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THE NETWORK A FAILURE?, EXTREME RISING VS. LUKE HAWX, ROH FOOTAGE IN DANIEL BRYAN DOCUMENTARY AND MORE

Are the Extreme Rising shows in Philly happening? I watched with horror on Facebook as Luke Hawx asked if the shows were happening as he hasn’t received his travel info from the promotion, which was followed by promoter Mr. Miami Steve O’Neill ripping him apart as a worker and a person for being unloyal and not having faith. I have some questions about this: 1 – why would Hawx or anyone have faith when the last 10,000 Rising shows (or at least it feels like it) have been canceled? 2 – Why wouldn’t the promotion have purchased airfare or whatever for Hawx by now? 3 – Should the other wrestlers and fans be concerned by O’Neill’s outburst? It hardly came off as professional and read to me like someone who knows his number is up and got caught by someone before he could admit it. Now, I also see Sabu is advertised for BTW the same days as Rising. I am driving from Pittsburgh for these shows and took time off from my job for them and I am really pissed if they are canceled. I am seriously thinking of filing a class action lawsuit against the company if these are canceled. So, what the hell?

After getting this question, I went back and read all the pertinent Facebook posts and reached out to Hawx, who told me he posted the comment jokingly because O’Neill had not responded to many messages about his travel info. I think O’Neill (who reached out to PWInsider asking to be interviewed next week in advance of his shows, so I will assume these topics will come up) reacted extremely badly here.

As you mentioned, Rising has had some bad luck with a good amount of shows canceled over the last 12 months for different reasons, so they really need to build a good track record with their audience again. The same thing goes with their wrestlers, some of whom have lost out on 4-6 paydays due to postponements and cancellations. No matter the reasons, the wrestlers were the ones hurt there. I think if anyone argues otherwise, they are delusional. I am sure the promotion lost money as well, but part of the responsibility of doing business as a promoter is to take care of your audience and the people who work with you. The promoter is the top of the pyramid and has to take care of those under him. It’s on Rising to do that with these three shows that are scheduled over the next several weeks and to continue doing it.

In regard to the Hawx thing, O’Neill obviously blew his top and even if he was pissed at Hawx over the comment, the last place he should have shown it was publicly in my opinion. He did something similar last year when Stevie Richards and Danny Doring joked about playing a game of Madden with the Rising title on the line. It doesn’t showcase himself or the promotion in a good light when it happens and it’s beyond unfortunate when he does react that way because it takes the focus away from the promotion and it doesn’t make someone want to buy a ticket. It came off badly, in my opinion. Even if O'Neill felt he was being attacked, responding that way looked bad. Could you imagine Vince McMahon doing that?

As far as travel not being arranged, I have no idea why they weren’t taken care of yet but I can tell you that booking travel out of New Orleans is expensive in general, so waiting to the last minute is pretty crazy. That’s probably why Hawx was wondering what was going on, especially if he can’t get O’Neill to return his calls. I am sure part of Hawx’s concerns were that he’s bringing a crew of students with him and he has to work out all the logistics of that and didn’t want to wait until the last minute to make those arrangements. If so, who can blame him on that, especially when his own promotion and students are being advertised by Rising?

I could see why you would think other wrestlers should be concerned with the outburst but haven’t heard of any who have been – the ones that are will just quit and work elsewhere like Homicide did when he decided he was done with the promotion. At the end of the day, it's indy wrestling and no one is contracted to appear.

In regard to Sabu, that's not the first time we've heard of him double-booking himself. O'Neill told me he spoke with Sabu and was assured Sabu will be at the Rising events.

As far as the shows taking place, O’Neill has said all along they will and for his (and your) sake, I hope they do. It’s on him to show everyone Rising can still be viable. Hawx, however, has stated to me he won’t be there – and considering he has possession of the Rising title belt, that could make things pretty interesting.

While Chris Benoit's final actions were horrible; I have a question about his time in WCW. During his final days in WCW, before he jumped to WWE, Chris Benoit won the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Was this a ploy by WCW to try and keep him from signing with WWE, or was this something that was already in the cards for Benoit?

It was a move by WCW done by then-booker Kevin Sullivan to show Benoit, who he had personal issues with (Benoit married Sullivan’s ex-wife Nancy, who had left Kevin for him after Sullivan booked them on screen as a couple) that he could do business. Benoit didn’t care and still requested a release from the company, which was granted to him, allowing him to walk out officially the WCW champion. He later signed with WWE, but it wasn’t a move made by WCW to prevent that. They stupidly released him and allowed him to go to WWE without a no-compete.

Should we consider the fact that WWE is offering a free trial once again as a sign the Network is a failure?

No, I think anyone who is going to judge the thing as a failure when it’s less than two months old would be insane. I think what happened is that WWE wanted to break that one million mark, badly, and since they are only about 70% or so of the way there, they opted to use the lure of all the Wrestlemania programming for free as a way to try and lure you and others in to buying the Network. I honestly think, if anything, anyone who isn’t paying $10 a month for it is just depriving themselves of what’s been some really good original content.

I saw Daniel Bryan footage from ROH on the WWE Network. Did WWE buy that library?

No. I am told that WWE paid to license several matches worth of footage from Ring of Honor.

Any update on the WWC video library?

As of this writing, WWE has not acquired it. The two sides are still in talks. What usually happens is that once WWE personally looks at the library and evaluates the condition, they make an offer and the fun negotiations begin. I don’t believe they are anywhere near that point yet, but who knows for sure?

Do you feel it’s disrespectful to have all these indy promotions running Wrestlemania weekend. I think it’s insane to see WWE Legends appearing at Wrestlecon and so forth. Thoughts?

No, I don’t. As a content producer, you have to go where the audience is and for pro wrestling, the biggest pure concentrated gathering of fans are wherever Wrestlemania is held that specific year. It’s not like any of these groups are taking money out of WWE’s pocket. I seriously doubt anyone is picking say ROH over WWE Hall of Fame. But, when that event sells out, why not offer an alternative to fans who were locked out or maybe weren’t interested in going? I can’t begrudge anyone from wanting to make money and if anything, it’s on WWE to lock their legends, etc. to contracts that prevent them from appearing elsewhere that weekend. If they don’t, good for the legends for making some extra cash at their age!

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