1PW - The Last Stand [28/05/2011]

[aosist]

I really enjoyed watching Kid Kash last night, although considering his heel antics he sure seemed beloved with the crowd. They were eating up his cheating ways.

 

The show wasn't bad, but wasn't my cup of tea. I'm an indy mark. so seeing LDRS vs Pac/Haskins as the opener, and the show revolving around ex-WWE guys, is sort of the opposite of what I like. Seemed to work for the 1PW crowd though, so more power to them.

 

Starting 45 minutes last is a major piss-take though.

 

Road Dogg was fun. Stunned at how over Rhyno was. Noam Dar might be my new favourite wrestler. Greg Burridge's entrance was great. Lionheart did nothing for me.

 

I don't regret going, despite the 7-hour round trip, but I'm not sure I'll go up there again.

[moofasa]

The atmosphere of 1pw was created by the fans and the management. They promised big imports and delivered and got back blind loyalty and ott enthusiasm form their fanbase giving them the biggest and most hardcore fanbases (blindly loyal) that I have ever expeirienced in the uk. It was this fanbase that made the shows in 2005 - 6 so good everyone in the dome was up for it the atmosphere was amazing. This fanbase is gone. Lasts night show wasn't bad. But that atmosphere is gone just felt like any other indie show. (With the exception of nash and road dogg in the lineup). No chants of 1PW last night and the ott enthusiasm has been replaced by polite applause. Wrestlers no matter how big their name struggled for a reaction. Crowd partly stood up just once for Nashs arrival. But no jackknife chants or any other crowd fun I used to associate with 1pw. Great to see nash and road dogg. Enjoyed ldrs v haskins and pac, haskins is getting gooder quicker really like his work. If 1PW survive this geat if not let the name die nothing great is associated with this name anymore. 1pw used to feel special an on another level to your local indie this can no longer be said

[Hyperion]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show. No wonder they cancelled the Sunday show and couldn't afford to drive Road Dogg to the store signing. Think a big re-think is in order here for 1PW.

 

That said however I'm pleased some fans had a good time and met their heroes.

[wrestlingmad]

Hopefully it can die now...

 

Let Sloan take control on the HBK bookings. And people can come see DragonGate instead of 1PW in October.

[MJAllstar]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show. No wonder they cancelled the Sunday show and couldn't afford to drive Road Dogg to the store signing. Think a big re-think is in order here for 1PW.

 

That said however I'm pleased some fans had a good time and met their heroes.

 

 

Hang on...... Wrestlers were not paid again? Surely we have all heard this somewhere before?

[[nothing]]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show.

 

I've always been one to blast people inside 1PW when they've made stupid decisions, in fact I criticized Danny on Dropkick Radio last night for some of his shortcomings, but to the best of my knowledge that simply isn't true (and feel free to PM me if you think I'm wrong and we can discuss this). Yes, some workers were paid after midnight, but they were those happy to wait, largely because they were coming back to the hotel after the show.

 

I'm sure some of you might wonder why after midnight? It gave Danny time to transfer money from accounts and Paypal, so he could withdraw it. Was this a wise and the best move? Hell NO. He should have had everything ready at the show to stop a silly situation like this from happening, especially in light of last year, breaking trust with the people you work with and the the public would potentially cost the company big. A mathematician he is not.

 

Yes, the Swindon show was cut, for the simple reason that the tickets weren't selling well in advance. Catch 22. Risk going ahead and having the show tank or risk going ahead and potentially destroying a new market from burning those who were planning on showing up.

 

Danny is stupidly excitable and stupidly passionate. He gets over involved in things when he should be delegating to ensure everything is done not to 50% or even 99%, but the full 100%. He needs to step back and stop being so proud and protective, because he knows that if he puts a foot wrong in the next four months before Anniversary, he won't have a chance of making fans interested in coming to the biggest 1PW show of the year. This week is make or break and i'm going discuss with him where all this is going/can go and without doubt, unpopular decisions will have to be made.

 

Should I have come out here and said something, maybe not. Am I probably going to get in a boatload of trouble for this (again), more than likely.

[fye]

why on earth wouldnt the promoter have every penny of the wages already put up and in his posession well before the show? I am actually surprised a lot of the talent hadnt demanded their wages before they left their home for the show with previous issues. It sounds better than last year but it still doesnt sound good enough

[wrestlingmad]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show.

