Source: Chairshot Reality
Independent wrestler Gregory Iron talks about the state of Independent wrestling and a bad attempted booking experience:
To follow up this episode, the show that attempted to book Irons took place last night in Marion, Ohio. With no ring.
Sadly Nikoli Volkoff and Bobby Fulton were booked and the show went on with no ring. The promoter claims that the ring was stopped by the Highway Patrol in transit. Ok. Cancel the show, pay Volkoff and Fulton, and reschedule. I’m sure the ten people in attendance did not go a long way towards paying them anyways
Here’s a photo from the show that helps give Indy wrestling a black eye:
(Photo by Rich Jones Used Under The Fair Use Doctrine)
Too bad no one asked permission to use this photo I took before they did. There were 97 fans in attendance. You can’t see them all in this shot. I was there. Fans were told at the door they didn’t have a ring. The price was reduced, they still wanted a show, the wrestlers gave them an hour and a half of entertainment. NO ONE left until the end. It’s not the first time a ring hasn’t shown up, and it won’t be the last. I personally called promoters listed on the Ohio State Athletic Commission to try and secure a ring, but there wasn’t one available. You can knock the promoter all you want, and yes, it doesn’t look good on the surface, but the fans left happy, and the wrestlers got paid.
A couple of things:
1) I found this picture on the internet without attribution to the photographer, so permission was not sought, since it falls under fair use doctrine for limited use in a news story I wasn’t concerned about a copyright claim, I will however go back and add an attribution later.
2) Of course no one left until the end, if Bobby Fulton and Nikoli Volkoff were not there, no one would likely be there at all to see no names wrestle on a mat. If you plunk down your money, you are going to stay until the stars are there.
3) It is an untrue statement if you are stating every promoter was called on the OAC site, I am a licensed Ohio promoter and was not called(I am on the list under my shoot name), I would have gladly rented my ring on shot notice out of respect to Nikoli and Bobbly Fulton. I also see WAR Ohio was not contacted either.
I don’t buy the ring was told to turn around and go back by the highway patrol story either, if a truck is pulled over for being an unsafe weight, they aren’t told to travel the other direction. There are life and death concerns with a overloaded trailer that a patrolman wouldn’t want to shoulder.
What’s your shoot name? I only called guys that lived in the vicinity the 740 area code. Some didn’t answer. It was decided to go on without it. Jonathan Hampton was at the show attempting to book Bobby and could’ve very easily offered to help, but didn’t. Of course you didn’t see an attribution because it was already stolen. WAR wasn’t contacted. I never said I contacted all of them. Whatever you want to believe about the trailer, believe. I don’t know all the facts, except what I was told. I don’t even work for them. I run Bobby’s website. The fans were into the action the entire night, leading up to the main event, so Smark Out, whatever. In the end it’s all about the fans.
Regardless it’s bad promoting. A good promoter would firstly own a ring. But barring that, they would have contingencies in place in case their ring fell though.
i am guessing this guy isn’t a really promoter, but a money mark playing promoter.
If you notice I did not bash Bobby or Nikoli, if the promoter decided the show would go on, neither would likely get paid if they refused to wrestle, Bobby and Nikoli made the best of the turd sandwich that was given to Marion, no fault attributed to them. There is an obvious look of disgust on Nikoli’s face as he leaves the ring–er mat at the end of the match.
In my opinion the promoter should have called off the local wrestlers and cancelled the show and went ahead and paid Nikoli and Bobby without wrestling and let them sign autographs for any fans that showed up that did not know the show was cancelled.
http://www.smartmarkprowrestlingradio.net for the true story and reporting and bobby will be live tonight on the show talking about the show. around 8:30 so tune in
For the true story? Are you suggesting there really is a ring there?Aren’t you the guy that lied about the fundraiser in Dayton this year?