ROH: Ric Flair verklagt/Davey Richards neuer Vertrag

[Silk]

Wie der PW Insider berichtet, hat Ring of Honor am vergangenen Donnerstag in Bucks County, Pennsylvania eine Klage gegen Ric Flair eingereicht mit der Behauptung, dass dieser der Liga rund 40.000 US-Dollar schuldet.
Nach Angaben von ROH wurde Ric Flair mit 10.000 Dollar pro Auftritt für 5 Termine bezahlt, jedoch nahm dieser seinen Auftritt in Montreal im Juli 2009 nicht mehr wahr und hat bis dato die 10.000 Dollar für diesen Auftritt nicht zurückgezahlt. Desweiteren behauptet die Company, dass sie mit Ric Flair einen Deal über 35.000 US-Dollar ausgehandelt hatte, bei dem er für die Liga in einer Authority Figure Rolle in der ROH TV Show auf HDNet auftauchen würde. Flair legte jedoch nur einen Auftritt hin. Bei der zweiten Aufzeichnung hielt er nur eine kurze Ansprache vor dem Publikum, dass er aufgrund seiner Verbindungen zur WWE nicht mehr für die Company auftreten könne.
Gerüchten zufolge war es Teil der Abmachung, dass Ric Flairs Sohn Reid bei der Company antreten und trainieren könne. Diese Pläne verwirklichten sich jedoch nie, da Reid Flair wegen mehrfachen Drogenbesitz im letzten Jahr angeklagt wurde. ROH hat bisher noch keinen offiziellen Kommentar zu diesen Plänen abgegeben.

Wie Gabe Sapolsky (Vice-President und Head Booker von Dragon Gate USA sowie Co-Owner und Head Booker von EVOLVE) gestern über den DGUSA Twitter Account mitteilte, wurde Davey Richards von all seinen geplanten EVOLVE und DGUSA Auftritten in der Zukunft entfernt. Weitere Kommentare wollte Sapolsky zu diesem Zeitpunkt auf Anraten nicht machen.
Wie ROH mittlerweile auf seiner Homepage in einer offiziellen Pressemitteilung bekanntgegeben hat, hat Davey Richards einen neuen Vertrag bei Ring of Honor unterschrieben. Dieser Vertrag ist anscheinend streckenweise mit Exklusivität verbunden bzw. es ist Davey Richards nicht mehr erlaubt bei DGUSA oder EVOLVE anzutreten. In der Pressemitteilung lobt ROH Besitzer Cary Silkin den außergewöhnlichen Wert von Davey Richards in den letzten Jahren (Richards debütierte am 3. Juni 2006) und hofft, dass man die Zusammenarbeit mit Davey Richards noch für eine sehr lange Zeit aufrechterhalten kann. Bereits jetzt wurde Davey Richards für die folgenden Veranstaltungen von ROH bestätigt, auch für das "Wrestlemania Wochenende" in Phoenix, wo er bisher offiziell für DGUSA gebookt war und gegen Open The Freedom Gate Champion BxB Hulk antreten sollte. W4E hält euch über alle weiteren Entwicklungen auf dem Laufendem.

[Silk]

Davey Richards Re-signs With ROH

Ring of Honor is proud to announce that Davey Richards has signed a contract renewal.

After debuting for Ring of Honor on June 3, 2006 in East Windsor, CT, Richards has gone on to prove himself a standout in-ring performer and has taken wrestling by storm. He is a two time former ROH World Tag Team Champion (with Rocky Romero and Eddie Edwards), and had a standout year in 2009 with top shelf matches against a number of competitors, including the tremendous bout against KENTA at "Supercard of Honor IV", the brilliant contest with Bryan Danielson at "The Final Countdown Tour: Boston", and the excellent World Title match against Austin Aries at "Aries vs. Richards".

As part of The American Wolves, Richards and Eddie Edwards set the tone for tag team wrestling in 2009 with classic confrontations against Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black at "Tag Title Classic", and Kevin Steen and El Generico in Ladder War II at "Glory By Honor VIII", in addition to bringing the tag team art back to a National audience with several tremendous matches which aired exclusively on HDNet.

"Davey has been a tremendous asset to our company for several years," said ROH President Cary Silkin. "He's an exceptional talent and we look forward to seeing him compete in ROH for a long time to come."

Davey Richards is the first talent announced a gigantic weekend of action for Ring of Honor in Phoenix, AZ on March 26th and 27th. Richards will also be appearing in Philadelphia on February 5th and 6th, New York City on February 13th, Dearborn, MI on March 19th, and Mississauga, Ontario on March 20th, and will be a part of our debut in Charlotte, NC on April 3rd.

Please check ROHWrestling.com for more of Davey Richards’ upcoming appearances.

