Backstage News On WES Postponing Inaugural Show
The Wrestling Entertainment Series, or as the kids call them, WES, has only been around for a month, has yet to run a show, and is already swimming in controversy. The brainchild of former WWE tag team The Authors of Pain announced earlier this week that their debut show in Nottingham, England's 10,000-seat Motorpoint Arena was postponed to July 9, shortly after Impact's Chelsea Green claimed the event was canceled.
Actually it's cancelled.
— CHELSEA GREEN (@ImChelseaGreen) May 31, 2022
Green wasn't the only one to comment on the prospects of the show, with her Impact co-worker Deonna Purrazzo taking to Twitter to express extreme annoyance over the situation.
"The entire process has been frustrating, to say the least," Purrazzo tweeted Tuesday morning. "I WILL NOT be making it for the 'postponed' July date. I hope to return to the UK under better circumstances soon."
This entire process has been frustrating, to say the least.
I WILL NOT be making it for the "postponed" July date.
I hope to return to the UK under better circumstances soon ❤️
— The Virtuosa (@DeonnaPurrazzo) May 31, 2022
So what is going on here? According to Fightful Select, talent scheduled to appear on WES's maiden voyage were told that the event was moved due to "issues with the arena." As expected, talent is upset about this and even more so about potential pay issues, with Fightful noting that talent was informed they'd be paid "to a certain extent." Whether that has happened yet is unclear.
Publicly, WES has claimed the reason for their inaugural event being moved was due to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations taking place this weekend and thus affecting ticket sales. Fightful noted that was a new aspect to the postponement they hadn't heard before regarding the situation. At least one other promotion will run during Jubilee weekend, with PROGRESS Wrestling running their Super Strong Style 16 tournament in London from June 3-5.
As had been previously revealed, Fightful confirmed that WES's debut show was originally supposed to take place in Dubai, but was changed after the passing of a prominent Dubai Sheikh, leading to the event being moved to England. Despite the skepticism towards the promotion and the event going forward, the former AOP is still promoting the event and Gzim Selmani (aka Rezar) told Fightful the pair remains hopeful about the promotion's long-term prospects. An interview between the AOP and Fightful will air this week, promoting the event.
WES in Nottingham was set to be headlined by Adam Scherr, the former Braun Strowman, taking on MMA star Alistair Overeem. The use of Overeem was notable after the former UFC fighter made disparaging comments about pro wrestling in the past. In the lead-up to the show, he has since walked back those comments.
Other scheduled matches included CJ Perry (aka Lana) making her in-ring return to wrestle against Lina Fanene (Nia Jax) and the AOP's return match against Wesley Blake and Steve Maclin. Other notable names scheduled were Killer Kross, JONAH, Dirty Dango (Fandango), and Jonathan Coachmen as lead announcer. It's now unknown if any will appear on the rescheduled show. Fightful noted, in addition to these names, several surprises were planned for the event as well.