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British Wrestling is in somewhat of a boom period and has recovered massively from the five star wrestling debacle but sometimes something happens to remind you that running a wrestling promotion is never easy and that even some of the biggest, already established companies can make mistakes.
This time it's Chinese based OWE, who are affiliated with AEW with Cima and The Stronghearts appearing on several AEW shows. A few months ago OWE announced they were created a United Kingdom based offshoot - OWE UK and there would be a five day tour in the middle of September.
Read Also: Two top AEW tag-teams confirmed for OWE UK tour
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The next couple of months after this they quietly set about announcing who they'd have on the roster with several of OWE's own exclusive talent and even that AEW was sending Private Party and Marko Stunt and Luchaboy to appear, resulting in one of the most exciting and diverse cards in pro-wrestling this year, but then August 28th came along and the news and updates started to dry up.
OWE UK Director Sean McMahon sensationally resigns
Almost a week later and promoter Sean McMahon posted the following onto Facebook,
Sean McMahon also told Jeremy Lambert over at Fightful
"I have been offered a position with another company. Also I did not share common values with the owners of OWE."
They add that McMahon noted, "broken promises" as the "misconduct" he was referring to in his original statement, but no further details were given.
OWE provide differing statements across social media channels
Shortly after this the OWE posted the following statement, also via Facebook. Although this statement can now no longer be found.
It's unclear who actually posted this statement on the OWE page, as the main Facebook page posted the following status around an hour the above messages had been posted,
What followed was what felt like different people, using different Twitter accounts to give different stories about what was going on, the whole thing was quite messy and CIMA is president of OWE clearly had no idea what was going on
During this time I reached out to both Sean McMahon directly, and the OWE UK Twitter page. This is what McMahon told me
"I resigned from OWE yesterday along with other team members. It's their decision on appointing new team members, running the shows or delaying them. I am now out of the loop."
Statement from OWE UK Twitter following delay of UK Tour
And OWE UK gave me the following statement via Twitter DM.
"We took the decision to delay the tour due to unforeseen circumstances and anyone wishing to have a refund, this will be honoured, of course. There is no wrongdoing nor has anyone "messed things up". It was purely down to a major scheduling conflict that was unavoidable. Shows, unfortunately, get cancelled or delayed all the time from all types of promotions, of all sizes. The same goes for members of our team in Shanghai or the United Kingdom, we don't always see eye to eye with everyone and everyone has their own views.
It anyone who has purchased tickets requires a refund please email us at [email protected] and we will endeavour to process this over the next week."
OWE UK have subsequently deleted their Twitter account.
So, it's clear that something bizarre and quite heated has happened behind the scenes at OWE UK with people resigning, accusations being made towards the director of OWE China, and OWE citing a scheduling error as the cause.
Meanwhile several independent wrestlers who expected to be booked for most of the tour dates now find themselves out of work, and hundreds of wrestling fans excited for OWE's debut in the UK now find themselves out of pocket, sure they'll get refunds for their tickets, but no-one will be reimbursed for train tickets or hotel costs.
Where has all of the OWE UK Tour Ticket Money Gone?
Bizarrely the ticket payments for the OWE UK tour didn't go to OWE themselves but rather to a company called NothingElseOn.TV, a subscription service that was founded a year ago and hosts several wrestling shows.
Who owns NothingElseOn.TV? None other than Sean McMahon, so it's unclear where all of the ticket money has ended up and where exactly OWE will be refunding customers from in the wake of the cancellation.
Steven Wilson from Suplex Retweet did manage to reach out to NothingElseOn.TV and this was the response he got,
NothingElseOn.TV confirms a few peculiar things here - revealing that Sean McMahon has taken another job, perhaps indicating that his resignation wasn't a snap decision due to some injustice, but a planned move knowing he would leave OWE UK in the lurch. And, NothingElseOn.TV will be ceasing shortly, deactivating it's website. So, what's happened to all the money?
What's next?
At the moment the last surviving 'statement' from OWE is the above Facebook post, which is also duplicated on their Twitter stating they were shocked about the tour being delayed, couldn't access their social media and would release a statement shortly (We've yet to receive this)
We'll be sure to update this story as and when we learn more! Until then though, here's a list of British promotions that have rallied in the wake of all the chaos to sort out any wrestling fans that might be left in the lurch!
Remember if you've been affected and need a refund then contact [email protected]