[Silk]

Erste Hammernachricht des Wochenendes mit Davey Richards. Man man man hätt ich ja garnet mit gerechnet.

[Silk]

Randnotizen:

- bei Davey Richards Facebook Seite ist nur noch ROH verlinkt
- Gabe Sapolsky sowie DGUSA haben Davey Richards nicht mehr in der Top Freundschaftsliste bei MySpace (oder eventuell garnicht, k.a., fällt bei über 2000 Freunden schwer durchzusuchen, vorgestern war Davey noch #2 bei Gabe)

[Adrian Adonis]

Ich bin gerade echt schockiert, das kommt alles so überraschend und in meinen Augen kommt es auch sehr komisch daher. Was waren denn Beweggründe zu solch einer Tat?

[Silk]

Absolut keine Ahnung. Von ROH Seite aus natürlich klares Business. Grad DGUSA hat ja ROH auch ein wenig provoziert in den letzten Tagen mit seinen Wrestlemania Weekend Ankündigungen (halt Jack Evans zum Beispiel als EXKLUSIV Wrestler angekündigt). Und das man ein Talent wie Richards nicht verlieren will, ist eh verständlich.

Was aber Richards Beweggründe sind ... ich kann nur spekulieren.

Ich hab vor kurzem noch gelesen, dass Davey mal in einem Interview gesagt haben soll (angesprochen ob er wegen Evolve jetzt ROH vernachlässigt), dass er prinzipiell sich als Freelancer ansieht und erst für eine Liga exklusiv antreten wird, wenn diese ihm so viel Geld bezahlt, dass er es sich leisten kann, andere Auftritte nicht anzunehmen. Scheinbar hat ROH genau diese Summe jetzt erreicht oder zumindest so eine Summe, dass er nicht mehr bei EVOLVE und DGUSA antreten wird.


Auf jeden Fall für DGUSA und vorallem EVOLVE nen herber Rückschlag. Und Gabe wird kochen ....

[Hawkeye]

Find ich klasse das Richards einen neuen Vertrag mit ROH unterschrieben hat.Dann kann man ihn ja noch weiter bei Ring of Honor bewundern. :klatscher:

[Silk]

Ich prophezeie einfach mal: Next World Champ!

[Hawkeye]

Da geh ich mit.Verdient hätte er es allemal.

[Silk]

Richards könnte auch gut als Tweener agieren. Weil er ja aufgrund seiner Ringleistung doch scho oft bejubelt wird.

[The Russian Zar]

Jo kann mich da nur anschließen. Mit dieser Entscheidung ist eigentlich schon ein Teil der Weichen auf seinen World Title gestellt. Der Mann ist im Ring einfach nur der Wahnsinn und wohl neben Männern wie Kenta auf einer Stufe zu stellen was die momentanen Leistungen und Status angeht...Mich freut das natürlich, da ich ihn sehr gerne kämpfen sehe...

[Silk]

Take it for what it's worth. Von DOI.com

EVOLVE Wrestling & Dragon Gate USA booker Gabe Sapolsky posted the following on Twitter today:

"Effective immediately Davey Richards has been removed from all DGUSA and EVOLVE events. I have been advised not to make more comments now."

For fans wondering, this is not an EVOLVE angle. This is basically Davey Richards going where he thinks he will make more money.

Davey Richards (Real Name: Wesley Richards) apparently told Gabe Sapolsky & Sal Hamaoui (The owner & money behind DGUSA, EVOLVE & FIP) that he no longer had an ROH contract in October of 2009. Richards went on to tell Sapolsky & Hamaoui that he was not happy with where he was with ROH and since he no longer had a deal, would be interested in working for projects backed by Sapolsky & Hamaoui.

Sapolsky & Hamaoui were ecstatic by this news, as the plan for DGUSA & Evolve were to rotate things around Bryan Danielson, but with Danielson signing with the WWE, they needed a new poster boy. Richards was to be that guy.

Not only did Richards tell Sapolsky & Hamoui that he did not have an ROH contract, Richards did several internet interviews where he made it clear he did not have an ROH contract. Apparently, Richards was lying when he said he did not have an ROH contract, as it came out today that Richards indeed did have an ROH contract and his current contract actually expires at the end of March 2010.

Both Sapolsky & Hamaoui were under the impression when they were dealing with Richards that Richards did NOT have a contact or he had a soon-to-be expiring contract, as that is what Richards told them.

What this whole situation today basically boils down to is that Richards used Sapolsky & Hamaoui as leverage in a deal to get a bigger contract with Ring of Honor.

In October of 2009, Davey Richards made it clear to ROH that he would be going with Dragon Gate USA during Wrestlemania weekend. As you all may know by now, both DGUSA & ROH are running shows that weekend with all the extra fans in the area for Wrestlemania. ROH has usually done well during Mania weekend. Ironically, it was Dragon Gate talent during Wrestlemania weekend in ROH that made ROH a hit. Now that Dragon Gate has a promotion in America, it should be interesting to see how DGUSA does during Mania weekend.

