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Inside The MWF

Posted: Aug 27th 2013 By: CMBurnham

Note: the following is a column of thoughts, opinions and observations. It's written with a deep passion for the professional wrestling industry as a whole, for the fans of wrestling and the athletes driven to live their dreams. Whether you agree or disagree with these words, remember that there's a voice that cares behind it, one that only wants to see every hard working wrestler and promoter succeed, and for every fan to leave a live event feeling they got value for their dollar, wanting to see live wrestling (both independent and major league) again and again. For that, I do not apologize.

What a mixed bag. . . started this column last night:

Every once in awhile I will give myself the proverbial pat on the back as doing it for real to this spinal fusion needed bad boy isn't the best of ideas. I've been so frustrated of late and it's showed in a variety of ways to those I see on a regular basis. The passion I have for this sport runs deep, though I'll admit it's unrealistic for anyone to try to match my work ethic. . . it's unhealthy, especially with some of the medical issues I have, but it is what is is. Beyond getting everything worked out for our featured superstar to be announced this SummerSlam Sunday, I also was able to squeeze in ANOTHER bonus event for our great fans. . . I paused because it's a pretty cool feeling. Our goal each and every event is to give you the best value and experience possible. If that's not our goal, we have no business being involved in professional wrestling. To those that get my frustrated-while-in-pain side, you're missing a little BBBB cheer tonight!!

Then today's nightmare with Jake Roberts came to be, leading to this explosive Facebook post followed by trading barbs on Twitter:

To cut to the chase, Jake "The Snake" Roberts (or his representation, however you choose to view it) has personally chosen to violate the Millennium Wrestling Federation, it's trust, it's fans and the sport of professional wrestling yet again. I will not hide my feelings on this one, as well as dealing with "agents."

The "old" Jake. We booked him, he did a promotional interview via telephone where he talked about violating a "ring rat named Krissa." The Monday before the event, he called sounding like a child hiding from a ghost, whispering "it's Jake Roberts. Judy's trying to get me high, I need Richard Rios to come with me Saturday or I won't go." I knew the names of Judy and Richard Rios about as well as you do.

I advised buying a plane ticket five days before the event - a fundraiser for the families of local troops as part of our on-going Keep The Kids Off The Streets campaign - would be an expensive proposition. He said to deduct it from his payday. Extremely confused by everything that was going on, Richard Rios, a nice man, called me. He explained that even though Jake was staying with him in GA, his ex-girlfriend Judy, living in FL, was on some kind of manhunt to get Jake high again and planned on coming to Boston. It was one of the most ridiculous stories I ever heard, but went along with it. The ticket was near $500 if I remember correctly.

The night before the event, I spoke to Richard again; the two were at a local motel and set to take a direct Delta Atlanta to Boston flight the following morning. Went to pick them up at the airport, nothing. Checked with a Delta agent to see if he was on another Atlanta to Boston flight since they left almost hourly back then, no sign of them. I called Richard Rios almost every thirty seconds. The week was a nightmare, as it was also the week Billy Kidman had drug issues that led to Torrie Wilson coming home from a WWE tour of Australia, and what event Kidman canceled on two days before the event?? Billy Kidman's another one that screwed over a hard working promotion and never attempted to make it right.

Two weeks later, Richard finally called me back. He apologized, saying Jake went to meet up with "a friend" later the night we spoke and never came back. Between airfare, prepaid hotel, advertising, printing and the offer of free tickets we extended to fans that pre-purchased tickets, it was a rough night at the office. It wasn't something he hadn't done dozens if not hundreds of times before, but it, bluntly, sucked. The coward didn't have the class to call himself whenever he sobered up from his latest high. We did everything we could to do the right thing by our fans; Roberts and Kidman personally chose to ruin the fans experience despite our effort and expense to bring them in.

The "2013" Jake interested me a great deal. Beyond his decades of "personal demons" (i.e. personal choices of adult and parental irresponsibility), fans love him. Watching the videos made at DDP's home in Atlanta were inspiring. What human being doesn't want to see another better themselves?? If he can stay clean, it's the ultimate comeback story. I wanted our fans to experience that, one I was hoping we'd have a chance to do with Road Dogg and Goldust, but those are different stories for a different time.

I first reached out to the "new and improved" Jake on March 27th of this year, being directed to a gentleman named Marlon Ransom who I believe works with or for DDP. On April 23rd, 2013, I put together a detailed outline of what we'd like Jake to do to Marlon. I made what the colossal mistake of "talking on the telephone" instead of continued emails. Marlon was understanding of the history of Jake, and offered a $200 discount for at least this appearance. Did we deserve better than that after we were screwed out of $1000+?? Nonetheless I agreed and started promoting Jake soon thereafter.

