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Hart Legacy Wrestling promotion screws talent and staff over pay

Posted: Jan 25th 2013 By: mikeiles

The Hart Legacy Wrestling promotion in Calgary held its first event on the 18th of January with a show titled Resurrection at the Victoria Pavilion, in Calgary, Alberta.

The sold out crowd at the Pavilion however was not aware what was going behind the scenes as during the intermission, the staff was informed that they would not be able to get paid that day.

After the show was over, the promoter, John Oniston, held a meeting and asked for everyone?s forgiveness and promised to pay with a $100 bonus on top of what everyone was owed by January 22. January 22 passed and the talent and staff has still not been paid.

Jeff Jackson, co-host of Wrestling News Live, was one of the members of the broadcast team who called the action during the inaugural event but has since resigned from the promotion and will not be associated with Hart Legacy Wrestling any further due to what happened.

?I wanna give kudos to the guys that went out in the main event and risked their lives to perform knowing that a payday would not be given at the end of the night and to Pete Wilson who was rushed to the ER after suffering a shoulder injury and who may not work for a while as a result,? Jackson said in an e-mail.

?Most of the talent work other jobs and a fair number of them took a day off to be a part of the show, myself included. Some even paid out of their pocket last minute for show necessities and of course were not reimbursed,? he added.

Jackson offered his apologies to the crowd who attended the show, saying that they all did their part and it?s a pity that they were led to believe that a new wrestling promotion out of Calgary could work.

?I find it disgusting that the Hart name is associated with this and it appears that stiffing your talent will be what Hart Legacy Wrestling leaves in its wake,? Jackson continued in his e-mail.

?HLW paid with broken promises. I only hope that those owed money get what they have coming to them, and to Stacy Angel and John Oniston, I really hope you get what?s coming to you.?

Jackson noted that none of the staff and wrestlers ? except those who were paid beforehand ? were given a cent for all their work and yesterday everyone was given another excuse saying that they would be getting paid the week after.