While ROH & Dragon Gate USA are clearly competitors ever since Gabe was fired & Sal quit, both ROH & DG USA will not talk negatively about the other company publicly. However, there is obviously an interest from both sides in topping the other, as there is in any business.

When Richards told ROH he was doing DGUSA during Wrestlemania weekend, the ROH office flipped out.

Richards told both Cary Silken and ROH booker Adam Pearce that he was taking the DGUSA dates and that the situation to him wasn't personal at all. Obviously, ROH took it personally though.

Richards also told Silken & Pearce that DGUSA pays him better than ROH. However, Richards would later on tell them it wasn't about the money, where it clearly was as that was the first thing he told Silken & Pearce.

For those who don't know, Richards recently got his paramedic license and could make more money doing that than wrestling, but does wrestle out of the love of the game. However, this is not a game, this is business, which is why Richards used DGUSA's interest against them in his path to get a bigger ROH contract from money mark Cary Silken.

In fact, the DOI got a copy of the email Richards sent to Cary Silken & Adam Pearce. Read this yourself and perhaps you can decide if Richards was two-faced in his negotiations with DGUSA. Here it is:

From: Wesley Richards
Date: Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Subject: WM weekend
To: Rohcary@aol.com, adampearcesemailEDITEDforprivacy@hotmail.com

Hello guys,
Ive thought about this alot and Ive made my descison to do DGUSA. This is not a personal thing at all and I wanted to tell you far in advance instead of keeping quiet and springing it on you at the last minute and leaving you in a bind.

I hope this doesnt become all end all be all descison in my future with ROH nad I would like to share my reasons for making this descison so you can better understand where im coming from.

One reason is that DGUSA offers me more money, now I want to make it perfectly clear that money is not my prime motivator in this and wrestling in general. As you both know I have my paramedic liscense now and could make alot more money doing that.

The fact is that I havent been offered a raise in 3 years and im worlds more valuable to ROH now that when I signed on for that amount. Ive seen guys come and go and be flown in and be paid better than me, even though Ive consistenly produced and gave ROH 110% percent everytime Ive stepped foot in a ring.

Ive never held ROH up or complained about money, I was told it simply couldnt be offered and I trusted ROH its word and accepted that same pay. Ive driven to shows, accepted pay cuts, when Cary accidently paid me over my gaurantee I told him about it instead of just keeping quiet and cashing the check. All not because I want special treatment, but because I wanted to help out the company.

2 different time Ive been offered developemental by WWE and turned it down as I 1. Dont like the be binded to one company as I do this for fun and 2. Didnt want to leave ROH hanging.

Another reason is DGUSA is rewarding me for my hard work. This is what means alot to me.It means alot to me that the first phone call that Ive ever recived from the boss of the company was about making sure I was working for him and telling me there is going to be a problem if I dont.

Ive worked harder than anyone on the roster this year and my matches have shown that and never have I gotten a call to say good job or how are you.

This means alot to me. You probably dont even remember but it really hurt when I gave everything I had and delivered a MOTY with Kenta in TX and noone said anything when I came to the back. The only thing I heard was we did too much. I am sorry, but that is ROH is about to me. Young stars working harder than anyone else on the planet to make a name for themselves, what set us apart is that were hungrier, more passionate to be the best wrestlers we can, not for money, but for our love of the sport.

This is what means alot to me. I dont want more money, I dont want some huge push, I just want to wrestle.

I hope we can continue working together, but if you choose to terminate me after this, I thank you for giving me a place to wrestle and best of luck to you.
Wes Richards

The above email was written from Davey to ROH on 10/28/2009. When ROH received it, Cary forwarded the email to ROH Vice-President (and the used-car salesman of wrestling) Syd Eick. Syd promptly contacted ROH attorney Glen-David Schwarzschild about the matter. Glen-David Schwarzschild told Eick that ROH could sue Richards for breaching contract and working for a competitor. At this point, it was clear that Richards was lying about not having a contract, as he did still have one. Whether Richards intention was to break the contract is not clear at this point, as you can tell from the above email that Richards was upset. It is not clear when Richards decided to use DGUSA as leverage or if he had any legit interest in working there long-term at all.

While all this was going on, Richards made every ROH, EVOLVE & DGUSA booking and was professional in all his matches. Also, Richards worked for Sal Hamoui's FIP & won the Jeff Peterson Cup Tournament, a tournament booked by Sapolsky and considered by Sapolsky "the pre-cursor to Evolve."

Stepping away from the facts, as an outsider looking in on all of this, whether the name is Davey Richards or any other independent wrestler, the fact is this won't hurt DGUSA or Evolve at all. Fans at this level just want to see good wrestling. If it's good, they will come out and if it sucks they won't.

