The Wrestling Entertainment Series (WES) promotion was plagued with a ton of issues leading into its debut show, which wound up being cancelled at the last minute.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, former WWE Superstar Dean Muhtadi (Mojo Rawley) revealed that all of the talent signed to his Paragon Talent Group who were booked to appear on the show were paid the terms of their contracts by WES.
Additionally, Muhtadi commented on whether he’d work with the promotion in the future.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On the event getting cancelled: “As a talent you are always going to feel at least a sense of responsibility for a cancellation. Of course, decisions like that are completely out of our control, but you always, always want to make sure the fans that support you aren’t let down. In the end, I wanted to do everything I possibly could to make it right for the fans.”
On making sure Paragon talents were paid: “Even though they aren’t clients of our company, I felt I needed to ensure these guys were paid. I recommended using local U.K. talent for half of the show’s roster. I introduced WES to a friend of mine, Declan Kellett, who is a local, trustworthy U.K. promoter, and he made his recommendations for fantastic U.K. talent. We thought it would be an awesome idea to have a roster comprised of half former WWE talent and half local talent. I actually went to England early to enjoy a vacation with my fiancé, and thought if we could make sure every single talent with a signed contract was paid, regardless of who they are represented by, that would be a total win. In the end, WES sent additional funds for the U.K. talent with signed contracts, and the meet-and-greet was able to sort out the rest. All the Paragon Talent who had signed contracts were paid in full. Now they have additional flight credits, too. Afterwards, all the talent we don’t represent said they’d love to work with us for how the situation was handled.”
On if he would work with WES again: “If we could ensure the show was going to happen and that the situation was going to proceed smoothly, then yes, I would love for us to be part of it. Those guys faced a lot of unfortunate factors and not all were within their control. They had a very unique global approach to wrestling that we loved. We weren’t just looking for a payday; we really wanted to see them succeed. We pride ourselves on our contracts, our timeliness and going above and beyond. If we feel the next show is in line with our vision, we would certainly have open ears. We would just have to have extra assurances for our talent and for the fans.”
You can keep up with all your wrestling news right here on eWrestlingNews.com. Or, you can follow us over on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
