Vision Pro Wrestling in Saint John hosting final show next month

A wrestling promotion company in Saint John knownfor reviving the localsceneis closing down because the owner wants to spend more time with his family.

Vision Pro Wrestling will be hosting its final show in mid-Septemberat the NickNicolleCommunity Centre.

Geoff Durningworked with 30 to 40 wrestlers from across theregion as the owner of Vision Pro Wrestling.

Ten of those wrestlers were fromSaint John, including the only two female professional wrestlers in the Maritimes.

But that successcame at a price, he says.

"I missed way too much time from my son. I haven't seen him, like I haven't had a weekend off in five years," said ownerGeoff Durning, also known asDickward Durning.

"So you know, I thought that, after 20 years of doing this, I just found something that I love more."

Loss to the community

Mark Boles, a professional wrestler from Saint John, has been wrestling for 10years and joined Vision Pro when it first started.

He says the company re-established the wrestling scene in Saint John.

Vision Pro broughtin new talent and unlike other promotersthat featuredthe same people wrestling every time,Bolessays fans appreciated that the companyoffered morevariety.

"It saddens me but I look at it as a business so when one door closes another one opens up," he said.

"I don't get a chance to wrestle where I am from but it doesn't mean that another company can't come in and be able to put on shows here."

'Moncton is crazy right now'

Durning hopes that another promoter will organize events in Saint John and help maintain the wrestling scene.

"Moncton is crazy right now so hopefully if the company from Moncton comes down here everything will get back to normal because they are a great company and I think they will do really well if they do get in here," he said about Innovative Hybrid Wrestling.

Durning and another wrestler, Matthew Pettifer, started Vision Pro in 2014 after Durning and nine other wrestlers quit a different wrestling company.

"We had a different vision than what [the previous promoter] had so that's really where the name of vision pro wrestling came from," he said.

"We actually care what the fans think. We go out there and wrestle for the fans. We don't wrestle for ourselves. And that's what I think lacks in a lot of the talent around here, they are out to have a good match for themselves and not for the fans and people see that."

They had their first show at the Simonds Lion Club in November 2014.

He hasn't yet announced the exact date of the final show.