Former WWE Superstar's debut event officially canceled; statement released
The Wrestling Entertainment Series (WES), a newly-formed promotion founded by former WWE tag team The Authors of Pain, has announced that its debut show has been called off.
The event was originally slated to take place on June 4 in the UK, but it was postponed to July 9 due to issues related to The Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations. A large number of ex-WWE stars were advertised for the show, including Braun Strowman, Lana, Nia Jax (Lina Fanene), Mojo Rawley (Dean Muhtadi) and Eric Young.
The Wrestling Entertainment Series has now released a statement on social media revealing that its inaugural event has been canceled. The stated reason is because several of the announced participants are no longer booked for the show.
Here is an extract from the statement:
"Unfortunately we will have to cancel the event scheduled for this Saturday at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England. 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. Our team worked so hard on this event day in and day out for the fans to come with a different type of wrestling event and believe that we still will be able to show that in the near future."
One of the biggest talking points surrounding the event has been Lina Fanene (fka Nia Jax). She recently spoke on social media about being advertised for the show despite the fact that she'd already pulled out. The statement addressed the controversy and confirmed that she and other talent have already been paid:
"We do want to say that all our talent that was scheduled have been paid in full and that Lina Fanene was paid, her deposit as well while she changed her mind and did not want to show up and wrestle anymore. For now we will have to apologize for this, but we promise that it will not end here."
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Chelsea Green, Lince Dorado and several other ex-WWE stars comment on the event's cancellation
Prior to the announcement, several wrestlers who were scheduled to compete on the show voiced their frustration with the promotion on social media. As mentioned above, Lina Fanene had issues with WES falsely advertising her for the show when she was no longer booked for it.
Matthew Rehwoldt, formerly known as Aiden English in WWE, said he was "ghosted" by the promotion after agreeing to be a part of the show.
You can check out some of the reactions from wrestling talent below:
Talent “not showing up”
What a laugh… twitter.com/wesofficialtv/…
Instead of blaming the talent who took weeks off to come work for your NEW company under the impression you could be trusted… try refunding the fans & apologizing for your lack of organization. twitter.com/wesofficialtv/…
It’s tough for new promotions to get started at the level I know this team is attempting to do. I know a number of people involved in this show worked tirelessly to make it happen…like I said, it’s tough…hold your heads up guys…it’ll happen! @wesofficialtv twitter.com/wesofficialtv/…
@SeanRossSapp Straight garbage to try and blame talent not showing up. I’m not a stooge but the truth will come out. Y’all are good at finding it.
Several matches that were advertised for the show include Alistair Overeem vs. Moose for the World Championship, Samuray Del Sol vs. Lince Dorado and Dean Muhtadi vs. Damo Mackle.