Black Widow
06-30-2008, 10:33 AM
The following statement from Maryland Championship Wrestling owner Dan McDevitt was posted at MarylandWrestling.com regarding WWE's decision to pull Ric Flair from an upcoming appearance. The message has since been replaced and not archived in the Message From Dan McDevitt feature on the website, so here is the message in its entirety:
I want to do my best to make this short and to the point. As always I shoot when it is time to shoot with the fans of MCW. Myself and Dennis not only appreciate you supporting Maryland Championship Wrestling as you do but we also respect you. This last 4-5 weeks has completely stressed out myself, Dennis, Jeff Jones, everyone that helps out with the office duties and Marylandwrestling.com. Everyone is completely burnt out and totally 100% drained. We had money invested into marketing material and we had everything ready to be uploaded on the websites, myspace page and press releases ready to hit all of the major media in Baltimore. I can’t explain in words how sorry I am to the MCW fans but also how sorry I am that we have wasted 5 weeks of promoting time and in this game, time really is money.
The Nature Boy Ric Flair was supposed to be booked to appear for pictures and autographs on Saturday July 19th, 2008 in a pre-show autograph signing. We have been in talks with Ric’s agent and WWE for almost 2 months. As you all may or may not have read on the internet; an NWA group down in Virginia jumped the gun about advertising Ric for their show and then the NWA itself announced that Ric would be appearing for the NWA Hall Of Fame Induction. The WWE pulled those appearances only days after advertisements began. At that time we were told not to worry, that the reason those appearances were pulled was because they jumped the gun advertising before the contracts were in place.
We had come to terms on an agreement and we had a contract in hand. However, we did not have the signatures from the officials at WWE. That is why I kept putting off making any sort of announcement because we were told not to and given that as the reason for why the NWA appearances were pulled. Basically there was a handful of promotions that were going to be allowed to book Ric in somewhat of a “Farewell To The Fans” type of tour. If you are a fan of Ring of Honor than you have probably read Gabe’s post explaining that they were another group that was approved to have him and they were also given notice that the appearance was being scratched.
I can honestly tell you that we were all on pins and needles every day for a month waiting to get the contract signed off on. In the defense of Ric’s agent, she was in contact with us every day as well getting all of the particulars lined up so that as soon as we had a ratified contract we could shotgun the advertising and start going. We were notified on Monday that the WWE had decided to not allow Ric to do anything that was associated with professional wrestling. There was no reason given and I guess they don’t have to have one because they are the WWE.
Believe me when I tell you that it took the wind out of all of us. It honestly took us all a couple of days to catch our breath and refocus on what is always our most important show of the year; The Shane Shamrock memorial Cup. Aside from all of that mess the rest of the shows are shaping up to be incredible shows. There are a lot of great matches that are booked already and several MCW debuts that I am really looking forward to such as Krazy K & TJ Mack, “Team Macktion”. I am also looking forward to the returning Jose & Joel Maximo and I think that match in particular has the potential to be a show stealer.
There is way too much stuff that needs to be done in the next 5 weeks and we are going to add another thing or 2 to the show. Stay tuned right here to Marylandwrestling.com for more information and I look forward to seeing everyone at the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup Weekend.
Dan McDevitt
I want to do my best to make this short and to the point. As always I shoot when it is time to shoot with the fans of MCW. Myself and Dennis not only appreciate you supporting Maryland Championship Wrestling as you do but we also respect you. This last 4-5 weeks has completely stressed out myself, Dennis, Jeff Jones, everyone that helps out with the office duties and Marylandwrestling.com. Everyone is completely burnt out and totally 100% drained. We had money invested into marketing material and we had everything ready to be uploaded on the websites, myspace page and press releases ready to hit all of the major media in Baltimore. I can’t explain in words how sorry I am to the MCW fans but also how sorry I am that we have wasted 5 weeks of promoting time and in this game, time really is money.
The Nature Boy Ric Flair was supposed to be booked to appear for pictures and autographs on Saturday July 19th, 2008 in a pre-show autograph signing. We have been in talks with Ric’s agent and WWE for almost 2 months. As you all may or may not have read on the internet; an NWA group down in Virginia jumped the gun about advertising Ric for their show and then the NWA itself announced that Ric would be appearing for the NWA Hall Of Fame Induction. The WWE pulled those appearances only days after advertisements began. At that time we were told not to worry, that the reason those appearances were pulled was because they jumped the gun advertising before the contracts were in place.
We had come to terms on an agreement and we had a contract in hand. However, we did not have the signatures from the officials at WWE. That is why I kept putting off making any sort of announcement because we were told not to and given that as the reason for why the NWA appearances were pulled. Basically there was a handful of promotions that were going to be allowed to book Ric in somewhat of a “Farewell To The Fans” type of tour. If you are a fan of Ring of Honor than you have probably read Gabe’s post explaining that they were another group that was approved to have him and they were also given notice that the appearance was being scratched.
I can honestly tell you that we were all on pins and needles every day for a month waiting to get the contract signed off on. In the defense of Ric’s agent, she was in contact with us every day as well getting all of the particulars lined up so that as soon as we had a ratified contract we could shotgun the advertising and start going. We were notified on Monday that the WWE had decided to not allow Ric to do anything that was associated with professional wrestling. There was no reason given and I guess they don’t have to have one because they are the WWE.
Believe me when I tell you that it took the wind out of all of us. It honestly took us all a couple of days to catch our breath and refocus on what is always our most important show of the year; The Shane Shamrock memorial Cup. Aside from all of that mess the rest of the shows are shaping up to be incredible shows. There are a lot of great matches that are booked already and several MCW debuts that I am really looking forward to such as Krazy K & TJ Mack, “Team Macktion”. I am also looking forward to the returning Jose & Joel Maximo and I think that match in particular has the potential to be a show stealer.
There is way too much stuff that needs to be done in the next 5 weeks and we are going to add another thing or 2 to the show. Stay tuned right here to Marylandwrestling.com for more information and I look forward to seeing everyone at the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup Weekend.
Dan McDevitt