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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: Things not looking good for MECW | ||||
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| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 08-23-2001 @ 2:03 PM |    | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00  | 1Wrestling.com has learned that several MECW performers who had been scheduled to appear at a show in Evansville IN last night failed to appear because when they arrived at the airport they found that their airline tickets had not been paid for. Sources tell us that MECW owner John Collins told some of the wrestlers that "somebody cancelled the flights". We have learned, however, that the tickets were reserved by a Canadian travel agency but were not ticketed because the agency did not receive payment for the tickets. We have also learned that at least one other travel agency, located in the Evansville area, is owed a significant amount of money for tickets processed for MECW in recent weeks and that the agency has refused to process more tickets for the promotion. 1Wrestling.com has also confirmed that several MECW performers have either not been paid, or have been paid with checks that bounced, in recent weeks. In an "on the record" conversation with John Collins this morning, Collins denied any knowledge of problems with payment for airline tickets. "I don't handle travel issues, I have accounting people who handle those things for me", Collins said. "If that's an issue it will be resolved immediately...it will be handled today. If it's not handled by noon tomorrow you can come after me for it," he added. 1Wrestling has direct knowledge that Collins was aware of the airline problem early yesterday. As many readers know, I own a travel agency and have processed tickets in the past for various wrestling organizations. I was contacted early yesterday on Collins' behalf and was asked to print tickets for several wrestlers who were stranded at various airports because of the ticketing problem. I declined the request because I was told Collins did not have a credit card and would have to send a check for payment. I was told at the time that Collins said the reason for the problem was that "someone called the airlines and cancelled all the flights". Fans who attended the show last night will be admitted to next week's Evansville show free of charge if they present their ticket stub for last night's show, according to Collins. During the conversation with Collins this morning (which was a 4 way conference call involving Dave Scherer, myself, Tod Gordon, and John Collins), Collins was confronted with several other issues. When asked about accusations that several MECW performers had either not been paid or had received checks that bounced, Collins vaguely answered, "Those are accusations". When pressed for an answer, Collins said "We have experienced some problems in getting funds transferred from savings accounts into checking accounts, but those problems have been addressed. Everyone has been paid, except two people...and they will be paid today," he continued. Collins blamed many of MECW's problems on things he says he wasn't aware of. Using the travel situation as an example he said, "How can I do anything about things I don't know about?" We asked Collins about the contradiction between our report that Buff Bagwell had been difficult to deal with at the Philadelphia show earlier this month and Collins' own comments about Bagwell being professional. Collins at first denied that there had been a problem and said, "In my dealings with him he was easy to deal with and professional". When asked specifically if Buff Bagwell had refused to lose to Steve Corino he said, "That's a tough question." At that point in the call, Collins put us on hold for a few minutes. When he returned, he said "We weren't sure that Steve Corino would be working with us in the longterm and we thought it wasn't a good idea to have one of our main eventers lose on a tv taping to someone we weren't sure would be working with us." When told that we had talked to witnesses who were aware that Bagwell had specifically refused to lose to Corino, Collins conceded that our report had been correct. Collins blamed the criticism his company has received in recent weeks to unrealistic expectations. "We aren't trying to be the WWF. We can't compete with them, and we aren't even trying to compete with them." Collins said the stress and pressure of running the company has taken a toll on him physically. "I haven't slept well for weeks, I've had chest pains, I'm puking up blood, I've lost 25 lbs in three weeks, there's just so much about all of this that I don't understand. It's killing me. I've discovered I'm not any good at this. In fact, as far as running a wrestling company I pretty much suck." Collins says he plans to step into the background and will turn the company over to other people, and in doing so he hopes to solve the numerous problems facing the promotion. "You won't be hearing my name in connection with MECW. I won't be doing radio interviews or talking to any sheets. I'm going to turn the company over to people like Tod Gordon and let them run it. As long as we have people like Tod running things, we'll be fine". | ||||
