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FLOSLAM/WWN HAS OFFICIALLY HIT TIRE FIRE THREAD STATUS


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5 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Today in comical excuses

WWN is claiming that the host company they were using right before the FloSlam deal went out of business and deleted all the info so they have no way of knowing the true data numbers

Which more than one person has pointed out is ridiculous.

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On WOR, Big Dave said Floslam rushed into the deal foolishly, giving WWN 24 hours to agree. While both sides seem like they're in the wrong, maybe don't set unnecessary and unreasonable deadlines on significant deals? And do your due diligence. 

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Pretty much. I really wish Gabe had somebody to run the business side of things and he could just book. Brilliant wrestling mind but doesn't seem like the most likable human being and hasn't shown much business acumen.

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1 hour ago, Oyaji said:

Pretty much. I really wish Gabe had somebody to run the business side of things and he could just book. Brilliant wrestling mind but doesn't seem like the most likable human being and hasn't shown much business acumen.

I'm sure somebody, somewhere used this exact wording to describe Paul E. in 2000.

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Yeah, their best month was 2000 subscribers/buys.

I don't find either side too sympathetic in this dispute, though I hate to label FloSlam a heel because I'm not sure they did anything more than do what money marks usually do: be too gullible and get taken advantage of by a money mark.  From what I've read, I'm thinking Gabe did fake the books - that seems fairly certain.  I'm a little skeptical that that was the deciding factor in signing the contract and they would have walked away if they'd seen different numbers.  Meltzer makes them sound overly eager to get into this deal - more so than WWN - and it doesn't sound like they did a lot of their due diligence.  I tend to think FloSlam jumped into a bad deal, didn't do well financially under it, and started looking for an excuse to get out.  One of the articles - Bix, I think - noted that, at their peak, they had fewer than 2000 buys/subscriptions per month.

That said, the numbers Gabe provided were obviously questionable.  Gabe drug his feet providing the data, made "Dog ate my homework" excuses, claimed the data was lost, and belatedly provided the figures when it was clear the deal might not proceed if he didn't produce anything.  There were a fair number of red flags along the way, and  FloSlam should have looked at the data with a healthy degree of skepticism.  You can only claim that the figures provided were fraudulent if you didn't try to get independent verification.  I kinda doubt going through the books of a small wrestling promotion that runs a handful of times a year is as complex as, say, Walmart.  I also doubt that Evolve's subscriber base is so large that you couldn't just look over the spreadsheets and figure out that some names appeared multiple times.  

I'm not too sympathetic to FloSlam either because, even though refusing to carry further WWN events is understandable, it needlessly screws over their customers.  Also, even though Gabe probably negotiated in bad faith and probably did violate the terms of the contract, there's no legal finding to that effect.   Gabe  can argue that FloSlam violated the contract first, by refusing to carry WWN events last weekend.  If WWN goes to court and fails to get a ruling in their favor, they'll unquestionably be on the hook for breach of contract.  The smarter play would have been to continue to carry WWN events while things play out in court.  Or, to try to get some sort of injunction temporarily negating the contract and thus removing their obligation to broadcast WWN.  I'm guessing they didn't broacast Evolve last weekend because they are hemorrhaging money and either don't have the funds or things are so dire they didn't want to pay their crew.   I'm a little skeptical a monetary judgement against WWN would ever be satisfied, except maybe in bankruptcy court.

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I've been a subscriber to FloSlam since WM weekend this year. I've probably used the service a total of 7 times. Of those 7 times I want to say I was able to get through 5 different shows, but that isn't the case. Even after a show was archived I could hardly ever get it to work. Having a streaming service in 2017 that doesn't just "work" isn't going to get my money anymore, regardless of the wrestlers they have on the shows. The pages layout (for the wrestling section) was horrendous. It was so hard t navigate and I never really knew what they actually had content wise. I understand sometimes streaming is a struggle, and they don't have the pockets of NetFlix, but the service nearly never worked for me.

So glad I canceled my subscription early in the month. 