Both Evolve & DGUSA are concept promotions. Evolve is trying something new obviously, where DGUSA has the Japan thing going for them. Fans are coming out to see the wrestling behind the promotions, not just one particular wrestler. Sure a wrestler can draw, especially with the Japanese talent that is rare in these parts, but is Davey Richards really the difference that will get a company over the hump?

You can not take away the talent that Richards possesses. He is one of the top independent wrestlers in the world today, but at the end of the day he is just an independent wrestler (whose word now means nothing.) On the indy scene you live and die by your word, and if Richards would blatantly lie & be two-faced with credible people like Hamaoui & Sapolsky, how do you think he will act with the common indy promoter? This is just bad business on Richards part and not an honorable way to act, but then again, there hasn't been much honor in ROH for years, just ask Alex Payne, Kenny Omega or Larry Sweeney.

Furthermore, we also got a report about Richards no-showing an AAW show on 1/15. Richards knew he wasn't going to be there, but waited until the last minute to say anything. I hope the ROH money is really good (It's less than $200) because Richards just lost three great bookings (FIP/Evolve/DGUSA) right off the bat. Now that he was two-faced in this situation with ROH/DG and no-showing indy bookings, indy promoters will have to wonder if he is reliable when you book him.

Of course this is really a shame, as today we are not talking about Richards the great wrestler, one of the best in the world today & one of the most impressive guys on the scene, we are talking about his (terrible) business negotiation skills. If Richards came out front telling DGUSA his plans, I don't think this story would've made Gabe's twitter today. Taking the picture with Silken and making sure you-know-who gets it is also a way for people not to talk about your great in-ring skills but horrendous negotiating skills. If Davey is to have a fall-out with ROH, I don't think Hamaoui/Sapolsky, who have to be considered ROH's biggest competitors at this level, would be so fast to snatch him up, although business is business, but this wound is very fresh right now.

While I don't think Sapolsky or Hamaoui will say anything publicly or even "sell for it" privately, of course they have to feel betrayed by Richards here. Richards sold out & lied to Sapolsky & Hamaoui, and for what, an extra $100 or so a show?

Richards was to be the face of the Sapolsky/Hamaoui regime, as he was put over in the Jeff Peterson Cup, won the first ever main event at Evolve and involved in top matches in DGUSA. Losing Richards shouldn't affect business at all, as it will just open doors for new talent. Obviously, this isn't great for business either, but in a few weeks from now, this will all be forgotten as the next "chosen one" arises from a fresh crop of hungry indy talent.

But once Richards wins the ROH title, Richards will have to wonder was it out of his own merit and hard work, or was it because ROH management wants to give a fuck you to their ex-employees?

Also (and this goes for all ROH talent) if Cary asks to discuss business with you in Puerto Rico, DON'T GO!

Looking forward, this is what Evolve has set for 3/13 in Rahway, NJ:

EVOLVE 2
March 13th, 2010
Rahway, NJ
Rahway Rec Center
275 E. Milton Avenue., 07065
8:00pm Belltime

Tickets now on sale in the http://www.EVOLVEwrestling.com Shop or by calling 267-519-9744.

The main event for EVOLVE 2 has not been signed, which is why the show does not have a subtitle yet. The main event will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Four Way Elimination Match
Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw (1-0) vs. TBA vs. TBA vs. TBA

Official Singles Division Match
Ricochet (1-0) vs. Chuck Taylor (0-0)

Also Signed:
-Bobby Fish (0-1)
-Johnny Gargano (1-0)
-Chris Hero (0-0)
-Jimmy Jacobs (1-0)
-TJP (0-1)

This show was supposed to feature Kyle O'Reilly vs Davey Richards, but obviously that match is off. O'Reilly is working in Evolve as the protege of Richards. Nothing about his status in Evolve has been talked about, although I'd hope O'Reilly is a protege of Richards' wrestling, not his business tactics. I'd bet that O'Reilly is a man of his word and will be there. (Got to show support to the Irish brotherhood!)

Both DGUSA & ROH debut in Phoenix, Arizona during Wrestlemania weekend. In my opinion, DGUSA has the better line-up, as I don't see Richards swaying the scales that much at all. Sure he's a great wrestler, but if you are a fan of the DGUSA style, I don't see how this would affect the show. I'm sure DGUSA will now "Open The Wallet Gate" to get a good replacement for Richards. We will have news on that if they do.

In closing, in my opinion, personal rivalries between promoters can sometimes hurt the wrestlers (Richards just lost out a lot of bookings here) but is great for fans as both promotions will stack their cards.

We'll have more on this story as more details emerge.

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey

[Y2R-KO]

Hört sich ja nicht besonders gut an für Richards...