The above shot you see I caught
floating around Twitter last night. I find it funny that Gabe
Sapolsky, owner of EVOLVE Wrestling, AND.. Current employee for the
WWE posted this (and from what I've heard, has quickly deleted it as
well). The fact is, indy wrestlers DO travel that long almost every
weekend for a payoff like that, if they're even lucky to get 'that'
for a payoff. They want the work, they want the exposure, the
experience of working in front of a live crowd, working for different
promotions, etc. It's been this way for years.
I know this for a fact from when I
worked for a group called the Eastern Wrestling Alliance (when they
were based in Maine), guys from Rhode Island drove from there to
Lewiston, Maine. And visa versa when the Maine guys went to work
shows in Rhode Island. I can go to Youtube right now, post links from
shows and point out who drove several hours from where. I even saw
acouple guys drive up from the southern part of Mass. To Farmington,
Maine in hopes of 'maybe', getting booked on a show if there was a
spot open, someone no showed, whatever. The point is Gabe says this
shouldn't be happening but it's been happening for years and years
and still is happening to this very day. Trying to drop WWE's name
into it doesn't help or work either because WWE has had a long habit
of just snatching up talent, refusing to let them finish off their
indy dates, and since the story broke yesterday, prohibits them
(again) from working for other indy promotions. Yanking them off
their finished dates and pretty much fucking over those promoters who
had long range plans in place. OR, don't even have a chance to at
LEAST, close out whatever story line that talent was involved in in
said promotion.
Maybe Gabe has forgotten about what a
lot of State Boxing and Wrestling Commissions require when it comes
to an indy promoter putting on a show. I know about this from the
fact I locally promoted shows in NH for two different indy
promotions, as well as asked about regulations in Maine. Like the
Paramedic required part of Gabe's post. Sometimes it's a State Boxing
And Wrestling Commission requirement, or in the case of Rochester, NH
where I locally promoted two shows for WWA New England, it was a
“City” requirement. Rochester, NH is known as a 'permit town',
you have to get a permit from the city in order to promote a
wrestling show there. Which means going thru a long ordeal of getting
your proposal on the City Council's agenda for their next meeting,
HOPING, they approve it and then going thru the city management
committee which is the Fire chief, Police chief and the city manager.
They required either a paramedic or a licensed EMT to be on hand. I
must be a lucky one because one of the guys who was helping me set
chairs, tables, ring, etc up was what? A Licensed EMT. I was able to
meet the requirement with Dave but only after going thru yet another
process of bringing copies of Dave's drivers license and EMT license
to the city manager's office who was giving me this skeptical look
when I said “Call the fire chief, he knows who Dave is”. He
didn't have to because the Fire Chief was walking by the city
manager's office, saw me and walked in to ask how the show idea was
progressing. I pointed at the city manager and said “I think he's
looking for another reason to give me hurdles to hop”. I explained
the situation and the Chief saw Dave's driver's license and said “He
works for AMR and I saw him at an accident two days ago” So the
fire chief helped get Dave approved.
While Rochester required the EMT or
Paramedic, Manchester NH didn't but Dave being there on a Sousa Show
months before this Rochester show came in handy as you see by the
shot I posted, which comes from this article I wrote for a long
forgotten web page I don't utilize anymore.
http://prowrestlingmemories.angelfire.com/beingaplant.html so it's sometimes a city or sometimes a state commission thing,
something I guess Gabe who is an owner of an indy company, seems to
have forgotten. Maybe he should research the towns he runs EVOLVE in
and find out what the requirements really are. OOOOHH what a concept,
eh?
Now trying to drop WWE's name and
attempt to be sarcastic on it with his “They Are Evil” crack
isn't getting him over at all. Because look at what the WWE is doing
now with the restrictions on wrestlers they signed in the UK. FIRST
they say there's no restrictions but NOW, as the news broke
yesterday, WWE is again (or still) going back on their word (like
they haven't done THAT before). Locking up talents from appearing on
other indy shows when their own NXT house shows in the UK weren't
sell outs shows that WWE aren't really thinking their UK plan thru
very well. But pulling talents from their upcoming indy dates not
only fucks over the wrestlers themselves, it fucks over the fans who
bought tickets to see those advertised talents, AND it fucks over the
promoters who have had ongoing story lines going with these talents.
But hey, Sapolsky doesn't have to worry
about that because HIS promotion EVOLVE has a working agreement with
WWE and, Gabe gets a paycheck as well from the WWE. So I guess it's
easy for him to make these little flimsy claims, huh.
Previously
the NXT UK
Superstars were only restricted from other promotions with
distribution deals, but now they will be barred from all other
promotions. The only exceptions are those companies that WWE had
partnered with including Progress, EVOLVE, ICW and wXw (Germany).
But what about the other promoters who are now getting shit on
because of this? What about the fans who paid their money for tickets
to see these talents that are getting yanked, and especially, what
about the talents themselves? Not only do they get whatever payoff
for appearing on the show but what about extra money they make from
merchandising their t-shirts, pictures, dvds, etc? Are these 'big
money deals' (cough cough) the WWE has given good enough to offset
whatever losses these talents will experience because of being pulled
off dates they agreed to appear on? Seeing how WWE's UK shows were
disappointing attendance wise it makes you wonder why these talents
are thinking about all this.
Of course Gabe Sapolsky doesn't have to think about it because he's
getting two paychecks. From his own company and WWE, which again I
say why it must be real easy for him to make little snide statements
like the one that's posted at the beginning of this article. He tries
to toe a WWE company line but seconds later deletes the post? why has
he deleted it? What's he so afraid of that he had to quickly delete
the post? If you meant it then stand by it. Make up your mind, is it
that much of a challenge for him to do so?
Maybe in the end when it comes to things like this, it might be in
Mr. Sapolsky's best interests to just.. Shut the fuck up.
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