Yes, the Swindon show was cut, for the simple reason that the tickets weren't selling well in advance. Catch 22. Risk going ahead and having the show tank or decide not to go ahead and potentially destroying a new market from burning those who were planning on showing up.

 

Danny is stupidly excitable and stupidly passionate. He gets over involved in things when he should be delegating to ensure everything is done not to 50% or even 99%, but the full 100%. He needs to step back and stop being so proud and protective, because he knows that if he puts a foot wrong in the next four months before Anniversary, he won't have a chance of making fans interested in coming to the biggest 1PW show of the year. This week is make or break and i'm going discuss with him where all this is going/can go and without doubt, unpopular decisions will have to be made.

 

He need's to step back in general. Danny has shown time and time again he simply cant do it. Danny should be helping out at shows not running them. After the embarrassing results of last year people STILL gave Danny a chance to recover from his antics and they have happend all over again. Everybody invovled in wrestling are marks obviously, just as much as everybody who reads this also is. But Danny seems like TOO MUCH of a mark to be running such a 'big show' concept. Recipe for disaster.

 

As for Swindon. Blowing off the store, blowing off the show. With little or no notice what so ever. I'm sure Danny has ruined any chance of him ever running Swindon, let alone September...

[Dunny]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show.

 

Yes, the Swindon show was cut, for the simple reason that the tickets weren't selling well in advance. Catch 22. Risk going ahead and having the show tank or risk going ahead and potentially destroying a new market from burning those who were planning on showing up.

 

This certainly isn't a dig at you Curtis, because you're the one who has more of a clue than the others.

 

The point is, the common sense should be there to know it's a ridiculous idea to run a new area alongside another big show to focus on if you don't have the time and the man power to do both. A sensible business plan, if you were that desperate to break a new area, (which is a ridiculous idea anyway when there is so many other problems that need overcoming) would perhaps be to run a smaller show with a smaller break even figure so there is less risk of cancelling.

 

It makes the company look unproffessional and a joke. And by association it does the same to British wrestling, particurlarly seeing as those it's on a high profile scale with the big names. It makes the likes of 4FW's job harder. This is coming from

someone who went around Hull pulling down posters and collecting leaflets for a cancelled show with Eric Bischoff advertised.

[[nothing]]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show.

Yes, the Swindon show was cut, for the simple reason that the tickets weren't selling well in advance. Catch 22. Risk going ahead and having the show tank or decide not to go ahead and potentially destroying a new market from burning those who were planning on showing up.

 

Danny is stupidly excitable and stupidly passionate. He gets over involved in things when he should be delegating to ensure everything is done not to 50% or even 99%, but the full 100%. He needs to step back and stop being so proud and protective, because he knows that if he puts a foot wrong in the next four months before Anniversary, he won't have a chance of making fans interested in coming to the biggest 1PW show of the year. This week is make or break and i'm going discuss with him where all this is going/can go and without doubt, unpopular decisions will have to be made.

 

He need's to step back in general. Danny has shown time and time again he simply cant do it. Danny should be helping out at shows not running them. After the embarrassing results of last year people STILL gave Danny a chance to recover from his antics and they have happend all over again. Everybody invovled in wrestling are marks obviously, just as much as everybody who reads this also is. But Danny seems like TOO MUCH of a mark to be running such a 'big show' concept. Recipe for disaster.

 

As for Swindon. Blowing off the store, blowing off the show. With little or no notice what so ever. I'm sure Danny has ruined any chance of him ever running Swindon, let alone September...

 

As I say, changes will/may be made. His heart is usually in the right place, but we all know that passion alone cannot be the driving force behind any decisions made, you need the input from the brain too. Sometimes he makes silly decisions that in hindsight, he knows he shouldn't have made when there is a more than obvious solution. I'm not saying he can't do it, he just can't go on doing it alone. He needs to be part of an established and trusted team, rather than doing most of everything solo.

 

I can't comment on the Swindon shop situation, because I simply know nothing about it. Where possible, I try to stay out of the actual "meat and bones" running of these shows and stick to the areas that I know I can control and (somewhat) excel in. After two Gauntley era's, one Aisu/Cam etc era and two Rodd era's, stepping away from a lot of the running of the company was for my sanity and well being.

[Kaz Hayashi]

What's the answer to all of this then?

