EXTREME RISING MAIN EVENTER DEPARTS PROMOTION AFTER ONLINE DISPUTE WITH PROMOTER, FULL DETAILS

As I noted in my Q&A this morning, there was more drama on the Extreme Rising front yesterday after Luke Hawx, who was scheduled to headline one of their events next week in Philadelphia, took to Facebook writing, "Does anyone know if these April 25th and 26th Extreme Rising are happening or not?!?!?! I just talked to Stevie Richards and neither he nor I have any travel info yet..... We'd really like to fight til the death in Philadelphia for this belt but we may just settle it over a game of "Words with Friends". If all else fails, the belt will be sold online and I will split the money with Stevie cause that's only fair!"

In speaking to PWInsider.com this AM, Hawx said he made the comments half-jokingly because O'Neill had not responded to a number of communication attempts. Hawx also admitted that he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of communication because he had to arrange logistics for his students, who were coming to work undercard matches and they would need to travel from Louisiana to Philadelphia.

O'Neill responded to Hawx, writing, "I can tell you tell this. The shows will happen. Luke Hawx and Michael Manna (Note from Mike: Stevie Richards) will both get their travel --like they always do when I do shows --sometimes not til the week of at times (like before!). AND everyone can say GOODBYE TO LUKE HAWX FOR GOOD. How is that SHANE DOUGLAS PART 2? F**king a**hole posting sh** like this. YOU ARE NOT A TEAM PLAYER. YOU DONT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A CHAMPION ANYWHERE, CERTAINLY NOT IN WWE. AND if you sell the belt I WILL sue you. Dumbass."

O'Neill later wrote on his Facebook page, "Kevin Kleinrock I hate to admit Shane Douglas was 100% right on about Luke Hawx. His true colors have been shown. He is not loyal team player for Extreme Rising. Explain to me again why I've been promoting pro wrestling filled with egomaniacs with low self-esteem? Why have I wasted my time and my money on promoting people to make them "a star" in my company, AND increase their overall marquee value when no one else wasted this much (or in a lot of cases ANY) time, money, and effort BUT ME!?!? Please remind me why I do this with and for ungrateful people? SOME OF MY OWN PLAYERS DON'T HAVE FAITH. I don't need un-loyal people in my camp, this sh** is hard enough with out blowhards like LUKE HAWX. Someone whose ego had to take the belt home with him to show it off when he knows he didn't win it through ER. And thankfully so, because the match was not that good at all. If that match would've been in front of a loyal ER crowd they would've sh** on that match and it being a title change. LOYALTY is something you just can't teach people unfortunately. Speaking of teaching, this guy supposedly teaches guys how to wrestle. Teach them about the wrestling business, AND THIS IS HOW YOU SHOW THEM HOW TO DO BUSINESS BY POSTING SH** LIKE YOU DO. You should really think about how you act, what you say. YOU ARE NOT A GOOD ROLE MODEL FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO GET IN WRESTLING --PERIOD!"

Hawx, responded today with the following:

Just to clear up any "rumors" on why I have decided to quit Extreme Rising.

1. I said in an interview with Mike Johnson on PWInsider.com when the company started back up that if there was ANY problems backstage with pay (not just me but any wrestlers) or canceled shows then I would leave the company.

2. There have been MULTIPLE times so far where MAJORITY of the talent and others like security,etc have been shorted on money, trans, and even "unbooked" last min.

3. Shows have been canceled last min several times which cost me A LOT of money from other bookings I was offered like overseas tours, movie bookings, and wrestling bookings in the United States. I have lost out on well over $10,000 because of Steve. O'Neill's bad business.

4. Steve has lied over and over to talent and others about multiple things and has been caught in many lies. He just recently tried to pull bullshit with RF video and lie to them about not having them at the shows because another vendor didn't want them there. When they asked the other vendor, emails were shown and it was all Steve just trying to manipulate things. (I read EVERY email)

5. Steve never returns phone calls or text about important things like travel info and show info. He just doesn't respond because he feels he doesn't need to. So talent like myself wonders if the shows are even happening or will the get canceled. For instance, We are a week out of a show that has been booked for over 3 months but no one has travel info or told anything about it. (But he is quick to get on social media several times a day and argue with fans)

6. He hasn't refunded the fans for past shows that were canceled, he can't tell us where the money has gone, he hasn't paid the talent what they are owed from past events. AND GET THIS,as a promoter he feels (as has done this several times) he can pay talent what he feels they were worth after a show, after they agreed on a price. He has shorted many guys due to (low attendance or they didn't have a good spot on the show). My question is: WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE??? My answer: he's been living off it because he doesn't have a normal job. So fans and wrestlers that are owed money, your money has been used for Steve O'Neill to pays his own bills or whatever he see fit. It's a shame!

7. He doesn't know how to talk to talent or treat them. He thinks you should just do what he says or thinks and that's that (And I'm not talking about booking wise, look at the pics below that I posted where he had a crazy idea of me to pass out flyers for him in New Orleans during Wrestlemania week. This was the busiest week of my life as I was promoting 10 shows and Working on 13 of them)

8. And one of my BIGGEST aggravations is that my students were booked for the last show. They wanted the opportunity to wrestle at the ECW arena so they bought their own flights to Philadelphia because they believed they were getting a big opportunity. I had to call them the day before to let them know that the shows were canceled, not only did it break their hearts(which really upset me) but they lost out on their money they spent on flights and hotels for that weekend. My guys work VERY hard so to see them get screwed over and have to let them down just killed me inside!

I could go on and on for days about the guy but I think this is enough. Sorry to the fans that wanted to see me next week. I just can not put myself in a position to be screwed again by this company and I ask that they stop promoting me immediately. They are also falsely promoting Sabu as he is booked in Pittsburgh on those same dates and it has been confirmed that Sabu will be in Pittsburgh. Just another example of Steve lying to the fans to try and lace his own pockets with money. I want to thank all those who have supported me during my time at ER and I can promise that you have not seen the last of the Southern Stomper! See y'all soon."

The photos, which featured screenshots of text messages between the two can be seen below:

In regard to Sabu's status, O'Neill released the following screenshots of messages between himself and Sabu to PWInsider.com to prove Sabu would be working for him in Philadelphia, PA next week:

Sabu is also being advertised for events by Big Time Wrestling, ironically against former Extreme Rising principal Shane Douglas on the same dates.

O'Neill has reached out to PWInsider.com to record an audio interview about the situation. That will be conducted in the coming days and when we record, I will go down each point for O'Neill to respond to. Hawx has also offered to come on for an interview to give his side. He has declared he will not work for the company again. Hawx has physical possession of their championship belt, which puts the promotion in position to try and get returned to them before their shows after O'Neill publicly derided Hawx.

In case one person is actually wondering, none of this is a work.

Rising has a pair of shows in the former ECW Arena on 4/25 and 4/26, followed by a Lucha show promoted by Masked Republic on 4/27.

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