There is still plenty of room for growth in pro wrestling, but the latest promotion to throw its hat in the ring is having a difficult time getting off the ground.
The new Wrestling Entertainment Series promotion seemed promising at first. Run by Sunny Dhinsa and Gzim Selmani, who starred in WWE as the Authors of Pain, WES planned to hold international shows that highlighted a wide array of talent, all broadcast on FITE.
Yet, after the debut show failed to run on three separate occasions, WES no longer inspires such optimism.
The third attempt at the inaugural show was set for Saturday, July 9 at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England. Perhaps that proved to be too large a venue. Three days before the show was set to run, WES released a statement announcing its cancellation, saying, “We are deeply disappointed in the news that we have to share but with so many talent not showing up we will have no choice then to cancel the event.” The statement also noted “all our talent that was scheduled have been paid in full,” and that the promotion would return in “the near future.”
Rebuilding peoples’ trust will be a very difficult task.
WES had assembled an ambitious roster, featuring former MMA icon Alistair Overeem making his debut in the main event. Overeem was initially slated to wrestle Adam “The Titan” Scherr (formerly Braun Strowman in WWE) but he was replaced by Impact star Moose after the date of the show was moved to July, conflicting with Scherr’s schedule. In addition to Overeem and Moose, other stars on the July 9 card included Dean “Mojo” Muhtadi, Lince Dorado and Big Damo, who was Killian Dain in NXT.
Muhtadi, who recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about his new management company, Paragon Talent Group, also represented seven wrestlers on the WES show. His company showed its value, ensuring all Paragon Talent signees were paid according to the terms of their contracts, with the exception being one performer whose contract was never finalized by WES.
Despite the majority of Paragon performers getting their pay, the cancellation still left Muhtadi extremely disappointed.
“As a talent you are always going to feel at least a sense of responsibility for a cancellation,” Muhtadi says. “Of course, decisions like that are completely out of our control, but you always, always want to make sure the fans that support you aren’t let down. In the end, I wanted to do everything I possibly could to make it right for the fans.”
Following the show’s cancellation, Muhtadi held a meet-and-greet to connect with fans in London. Those who had already purchased a WES ticket received free admission, and the money from new ticket sales was divided up among the UK talent that did not get paid in full—or at all—by WES.
“Even though they aren’t clients of our company, I felt I needed to ensure these guys were paid,” Muhtadi says. “I recommended using local U.K. talent for half of the show’s roster. I introduced WES to a friend of mine, Declan Kellett, who is a local, trustworthy U.K. promoter, and he made his recommendations for fantastic U.K. talent. We thought it would be an awesome idea to have a roster comprised of half former WWE talent and half local talent.
“I actually went to England early to enjoy a vacation with my fiancé, and thought if we could make sure every single talent with a signed contract was paid, regardless of who they are represented by, that would be a total win. In the end, WES sent additional funds for the U.K. talent with signed contracts, and the meet-and-greet was able to sort out the rest.”
In addition to advocating for the U.K. talent, Muhtadi also made sure to protect the Paragon Talent clients.
“All the Paragon Talent who had signed contracts were paid in full,” says Muhtadi, who was also paid in full for this show and the previously postponed one last month. “Now they have additional flight credits, too. Afterwards, all the talent we don’t represent said they’d love to work with us for how the situation was handled.”
In an industry as tenuous as pro wrestling, the security Paragon Talent provided was valuable.
“Bottom line, there are promoters that take advantage of desperate talent who need these checks to survive,” Muhtadi says. “We know many promoters are very shady; they don’t believe in contracts, and some short the talent. We want our talent to wrestle only because they want to, not because they need to. We want to put them in a situation where we’ve secured them annual incomes comparable to or greater than their highest WWE salaries, and for several we’re doing exactly that. I don’t want to see my friends I shared a locker room with for a decade being cheated and shorted, and destroying their bodies in later stages of life because this is the only way they can pay their rent or feed their families. The brand deals and partnerships we have created for our talent are far more lucrative than wrestling show rates, so we hope it allows the talent to be more careful with their bookings.
“The primary motivation for Paragon was to show the outside world what professional wrestlers are capable of—to take our guys with their own unique abilities and talent for entertainment, and create a mainstream market for them. And the most important element of Paragon is to finally have someone to protect the talent.”
Despite all the frustration surrounding the WES bookings, Muhtadi would still like to see the promotion become a success.
“If we could ensure the show was going to happen and that the situation was going to proceed smoothly, then yes, I would love for us to be part of it,” Muhtadi says. “Those guys faced a lot of unfortunate factors and not all were within their control. They had a very unique global approach to wrestling that we loved. We weren’t just looking for a payday; we really wanted to see them succeed. We pride ourselves on our contracts, our timeliness and going above and beyond.
“If we feel the next show is in line with our vision, we would certainly have open ears. We would just have to have extra assurances for our talent and for the fans.”
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Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
