1PW shuts up shop

[MaraJade]

Well, get your credit card out then Phil. Go on, give to the UK fan base, let's see some more of those matches. What? Oh, other people should spend ludicrous amounts and you'd rather others were fucked over in the process.

To be fair to him, Phil is currently doing a lot of work and spending his own money on making sure this country gets to see the best womens wrestling they possibly can.

[Sheep]

Well, get your credit card out then Phil. Go on, give to the UK fan base, let's see some more of those matches. What? Oh, other people should spend ludicrous amounts and you'd rather others were fucked over in the process.

To be fair to him, Phil is currently doing a lot of work and spending his own money on making sure this country gets to see the best womens wrestling they possibly can.

I can't quite put my finger on it... but I'm pretty sure there's something completely wrong with that sentence.Possibly more than just the one thing as well.

[Raul Bloodworth]

Well, get your credit card out then Phil. Go on, give to the UK fan base, let's see some more of those matches. What? Oh, other people should spend ludicrous amounts and you'd rather others were fucked over in the process.

To be fair to him, Phil is currently doing a lot of work and spending his own money on making sure this country gets to see the best womens wrestling they possibly can.

I can't quite put my finger on it... but I'm pretty sure there's something completely wrong with that sentence.Possibly more than just the one thing as well.

Maybe he's paying to resurrect GAEA and bringing it over here? God, I miss GAEA.

[MoChatra]

I hope nobody who's moaning about having paid for tickets they are unlikely to be refunded didn't read Moj's posts over the last few months. He clearly warned people that this would happen, so anybody that went and bought tickets regardless has only themselves to blame.I feel bad for Dean. Firstly, as the 1PW booker, the Gauntleys should have the courtesy to let him know before going public with this news. Dean's a resilient character and he'll bounce back to benefit another promotion with his creative capabilities.There's really little to add about 1PW's demise that hasn't already been commented upon. From day one, the business model was clearly not sustainable, and anybody with half a brain could've realised that. Unfortunately, it seems that those that did had their warnings/advice/guidance ignored, and instead the Gauntleys find themselves in a terrible financial situation. I wouldn't wish such misfortune on most people but they only have themselves to blame for ending up in this mess. Was putting on star-studded shows and having wrestlers and fans kiss their backsides for eighteen months really worth it in the end?All I can hope is that British wrestling, and budding promoters, can learn lessons from this debacle. However, as history has shown, somebody else will come along and repeat the mistakes of the latest great hope of British wrestling to bite the dust.

[cheetah69uk]

just when i thought things could get no worse(car has been written off ----scrapped!!!) i find this has happend.....i drive many miles a year watching uk wresting as many of you know but now as im almost

Edited January 6, 2007 by cheetah69uk

[Astro Hollywood]

Someone photoshop a picture of a Book Of Thanks being fed page by page into a burning bin to stave off those bitter January winds, I'm too busy chanting 'Thank You' and weeping.God bless you, Stephen Gately and 3PW, you were England's rose :')

Edited January 6, 2007 by Sickboy

[Dean Ayass]

I'm just going to state a fact and not offer an opinion at this stage, to make one thing clear, Steven Gauntley did actually email my home address 45 minutes before making the public announcement, but I didn't pick the email up until about 6pm as I work full time. Steven also has my work email address and my mobile number. I am not going to reveal what he said on the email, at least not at this time, as I feel that would be inappropriate for a number of reasons.Anyway, I'm going back to listening to George Galloway on TalkSPORT. Galloway~

[CracktonMoj]

Someone photoshop a picture of a Book Of Thanks being fed page by page into a burning bin to stave off those bitter January winds

Nah, there'll be a Book of Condolence being emailed around various mongs.

just when i thought things could get no worse(car has been written off ----scrapped!!!) i find this has happend.....i drive many miles a year watching uk wresting as many of you know but now as im almost

[TsuMirren]

I'm just going to state a fact and not offer an opinion at this stage, to make one thing clear, Steven Gauntley did actually email my home address 45 minutes before making the public announcement, but I didn't pick the email up until about 6pm as I work full time. Steven also has my work email address and my mobile number. I am not going to reveal what he said on the email, at least not at this time, as I feel that would be inappropriate for a number of reasons.Anyway, I'm going back to listening to George Galloway on TalkSPORT. Galloway~

Any truth that the e-mail was as below:Dean, I've got the guns and the masks. Thing is, the guy with the van hasn't arrived because the cheque bounced. Do you know anyone who owns a van? Better yet, do you know anyone who works in this bank I'm going to rob? I'd have used to your mobile, but that would be too easy and I'm loathe to spending money in a way which makes sense. Give me an e-mail back asap.