On June 5th, Marlon asked if we had anymore dates for Jake. I responded on the 8th saying I wanted to see how things worked out at our September 21st appearance.

Later in June, Jake had a small relapse where he drank for the first time in several months as chronicled in his videos with DDP. I spoke to Marlon about it and wanted to be sure Jake took the medication that makes someone violently ill if they drink or take any type of drug. I was told that wasn't a problem.

On June 27th, Marlon emailed me again asking if I wanted to confirm Jake for September 21st. I responded in writing June 28th saying as long as he took that pill before coming to Boston, I absolutely wanted him to be here September 21st. There was no question about it, no miscommunication about it. I was clear and direct both via telephone and via email.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been preparing to take care of all of the featured stars airfare for the event. I noticed that Jake was booked in NJ on September 20th, so I again emailed Marlon to see how we'd take care of his transportation since it was with two promotions.

At 2:09PM today, Marlon emailed me saying he'd forward my email to Jake since he was now taking care of his own bookings. Began to smell a little smoke. At 5:44PM, there was fire, as Marlon emailed me telling me to disregard his previous email, and that Jake was NOT AVAILABLE September 21st now. Furious at this point, I told Marlon we needed to take care of this immediately. At 6:07PM, he told me to re-read our previous emails. I did, and found the June 27th and 28th messages as noted above. He told me I never sent a deposit - A DEPOSIT - to a man that committed THEFT against us. A DEPOSIT to be paid for work he's never done. In what alternative universe do we live in that we're supposed to pay people for work they've never done?? A DEPOSIT was never discussed nor would it ever have been agreed to.

With that said, myself and everyone involved in the Millennium Wrestling Federation fully expect Jake to be a man of his - or his representations - word. We booked him in good faith, as in 12 years, we've never shorted one star one penny, and we're damn proud of it. That's the way I was taught breaking in. Those are the lessons I learned from my dear friend, the late Paul Bearer, who meant so much to me and everyone in our promotion. Believe me, I wish he was with us even more today, as being able to email him for his thoughts was a gigantic help to us over the years.

Unless you've ever been in the shoes, I cannot tell you what it feels like to disappoint the fans. They don't care about circumstances, they don't care that the people behind these events work tirelessly for little or no money a lot of the time. All they care about is seeing who was advertised. They don't care about the "superstars" lies, carny cons, drug problems, alcohol problems, more personal demons than the ones that lived in the Amityville Horror house. I've had enough. I've missed too many holidays, birthdays, family outings, vacations, time with the kids, etc., then to put up with this BULLS**T. That's what it is. The anger in me right now isn't only with Jake / his representation; it's towards EVERY lowlife that's cheated our fans over the past dozen years. In a genre that has a lot of sleaze, we've tried to be good soldiers.

I've CC'd Marlon Ransom on this email and will be Tweeting it to Jake and DDP direct. Another direct email will be sent to our Superfans that have purchased tickets, with the ability to reach out as well. Again, we fully expect Jake to be with us before we push the issue even further. We sincerely apologize to our fans for having Jake's appearance in limbo - believe me, NONE OF US want to be dealing with it on a summer Saturday, either. All we want to do is continue to provide you with the best value and experience in professional wrestling. It's what we strive for, each and every day.

If you're learning of our September 21st anniversary event at Memorial Hall in Melrose, MA, beyond the Jake issue, we do have an exciting addition to the line-up of featured stars coming tomorrow on SummerSlam Sunday, as well as yet another event that will be part of this all day extravaganza!! We have a free charity event in the afternoon for VIP's and the local non-profits we work with; the opportunity to have your photo taken with the authentic WWE Championship belt thanks to John Cena Sr. with 100% of the proceeds to go to OneFundBoston.org; we have a VIP-exclusive Jake Roberts Q&A advertised; an autograph / photo meet and greet with (Jake), Carlito, Bobby Lashley, Hardcore Holly, Mr. Cena, and more TBA tomorrow; along with our all-star anniversary event that night. It's a great, interactive day for our fans with the superstars and legends of yesterday, today and tomorrow. A shame we have to spend time on this negative BS.

very truly yours,
Dan Mirade

Great way to spend an August Saturday, huh??

Unless there was some kind of an old timers game of Jake getting a better offer of working three days in NJ and blowing off September 21st in Melrose, I don't think either Jake or Marlon intentionally tried to have all of us go through this. At the end of the day, it happened. We agreed to terms via telephone and email. Marlon's reasoning was we didn't sign a contract nor send a deposit. In twelve years, we signed agreements twice, and in both cases, were disasters. Back to Jake, would have loved to have sign a deposit but Marlon had never suggested it. As far as sending a deposit goes, lets bring some common sense into the equation. What Jake did before was theft. End of story. The "boys getting a deposit" gets real old - how many of us work jobs where we get paid in advance when we've done absolutely nothing??