During the late-1930s, Blomfield was to have met NWA World Heavyweight Champion Bronko Nagurski in a first-ever "champion vs. champion" match. Miller negotiated with NWA promoters Toots Mondt, Lou Daro and Tony Stecher for Nagurski to travel to New Zealand in exchange for the largest guarantee ever offered a boxer or wrestler in the Southern Hemisphere. It was believed at the time that the event would attract more than 40,000 people. Though Nagurski ultimately cancelled the trip at the last minute, Blomfield followed the world champion to Canada where the two wrestled to a time limit draw in Vancouver on 17 March 1938. Blomfield was the first New Zealander to challenge for the NWA World title. In October of that year, he won a tournament to become the undisputed New Zealand Heavyweight Champion. Blomfield held the title for over a decade until his retirement on 7 June 1949. Throughout his career, Blomfield vigorously defended professional wrestling and denied frequent charges that matches were rigged. Four decades later, Blomfield became the first wrestler to be inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. To date he remains the only wrestler, amateur or professional, to be an inductee. The same year of Blomfield's retirement, a number of New Zealand-born wrestlers left for Europe where they became major stars on the continent during the next few years. Ernie "Kiwi" Kingston, a student of Olympic wrestler Anton Koolmann, was considered one of the best heavyweights in Europe and a main rival of British Heavyweight Champion Bert Assirati. A few were especially popular in the United Kingdom such as Ray Clarke, who also had a notable rivalry with Assirati, Bob Russell and Russ Bishop. While many of these men were regarded as some of the most formidable wrestlers during the late 1940s and 1950s, they most often remained unknown in their native country. Golden Age (1950s–1970s) After the end of World War II, amateur and professional wrestling enjoyed widespread popularity in New Zealand popular culture. Part of this of was due to its radio broadcasts from live events both prior to and after the war. By 1956, professional wrestling had surpassed the then-national sport of rugby in popularity and was the most popular spectator sport in New Zealand with the exception of horse racing. The Wellington Town Hall Concert Chamber was one of the more popular postwar venues for wrestling events. Within a few