[Kenny]

I'm just going to state a fact and not offer an opinion at this stage, to make one thing clear, Steven Gauntley did actually email my home address 45 minutes before making the public announcement, but I didn't pick the email up until about 6pm as I work full time. Steven also has my work email address and my mobile number. I am not going to reveal what he said on the email, at least not at this time, as I feel that would be inappropriate for a number of reasons.Anyway, I'm going back to listening to George Galloway on TalkSPORT. Galloway~

Any truth that the e-mail was as below:Dean, I've got the guns and the masks. Thing is, the guy with the van hasn't arrived because the cheque bounced. Do you know anyone who owns a van? Better yet, do you know anyone who works in this bank I'm going to rob? I'd have used to your mobile, but that would be too easy and I'm loathe to spending money in a way which makes sense. Give me an e-mail back asap.

Hm maybe the cheque to the guy in the van did clear, but it was same Van Man that no-showed that Blackburn show years ago thats now taking the cunt again

[Phil Austin]

If only 1PW listened to almost everyone on here when they first started up saying the model couldn't possibly work.....

They were going to book Rick Martel too??? Damn...lolSorry, but seriously, I want to get this in before the vultures settle around here....thank you very much to Steve and Rosie for putting on some truly great shows, and providing us with the opportunity to witness some unique and tremendous matches. Please be aware when hitting the damnation button that without these shows, there were a lot of stars and matches you would never have seen (Doug v Lance Storm anyone). For every ounce of hatred you may have towards 1PW and Steve Gauntley, there also has to be an acknowledgement for how they have benefitted us as a UK fanbase.As bad as some of the business decisions may have been, they were all carried out in order to provide fans with top notch shows. And for that I give what may well be the final bit of credit seen in this thread if I have judged the UKFF correctly on this matter!

Oh fuck off Phil! What you're basically saying is that money marks are okay and that it doesn't matter if they fuck people over so long as they book a few UK guys and spend ludicrous amounts of money giving you the matches that you want to see. "Hmmm, someone got fucked over for flights. But, sod that, I got to see Wrestler x vs Wrestler Y." I notice you haven't once actually thanked Steve & Rosie for the hardship they've obviously put themselves through, not that they deserve the thanks, or even made one comment about people who've lost out.As for credit within this thread, why? Credit to some idiot spending far too much fucking money on workers who obviously don't appreciate it. I'll give some credit here though. Credit to Ricky Knight for being a promoter who didn't and will never go down this route, credit to Gary Graham (yes, wow, imagine) for building up WZW and actually having a training school which I assume made WZW self sufficient at the time, credit to EWW and their return to the scene, credit to the SWA for taking on my work with SCW and eclipsing it and credit to every other promoter in the UK who puts on the sorts of shows UK fans should be happy with if it weren't for money marks and twats who support them. So, instead of hammering the people on here who saw it coming and discussed it (however they did it), why don't you stand in the next meeting you're in with guys who worked for 1PW and ask them why they were all so happy to just take a pay day and not seemingly give a shit. Everyone who worked for Gauntley must have known, from Spud to Doug to Dean and everybody else...far too keen to ride the gravy train, as there'll be another one along in no time I'll bet.Finally,"As bad as some of the business decisions may have been, they were all carried out in order to provide fans with top notch shows."Well, get your credit card out then Phil. Go on, give to the UK fan base, let's see some more of those matches. What? Oh, other people should spend ludicrous amounts and you'd rather others were fucked over in the process.

Ok, some very fair points within that rant, and I cannot argue with you-in fact I would never have intended to. I am far from saying that 1PW had a tremendous business plan-clearly they did not-or that they don't deserve to be lambasted for the hardships they've given to fans who paid for the show, or to wrestlers who took the booking or to whomever else has been affected. Hell yes, this is indeed a black eye on the British wrestling industry. Hey, trust me, if you want me to run down all the things I think were bad about 1PW I could quite easily do so here-point I was making though is that there would be no point in doing so, because there are enough people here who can do that themselves, and far better than I could.I was merely figuring to get some positive slant out of a bad situation. It's not the people that never attended a 1PW show or bought a 1PW DVD that the comment was aimed at-I just feel there are some people who saw a 1PW show or DVD at some point, enjoyed it, then came home and went on the 'Gauntley is a cunt' rant along with everyone else, while forgetting that they had actually enjoyed the show.Fine to disagree with me, and believe me my credit card is worthless for booking imports-the only way I have managed to get the Shimmer girls here, which was only for the good of the UK girls and certainly not for me as a 'money mark', is by ensuring I find a way to make back at least the majority of the costs. I'm not here to lose money through the wrestling business-and I would never, EVER want to be a promoter.You see, the problem I have, and this is not to do with 1PW specifically as I know there are unique issues with them, is that every time someone has sought to do something of any scale in the wrestling industry, people come online and lambast them for it, which I think in some cases is wrong. Again, I am NOT defending 1PW to the extent of saying they are blameless-to do that I would have to be a blind idiot who knows nothing about wrestling (insert your jokes here now then!)-I just feel they at the very least managed to run shows and deliver at least the majority of what they promised. Believe me, having lived through Wrestlexpress that deserves a little bit of credit to me!!