 

Is it a case of new management/runner, change the name, full closure?

 

It doesn't seem to be one thing that goes wrong, it never seems like mistakes are taken on board and learned from, it's a cluster of multiple issues. As a fan, the poor communication and non professional approach scares me to spend cash. The advertising of stars who arnt actually booked, the complete lack of 'regular' updates, the lack of hype surrounding matches on the card, in this case the card was barely announced until a few days before the show.

 

Then there's the whole professional side of it which can't be ignored, problems with people not getting paid, dropping other promotions/wrestlers/shops in it, booking an event whilst going on holiday, website going down and not getting sorted the week leading up to the event. Everything starting stupidly late every time.

 

To be fair, that's just scratching the surface, and is it all Dannys fault, you would think that other people involved with the promotion would step up and force things to get sorted if they are actually that bothered about the promotion.

In fairness I don't know if anyone else is involved to that extent with the promotion.

 

Mistakes are never taken on board, to the point that they can't be classed as mistakes any more, it's just shit

[The Cum Doctor]

Is it a case of new management/runner, change the name, full closure?

 

Probably.

 

You have to wonder if there'd have been so much hassle on here if it was a different promotion. The show itself wound up going well by the looks of things ( the vast majority of talent was there, and lots of the name talent with that ), and I reckon if that hadn't been 1PW, they might even have drawn more. The 1PW name is tarnished and no new ownership is going to stop that. Even if it Danny Rodd was still involved and it was in a silent role, and the same things happened in the build up, I reckon more leeway would be given to another promotion.

 

So I reckon yeah, a complete overhaul would probably be needed.

[4FWpromoter]

They definitely lost loads of money as talent and staff were paid in DVD's after the show.

 

Yes, the Swindon show was cut, for the simple reason that the tickets weren't selling well in advance. Catch 22. Risk going ahead and having the show tank or risk going ahead and potentially destroying a new market from burning those who were planning on showing up.

 

It makes the company look unproffessional and a joke. And by association it does the same to British wrestling, particurlarly seeing as those it's on a high profile scale with the big names. It makes the likes of 4FW's job harder. This is coming from

someone who went around Hull pulling down posters and collecting leaflets for a cancelled show with Eric Bischoff advertised.

 

This whole thing has been a shambles, when 1PW first announced the Swindon show I thought to myself this could be a disaster as with there reputation the likelyhood of everything coming off smoothly didn't look good.

 

I even offered to help out at the event with my team that are without a doubt the hardest working and most organised crew in any independant wrestling company, as I knew we could help the event work with promoting etc but reading all the stuff like wrestlers pulling out etc I pulled any association with the event.

 

I did not realise how much of a disaster this event would be, I did not see any posters up promoting the event in Swindon, I saw plenty of the Fan Favourites posters promoting the in store signing, i'd be suprised if they had any pre-sales at all.

 

If they are planning on coming back in September I will not offer our help this time and I will make it as hard for them as possible to promote here, because I have been building Swindon up for 7 years and will not let someone who is playing wrestling destroy what I have been building up, the quality of our events, training school, the way we present ourselves are second to very few and I will not let someone who has not got a clue about promoting ruin something we have taken years to build.

 

It was our long term plan to run the Oasis Leisure Centre but this could potentially ruin any chances of us ever doing that! which would be the fans loss because the event we were planning on running there would have been huge but we would only be running it in Swindon.

[AshC]

Danny should be helping out at shows not running them.

 

This applies to many promoters. If there's already quality successful wrestling in Swindon, which there is, what gives him the right to bring his own barely-funded show?

 

People need to have some respect for the promotions doing things the right way, and for the business as a whole. As stuff like this hurts EVERYONE in the long run.

[TysonSL]

I had a good time at the show on Saturday. Obviously the card was spectacularly different from what was original envisaged, but I don't think there was a bad match at all.

 

Again the show started really late; it was 6.45 when the band started, with no announcement or excuse for the delay. This is unforgivable, get it sorted. When you have so much to make up to the loyal fans who actually bother to turn up to your event, treating them with so little respect is the worst way to start a show.