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https://www.fightful.com/booker-gabe-sapolsky-sends-email-evolve-talent-regarding-transition-period-gives-advice-bad-habits

And now the Emails are coming out (and it's Bix)

Hey everyone,

This is an important email so please read it through.

We are about to enter a transition period. I want to use this weekend to prepare for that. A major part of this will be the in ring work. You are all awesome, obviously, or you wouldn't be booked. However, I want to change some things you do in EVOLVE to make EVOLVE different and also prepare for what's next.

I will explain more in person, but this weekend please concentrate on these things:

-Make every lock up on the show count. I saw Regal last week and he was at BOLA. I was surprised for him to say that he didn't see many good lock ups there. Honestly, he said he barely saw one good lock up. I know this might be surprising, especially since some of you were on the show. This is a major thing. It's about starting your match up with believability. Please let's put on emphasis on lock ups where you fight for position rather than go into a spot.

-Don't look into the floor camera at anytime. This is a Vince/WWE thing. I really don't care if you look into the camera or not, but this is a habit you will have to break as soon as you go to WWE/NXT, so you might as well break it now. I can explain this more in person. It's a huge thing there, so don't discount this.

-Make every kick, strike and chop count. I don't mean go in there and beat each other up. Just don't waste your kicks, strikes, chops and sell it. In addition, consider who your opponent is. If Keith Lee is striking you, sell it bigger than if someone smaller was striking you. Keep the situation and opponent in mind with your selling and how you do kicks, strikes and chops.

-Don't do cool stuff for the sake of cool stuff. Everything should be about winning the match. I'm not saying don't do cool stuff, but don't do it just to do it.

Have it make sense in your match.

-Challenge yourself to break your normal routine of spots. I don't care what match rating you get on Twitter. This is small picture stuff. I want everyone to think big picture and long game. I can explain this better in person.

- I've been traveling with Chris Dickinson a lot lately since we are from the same area now. We have talked about this stuff extensively in the car. I feel he has a good grasp of it and can explain it from a worker's perspective, which I can't. Please get with him on any questions. I've also told Chris to take more of a leadership role and point things out, so please be open to what he has to say. Thank you.

-Some other notes:

-Belltime each night is 8pm. Please be at the venue by 5:30pm.

-Sal is is getting hotel in a little bit. If you are flying in, we'll tell you where to go soon to hang out. Brandon Tolle is arranging all the rides. Please get with him on rides. If you don't hear from us by tonight, let me know.

-Please remember the EVOLVE rules when it comes to:

    -No swearing

    -Nothing derogatory towards minorities, women, ethnicities or any other groups.

    -No piledrivers.neck bumps, apron spots, anything that drops you on your head.

    -Nothing hardcore without permission -No unprotected headbutts

    -No mic work without permission

    -Be super nice to kids

-No guests in your hotel rooms! We are not going to pay for an extra hotel room cause someone is your ride or you are bringing someone along. We arrange three per room. We are not budgeted for more hotel rooms. No one gets added to these rooms. It is for the comfort of everyone in the room.

-I will send out booking info late night. This weekend is going to be mostly about wrestling. We aren't going to go big into storyline stuff or angles during this transition period. I want everyone to really concentrate on their matches, think of the fundamentals and making everything solid and make sense.

-If  you need anything call or text me [number redacted]. If you can't reach me and it's an emergency contact Sal at [number redacted].

I look forward to a fun weekend. Thank you, Gabe

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I tried to cancel my annual Floslam/Flosports. I have been with them since January 9th. Because I ordered through ROKU I was told I have to go through them to get the refund. Problem is I cannot understand any of them. I was on the phone for 90 mins Friday night and they are closed over the weekend so I have to try again tomm.  Makes me question ever doing an annual membership with anything ever again.

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20 minutes ago, paintedbynumbers said:

I tried to cancel my annual Floslam/Flosports. I have been with them since January 9th. Because I ordered through ROKU I was told I have to go through them to get the refund. Problem is I cannot understand any of them. I was on the phone for 90 mins Friday night and they are closed over the weekend so I have to try again tomm.  Makes me question ever doing an annual membership with anything ever again.