[azzman1986]

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FANS HOLDING TICKETS TO THE 13TH JANUARY 1 PRO WRESTLING EVENT IN DONCASTERAs you will all be aware, the 1 Pro Wrestling show scheduled for Saturday the 13th of January - No Turning Back 2007 - has had to be cancelled due to the liquidation of 1PW Promotions Limited. This left the unfortunate situation of well over 1000 paid customers without a show to attend on the night, whilst still holding tickets.This being the situation, the management team of 3 Count Wrestling - www.3cw.co.uk (which includes former 1PW regulars Dragon Aisu and Stevie Aaron), along with a team of ex-1PW staff, crew and supporters, are working to ensure that a wrestling show DOES take place at the Doncaster Dome on the aforementioned date. While this will NOT be a 1PW show, it WILL serve as an opportunity to say thank you to all the fans that made the last 14 months at 1 Pro Wrestling in Doncaster such a rollercoaster ride - as a result this show will now be known as "...Will Not Die".Further information will be released on Monday the 8th of January regarding ticketing for those currently still without tickets. For those with tickets for the previously scheduled event - 1PW No Turning Back 2007 - all tickets sold for said event WILL BE HONOURED at this revised event at no extra charge, in lieu of a refund. Please note that refunds will NOT be available on the night for tickets previously sold by 1PW Promotions Limited, from whom the new organising body are entirely seperate, and anyone NOT wishing to take up this offer will need to apply for a refund via the previously outlined process. Please review previous 1PW Promotions Ltd releases for this information.The previously advertised afternoon "Fight Club" event will also still be taking place, and will now be "3CW Fight Club" and serve as an introduction to 3CW's product. Tickets purchased for this event will also be honoured, and available on the door. Revised show information will, again, be made available at the earliest possible convenience regarding alterations to the shows previously advertised by 1PW Promotions Limited.

[Heavens Own]

Just got back, had a couple and thus cant fatham the thought of reading all 6+ pages until tommorrow, but all I will say is.....How fucking annoying is it that whenever someone comes along with the money to actually do something positive for British wrestling, they all end up being nothing but marks splashing their money around having watched too many episodes of Raw and wishing they were Vince?FFS, is everyone willing to invest serious money in British wrestling a fucking retard?Did I just answer my own question?

[Deaq]

I tried to warn you mate, I really did. If you're going to believe Crackhead Steve over me, then what can I say?

Cant they just use the ticket for the show on January 13th?

[Million$Body]

We really need to look at the root cause of the problem in order to prevent it from happening again in future:

 

Money Mark promoters - created after the decline of the British Wrestling industry because, quite frankly, any old tom dick or harry can go out, hire a venue, hire wrestlers, hire a ring and promote a show. How can this happen? Because wrestlers in this country will generally sell their services to the highest bidder (as others do in everyday business). However, in doing so they are contributing to the demise of their own industry.

In these circumstances fans lose money, promoters lose money, wrestlers lose another place to work and British Wrestling lose's even more integrity.

 

Money Mark promoters are created because of dis-satisfaction with the current product. They are part of/want to cater for a niche audience e.g. Shimmer girls, TNA Indy wrestlers, death match pin cushion guys etc

 

Now is the answer to carry on assisting these niche marketeers by sub-contracting your wrestling services and co-existing? OR (do as the FWA successfully did) add these elements to your existing shows in order to cater for both general and niche audiences?

Fans want to see these attractions and will part with their cash in order to do so. Where the difference lies is whether or not the people within the British Wrestling industry decide to cater for alternative tastes or continue to sub-contract their services to support the niche market (which inevitably fails to support itself ala WrestleXpress, 1PW etc).