| spitfire421 | posted on 08-23-2001 @ 2:23 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Dec. 00 | WOW! What a total bullshit artist...how can he expect his company to have any integrity if he doesn't have any himself!quote: I guess he learned well from ECW, smart guy! They're never gonna be able to come close to competing with the WWF...or even NWA, CZW, or tiny EWA lol I give them 2 more months, at most  She's got a date at midnight With Nosferatu Oh, baby, Lilly Munster Ain't got nothing on you Now when I called her evil She just laughed She put that spell on me Boo Bitch Craft Accepting applications into the School of Altered Reality[Email]spitfire@opieanthony.com">E-Mail Me | ||||
| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 08-23-2001 @ 2:30 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | Hey at least Buff bagwell is is his main star. | ||||
| HeyBEERMAN56 | posted on 08-23-2001 @ 7:56 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Mar. 01 | companies like this never last.its always about money. YOUR DRUNK BROTHER,HeyBEERMAN 56 | ||||
| HydratedPeach So... how did you get your spiffy new status? Age-Challenged Sexual Tension Relief Worker | posted on 08-23-2001 @ 9:38 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jul. 01 | In an update to the story, a source is alleging that John Collins was blaming Paul Heyman for cancelling the plane tickets, when in reality the tickets were never printed due to non-payment. quote: Really? What was your first clue, John? When you couldn't get advertisment out in time to promote your first show? When you couldn't get tickets printed and therefore had to run a free show to save face? When you allowed yourself to be bullied by a notoriously difficult worker to change his match? When almost everyone's checks (including that of a friend of mine who worked on the show) bounced? When, after realizing no one was buying your excuses, you shoveled off all responsibility to someone else? I do want to see MECW succeed, and hopefully with people like Tod Gordon running things, it will. But it was pretty much doomed from the start, thanks to one idiot who just did not have a clue. Adopted by FollowThisLogic 8/14/01. He's quick with a whip, so report all wrongdoings to him. | ||||
| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 08-24-2001 @ 7:15 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | » Many WWF officials have been recently commented about MECW (Main Event Championship Wrestling) and the fact that the way they're running it, many people won't get the money promised to them. They're on a path of destruction, but careers are what they are destroying. This is the very same reason most of the talent on their roster do not want to sign exclusive contracts, knowing in a few months the promotion will go under. » Wrestlers backstage at MECW shows believe that their appearances at the promotion's shows could hurt their chances of signing with the World Wrestling Federation. If the WWF were to sign MECW talent, Collins would claim that the WWF is stealing their wrestlers, giving credibility to both himself and the promotion. WWF doesn't want any of that happening ala ECW a few years back. More details are emerging about last night's fiasco involving MECW's involvement in a Coliseum Championship Wrestling event in Evansville IN. As we reported earlier on the Newsline, several wrestlers who had been advertised to appear at what was billed locally as a "national TV taping" did not appear at the show because airline tickets were reserved but not paid for. A source at the Coliseum tells us that last night's problem is the latest in a series of problems in recent weeks. "It's been deception from day one," said the source. "This was supposed to be a tv taping, but no camera crew was there. I went out and got a crew from a local cable station to come in, but Collins didn't want to pay for it. He (Collins) said 'as long as they (the fans) think they'll be on tv, we'll be ok'". Coliseum Championship Wrestling is a locally operated promotion in Evansville and proceeds from all shows go to support the Coliseum, which is run by a board of directors made up of World War II Veterans. "We work on a handshake and your word...and if you word isn't any good the deal is off", a building source told us. Collins didn't arrive at the building until 9:30pm, according to the building source. When the first announcement was made concerning the MECW no-shows, the crowd of around 500 fans went berserk. The Road Warriors had been advertised as being on the card, and an announcement was made that they would be unable to appear because of a "flight schedule conflict". Fans began throwing chairs before security was able to restore order. A second announcement was made that Dr Death Steve Williams would also be unable to appear, but that announcement was interrupted by music for the next match and was not completed. Collins told 1Wrestling.com earlier today that anyone who had a ticket stub from last night's show would be admitted to next week's event free of charge. That was somewhat of a surprise to building management. Our source says the comment that fans could attend next week's show free is "absolutely not true" and Coliseum Superintendent Mark Acker said, "He can tell people they can get in for free if