I feel you. Unrelated but I had the same thought with Loot Crate and didn't renew my sub, after one of the toy subscription boxes recently went bankrupt. I try to just do things month to month now, it may cost a few extra dollars but I imagine trying to get a refund if a subscription fails or gets worse than promised is a pain in the ass.

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So there's this podcast called Everything Evolves that also received a copy of the e-mail posted above.  Gabe contacted them to try and find out who leaked the e-mail to them, but he never said the conversation was off the record, thus we have this article with some choice quotes.

Edit: Apparently they contacted Gabe for comments rather than the other way around.  It's about ethics in wrestling journalism.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2017/09/25/email-leaks-lawsuits-evolve-uncertain-future/

Quote

Sapolsky did not outright confirm he wrote the memo or its contents, but he described it as “in house business” and immediately requested the identity of the person who leaked it. When Everything Evolves refused to provide that information, Sapolsky threatened to fire an EVOLVE talent at random.

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15 hours ago, S.K.o.S. said:

(From the article)

Sapolsky did not outright confirm he wrote the memo or its contents, but he described it as “in house business” and immediately requested the identity of the person who leaked it. When Everything Evolves refused to provide that information, Sapolsky threatened to fire an EVOLVE talent at random.

"If someone chants 'Fire Russo' I'll fire someone else instead."

The parallels between Dixie Carter's TNA and Gabe are growing by leaps and bounds ... unnecessary 450 leaps & shooting star bounds with kickouts at 1, at that.

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Make every lock up on the show count. I saw Regal last week and he was at BOLA. I was surprised for him to say that he didn't see many good lock ups there. Honestly, he said he barely saw one good lock up. I know this might be surprising, especially since some of you were on the show.

LOOOOOL at this sad little man, whose 15 minutes of dubious fame as the top indy promoter ended over a decade ago, throwing some shade at the current top indy in the country.  I just watched the BOLA night 3 preview.  There's a full minute preview of Donovan Dijak vs Keith Lee where the fans are losing their shit and their brains are melting at what they're seeing.  I doubt any of them said to themselves during all that insanity, "this is nice and all, but where are the sweet collar and elbow tieups?"

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I don't think he's taking shots at PWG. Regal wants better lock ups because guys are going through the motions early in matches way too often these days. It's a legitimate criticism and there's a lot of roster crossover between EVOLVE and PWG. 

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Just for clarity's sake

Quote

“I have just been informed that an email had been leaked that contained a quote from me. I had been asked recently (by several people) about my visit to the recent BOLA tournament by PWG. When asked I told everyone the same. I preceded to tell them how incredibly hard everyone worked and how much I enjoyed the show. I was asked the same question by everyone. One that was asked universally was “Anything that stood out”. I answered that the only problem is that there are too many great bouts and I don’t envy any of the talent because everything was so good and trying to top it must be really difficult. I made mention to several people and several on the BOLA show who asked for advice, that one thing I noticed was that they could of grabbed people’s attention with the quality of their collar and elbow tie up (lock ups). I preceded to show several talent who asked a few ways to help. This information has been used by other people to explain ideas to talent they are working with and some of it appeared in today’s leaked email. This long winded note is just my way of explaining that I don’t want this taking out of context and people assuming I was in any way criticizing the quality and hard work of the talent. It’s a general observation that I always talk to people about as I believe the first lock up is the most important tool you have to grab the attention of your audience.”

 

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40 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

I don't think he's taking shots at PWG. Regal wants better lock ups because guys are going through the motions early in matches way too often these days. It's a legitimate criticism and there's a lot of roster crossover between EVOLVE and PWG. 

 

14 minutes ago, nofuture said:

Regal probably just want to make it clear that he enjoyed the work.  If you just took Gabe's quote, there would be people tried to spin it that Regal went to PWG and shit on the product, saying that people didn't know how to lock up.

Exactly.  The way Gabe says it and the way Regal said it are worlds apart.  Gabe really came off like a guy who took one nitpick and spun it into a full on criticism of the whole show.

I just hope PWG's next show is called LOCKUP

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