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Brandon Bishop responds to John O'Malley's statement

Posted: Oct 12th 2007 By: mikeiles

Oklafan Editor's Note: We reported in the Oklahoma Scoop a few weeks back that the Colorado based Asylum Championship Wrestling had announced that John O'Malley had been stripped of their Heavyweight Title and removed from their roster. Below is the original statement regarding the title strip and roster removal, followed by O'Malley's statement, followed by ACW owner Brandon Bishop's response, all courtesy of the ACW website (www.AsylumWrestling.com)

No one in ASYLUM WRESTLING has heard a word from John O'Malley since the last ACW Event in June. Even thought he August 31st event was cancelled due to events out of our control, the ACW rules covering such an issue clearly state that each wrestler on the roster contact management at least a week prior to event, O'Malley did not. As a matter of fact O'Malley has not contacted anyone within ACW since his last title defense. This is beyond disrespectful to our company, to our fans, to our heavyweight title, and to the business of pro wrestling and will NEVER be tolerated by anyone of the roster, nor would it be tolerated by any business what-so-ever.
It is with our deepest reluctance that we are forced to eliminate John O'Malley (John Smelley) from our roster and strip him of the our richest prize, The ACW Heavyweight Championship.
O'Malley has been a staple in ACW since our third show in Lawton, Oklahoma back in mid 2002. He's been a pleasure to work with in that time, but unfortunately the professional and respectable 2x time former champion that we knew, seemingly no longer exists.
ACW wishes John the best of luck & the greatest of wishes with his new family & his new career.
ACW will crown a new Champion in January of 2008 during a Roster wide LOTTERY TOURNAMENT...

JOHN O'MALLEY STATEMENT:

Well, this is your friendly neighborhood beer drinker, John O'Malley. I do not care if you hate me or love me, this is from the heart. Wrestling for ACW never did anything for my career, it did not make me rich, did not make me famous. I did because of friends. BB and I have been friends for many years and I have been on just about every ACW show there has been. Once again not for any reason other than I enjoyed hanging out with my friends. I have been hurt more times in an ACW ring than anywhere else in my career combined, but yet I returned to ACW because of my friends. Most of you do not know but I live 10 hours from Colorado Springs, I am a police officer and I am a newly wed expecting a baby any day now. I did not show at the last ACW, which was cancelled and would have pissed me off to no end that I drove 20 hours for, leaving my pregnant wife and using up a day of my comp time that I could be spending with my wife and new born baby. So, I did not show because with all the major things happening in my life, I forgot. ACW had already missed a month. Wrestling has taken a back burner in my life for now. I was the most traveled wrestler in Oklahoma for the better part of 3 or 4 years. I worked 3 plus times every week. With priorities straight though, I had stopped wrestling except for Saturday night for IZW and one Friday a month for ACW. Well, If ACW does not need John O'Malley, that is fine, I will save lots of money not making that trip. I will miss my friends out there and I still consider you friends. Just sometimes in life the little boy has to grow up and be a man. So best of luck to everyone out there, whether you are a fan, a worker, or a friend. Keep on coming to shows and making Indy wrestling great.

John Smelley aka The Irish Phenom John O'Malley

BRANDON BISHOP REPLY:
"I have stated on many occasions that John has been and IS one of the better friends I have made in Pro Wrestling, and has always been on or near the top of the ACW Roster since the inception of our company. I'm sure I'll bump into John quite a few times before it's all said and done, and never will an ill word be uttered, BUT... ACW is a business, a lot of money goes into every single poster and advertisement featuring his likeness, name & talents... We did not know the show would be cancelled until four hours before doors were slated to be opened, and no one was more pissed off than me... The boys that DID make the drive had every right to be upset, but were compensated and acted professionally. A simple "I Forgot" is almost beyond disrespectful to our business and as stated before will NEVER be tolerated in ACW, or any business by its' employees. A major issue with the Indy scene is the lack of professionalism as of late... A lot of wrestlers are used to working for promotions that have zero in the way of advertising, per-planning or production.. ACW does all of the above better than any company John has ever worked for, and he above all people should know how ACW is operated and what goes into each and every event. A no show the magnitude of our CHAMPION of all people puts ACW, the staff & especially the rest of the roster in a shitty position that none of us deserve to be in... And for John to say that ACW never got him anywhere is ridiculous... I am the reason John was booked in many of the places he has worked, whether he knows it or not, I never truly searched for his appreciation in those manners, but I had always pushed for John everywhere I worked... John in ACW WAS better than JOHN in any other promotion I had ever seen him in... When ACW was at it's peak, JOHN was learning his craft here and molded himself into a much better performer. If he says he learned to be The Irish Phenom in Mid South or IZW or any where else, he's straight up bullshitting you, I was there...
John never got rich in ACW, as he never got rich in wrestling period.. None of us have, and 99.9% of us never will... John never got famous in ACW, as he is not famous anywhere he's ever wrestled... Making 100-200 people like you or hate you is good for that promotion on that night, but is hardly considered being famous... I've entertained thousands of people in Music, Comedy, TV, radio, and wrestling and in no way what-so-ever do I consider myself famous...
All i needed from John was a simple "I can't make it there anymore, I'm sorry".. And possibly a THANK YOU for busting my ass trying to push his career over the past 5 years, as I would have, and still do thank him for busting his ass to help ACW over that same time... I would like nothing more than to give JOHN the biggest send off ACW has ever conducted for his contributions, because I indeed appreciate everything he has done... But to end this on a big I FORGOT THE SHOW, is truly unbearable...
I have certainly learned to Never say Never, but at this point ACW is more than ready to move on without him, it's a new day, and the only ACW veteran faces I need to see around here are those that are loyal to our product... Guys like Kenneth Campbell, Mitch W Carter, Tommy Revell, Carnage, Rexx Reed and others that have occasional commitments to us... Anyone that has worked for me in ACW should know the levels of my commitment to them, they would be blind not to see it...
John I wish you, your family & your new career the very best... No hard feelings, but you know the way I run business, and your situation and our friendship doesn't change that... Thanks again for five years of fun...

BB

Tags: ACW, John O'Malley, Brandon Bishop