he wants to, but somebody is going to pay us the price of a ticket for everybody that walks through the door. We had hoped we had found a company that would be able to help us do something good for the community, but we have been lied to and deceived." A building source tells us that he overheard John Collins explain the airline problem to numerous people backstage as being caused by Paul Heyman and the WWF. "I heard it directly from his mouth. He told people that he had proof that Paul Heyman had cancelled the tickets from Titan Towers at the WWF. I heard him say that over and over again," the source said. As we reported in our earlier Newsline item, no tickets were cancelled. Reservations were made through a Canadian travel agency, but tickets were not printed because no payment was received by the travel agency. Several of the MECW wrestlers who were at the show were irate about payment issues, and Collins left the building and went to a local restaurant to meet with the wrestlers and to pay them. Payment was reportedly made by travelers checks or cash. Some wrestlers did not get paid, and at least two wrestlers went to the Coliseum this morning looking for a way to get in touch with Collins to discuss payment. "Some of those guys wanted to kick his ass", our source told us. Remarkably, Collins and MECW don't receive anything from the gate at these shows. "They don't get a penny from us. It was a great deal for us to get all these stars, but he was spending a fortune flying in all these people and paying them whatever they were getting paid," the building source said. The source tells us the building had received bounced checks from Collins, but that they had been made good after being told the matter was going to be turned over to attorneys. Despite all the problems, Coliseum Championship Wrestling has not ruled out working with MECW in the future. A representative of the promotion said, "We would love to work with them in the future, just not with Collins. We would need assurances that something like this wouldn't happen again." | ||||
| Vapour | posted on 08-24-2001 @ 9:40 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01 | quote: Great way to run a business. At least he admits that he sucks at it. On the other hand what a drama... this could be a story line in a made for TV Movie HA HA HA HA | ||||
| HydratedPeach So... how did you get your spiffy new status? Age-Challenged Sexual Tension Relief Worker | posted on 08-30-2001 @ 6:46 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jul. 01 | The saga continues... From 1wrestling.com: In a repeat of last week's fiasco, several MECW wrestlers who had been expected to appear at a Coliseum Championship Wrestling show in Evansville did not appear because their airline tickets had not been paid for or because they refused to wrestle when a promise to repay them for bounced checks wasn't kept. A source tells us that Curt Hennig went to the airport to catch his flight today, but found that the ticket had not been paid for. He returned home, and our source says he received a call telling him that the problem had been solved and he returned to the airport to find that the ticket was still not paid for. The same source tells us that John Collins had promised to be at the airport with money to compensate wrestlers who were owed back pay or who had received bounced checks. Collins did not show up at the airport, according to our source. Collins also did not show up at tonight's event in Evansville, and our source says his wife called the building to say that he had suffered a heart attack and would not be able to attend. (1Wrestling.com has not confirmed the validity of that claim, and if it is true we wish Mr. Collins a speedy recovery) Several frustrated wrestlers who are owed a significant amount of money refused to appear on the show. Buff Bagwell had flown in on a ticket that had actually been paid for, but our source says he left the building when he did not receive the money that had been promised him. Several sources have confirmed to 1Wrestling.com that there is a legitimate "money man" who has put up money to launch the promotion. The "money man" apparently is based in Canada, according to our sources, and had put Collins in charge of running the company. Virtually everyone we have spoken to thinks that was a horrible idea...including Collins himself, who said "I suck at this" last week in our exclusive interview. Indications were that a management team would be put together, apparently led by Tod Gordon, to run the promotion like a business...and that Collins would step into the background. If the "money man" in Canada wants to have any hope of making this thing work...that's something he should make sure happens as soon as possible. Adopted by FollowThisLogic 8/14/01. He's quick with a whip, so report all wrongdoings to him. | ||||
| Unicron | posted on 08-30-2001 @ 7:07 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Mar. 01 | JAPW is better than these guys | ||||
| Vapour | posted on 08-30-2001 @ 12:06 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Aug. 01 | With all these disappointments, I'm surprised that people are still showing up to wrestle. It's only a matter of time till no one shows up HA HA HA HA | ||||
Displaying 1-10 of 10 messages in this thread. |