the SLAM! Pro Wrestling ring, she sheds her skin to become someone else.

Gone is the working professional with an interest in science. Instead, a strong, confident and angry woman is in her place – one who wants to prove to the world that she can be the longest-reigning two-time SLAM! Women’s Champion.

“It’s a real confidence boost and it just shows that the work that’s being put in is giving results,” she explains.

When we meet in a local coffee shop, if it wasn’t for the SLAM! Pro Wrestling t-shirt, I wouldn’t necessarily pick Maya as a wrestler. Obviously fit with an athletic build and long brown hair, it’s hard to imagine her throwing herself from ropes, flipping bodies and throwing punches.

But for the last four years, she’s been doing just that.

“I grew up with two older brothers, and when we were kids we would watch wrestling together. I’m the youngest, so I was the person the wrestling moves were tried on,” she explains with a small laugh.

“I stopped watching wrestling in high school and rediscovered it during the pandemic…I got an ad for SLAM! and found out there was wrestling in Canberra. I’d never seen local wrestling before, and I went to my first show at the end of 2020. It was such a different atmosphere to watching it on TV and it really captivated me. I kept going back.”

Maya attended an open Try Out session at SLAM! in 2024 she hasn’t looked back since.

Curating her alter ego to combat stereotypes that women need to be quiet and reserved, she is currently preparing to compete on one of the biggest stages of her career. On Saturday 12 December, she will be joining 20 other local and national wrestlers in RAGE IN THE CAGE III at the National Convention Centre.

The event is headlined by Canberra-based wrestlers and supported by Bosom Buddies ACT and The Terry Campese Foundation, and hopes to attract one of the largest audiences in Australian wrestling history.

“I’m excited because I lost the championship in my first title defence, so I am looking to have my first successful title defence,” Maya says.

“I’m also excited to show what I’ve learnt from that experience of holding the title for such a short period of time earlier in the year.”

But Maya’s contribution to women’s professional wrestling extends far beyond what audiences see inside the ring. Outside of performing, she also helps coach and develop aspiring female professional wrestlers at the SLAM! Academy in Mitchell.

“I started coaching a couple of months ago now. I was a guitar teacher for five years, but coaching is something physical and is very different. We have a very varied cohort of women who are at different stages,” she says.

“Some of them are match-ready, some are working towards that and some of them are brand new. We are looking to get more women coming into the Academy because I feel like wrestling is a very male-dominated sport.”

According to the Australian Sports Commission, an estimated 7,000 Australian men aged 15 and above participated in wrestling at least once in 2025, compared to only 2,000 women.

Maya is just one of the few women representing the growing diversity of Australian professional wrestling.

“The women who are in it can hold their own against any of the men for sure,” she says.

“There’s been a lot of progress towards more women coming through. Wrestling is a much better place for women than it was 10 or 20 years ago.”

Building confidence and “seeing what your body can do” are just two examples of the benefits women experience when they participate in wrestling.

Even as she helps other Canberra women develop new skills, challenge stereotypes and discover a sport they might never have imagined themselves participating in, Maya says it’s still a common misconception that it’s a sport that only men can enjoy.

From watching on the sidelines to attending a Try Out as a nervous first-timer and becoming a major drawcard in RAGE IN THE CAGE III, as Maya looks to the future, she hopes to one day hold a championship outside of Canberra.

She says that events like RAGE IN THE CAGE III – which are family-friendly and accessible – wouldn’t be possible without the support of the local community. Her advice to women who would like to try their hand at wrestling? “Expect to be bad at it at first.”

“I think a lot of people, if they don’t get something first try, they think that it just must not be for them. But wrestling is a unique way of moving your body and in a lot of ways very unnatural and against your intuition,” she says.

“It’s expected for it to take a bit more time to condition yourself to it compared to other sports and often if people stick with it, they are surprised at how much progress they can make in a short amount of time.”

Credit: New Photography Studios.