 

Leaders vs Pac/Haskins was very good. I was not at their previous match live, but have seen the DVD. I don't think it was quite as good as the Sittingbourne match, but I'm not sure how much that was to do with the crowd. Let's face it, as good as the Leaders are, they have a loyal and vocal fanbase in IPW that would be very hard to replicate in their first time teaming for 1PW. The arena layout didn't help with the atmosphere either. I was sat front row and I was still quite a way from the ring, so the intimate atmosphere was lost. That's not to say the four wrestlers didn't win over the crowd, as by the end of the match there were supporters of both teams. The Leaders won with a super see ya later, then motioned that they had the tag team titles in their sights. I see the Briscoe Brothers are signed for the anniversary show. I'd love to see them face the Leaders on one night.

 

Next up Project Ego took on the Manhattan Project, who were really over with the crowd. The previous night I'd mentioned that I didn't like the way Kris Travis was heel, only to be reminded that he was turned during his match with Kevin Thorne in Liverpool last year. I conceded that, but I know for a fact that Martin Kirby was still a face at the last show. He came out as a heel tonight. You can't have it both ways, either you are starting from scratch with your roster (new champs, mixing up heels and faces) or you are nearly at the sixth anniversary of 1PW. The match ended when SJK arrived, attacked Project Ego and revealed himself as the leader of the Manhattan Prjoect. It was great to see him back and a nice surprise too. I had suspected he would be involved in the Manhattan Project but not that he would actually be at the show. Some may argue that with 1PW's money problems, flying in an import who isn't announced and doesn't actually feature on the card is a waste, but I did actually like the idea. I know FWA did this once with Steve Corino and it gives an "anything can happen" vibe to the show. However, as this occured in the early stages of the show, why not book him in a match? Showcase who he is for the new audience. This is assuming that SJK wasn't in the country already and didn't cost a lot to bring over. In which case well played.

 

After that we had MOB and Jimmy Havoc vs Sam Bailey, Bubblegum and Joey Hayes. The heels were introduced with a collective name, but I didn't catch it. This was much better than the tag match the night before. Bailey was pinned, but retrieved by his stable mates before Ruffneck could "kill the bastard". Better luck next time

 

Noam Dar successfully defended the Openweight title against Kid Kash and Bad Bones. Throughout the match I was thinking of who Keving Nash would face since Bad Bones was added here. It's funny, I scoffed at the match when it was made, but I was looking forward to Nash being in a singles match. I kind of hoped it would be agaist SJK, but soon realised Road Dog was without a partner for the main event. Anyway, Kash was so much better here than the previous night. The crowd seemed to come alive to boo him and he played up as only can, from shoving fans practically into the fourth row to threatening kids. Dar seemed an afterthought in the battle between Kash and Bones, so it was no surprise when he rolled up Bad Bones for the win. He didn't escape a further pasting after the match.

 

Burridge and Lionheart was up next. It was strange to see how quiet the crowd was for Lionheart compared to Burridge, especially seeing how over Lionheart has been for the last two or three years in 1PW. Apart from a small Scottish contingent, the support seemed mainly for Burridge. That took away from the heel turn a little, but Lionheart and Curtis's speech was very well done. Lionheart even mentioned being pissed off at not fighting RVD at the last anniversary show. He said it was the match was the most requested match of that time (it was) and that he was told it couldn't happen because he was in a feud that was ongoing (which was the reason we were given on the message board). All very good and I wouldn't be surprised if that was all Adam Curtis's booking. Greg Burridge vowed to come after the title again.

 

Finally we had Fight Club vs Road Dog and Kevin Nash. Road Dog came out to the band's playing, singing/saying his own theme music. It was great to see, as was Kevin Nash in the middle of the ring. Fight Club got a bit of a clobbering, but then used Boddington's briefcase to smash Nash and get the pin, giving Scotland a clean sweep of the 1PW titles.

 

The anniversary weekend was plugged throughout the weekend but was a bit confusing. They kept saying Friday 8th October was the black tie dinner, with Saturday 9th being the show, but Friday is actually the 7th October. I don't know if it's worth asking here for clarification, but what are the days/dates of the shows? There were supposed to be two big names at the black tie dinner, but on Friday it was referred to as a Shawn Michaels q&a meet and greet dinner. Is there still another name to come? I thought at the show would be a good time to announce something.

 

Anyway, overall I had a good time. Am I stupid for supporting 1PW? I don't think so. I live close by and pay on the door for tickets. I'm usually aware of who is and isn't on the show and decide to attend on the day. I've never lost money because of any of the owners (well, Gauntley owed me