One Pro Wrestling (1PW) has had many controversies in its long and storied history, but its planned Shawn Michaels appearance was arguably the biggest of the lot.
A planned appearance by the WWE legend, just a year after his incredible retirement match with The Undertaker, sought to make their October 2011 show one of the biggest in their history.
However, it soon became obvious to many that the Heart Break Kid would not be appearing. Sadly that would be just the start of one of the biggest scams in British wrestling.
1PW Was One Of Britain’s Biggest Promotions In The 2000s
The promotion was one of the biggest promotions in British wrestling in the 2000s and helped kickstart a revival of the sport. Ever since ITV cancelled the wrestling in 1988 the business had been struggling, with names like William Regal, Finlay and Nigel McGuinness all moving to the United States.
The WWE quickly became the dominant force in the region with millions of children growing up knowing nothing but the American style of wrestling. Showcasing their events on Sky and Channel 4, they built a monopoly in British wrestling that no local company could compete with.
After Joint Promotion closed down in the 1990s and All Star Wrestling became a shell of its former self, there was a huge vacuum for a top-class wrestling company in Britain. The FWA was formed in 1993 and found success in the early 2000s, but ultimately went out of business after an inter-promotional feud with IPW: UK in 2007.
During this time, a new company was created to take advantage of wrestling’s popularity in the United States. Steven Gauntly founded the company in 2005 using the money he made running an online retail company called 1 Up Games.
He sought to mimic the success of the start-up promotion Total Nonstop Action in the US and bring a product similar to theirs. Stars like AJ Styles, Abyss, Jerry Lynn and Chris Sabin were brought in for their first show, 1PW: A Cruel Twist Of Fate.
The show was named due to Matt Hardy, fresh off being fired by the WWE for the situation with Edge and Lita, originally being booked for the show. However, he had to pull out before the event, leaving the company to pick up the pieces of the show. You can learn more details by clicking here!
The company continued booking big names as Doncaster became a hotbed for top-class wrestling. The stars of TNA and ROH were joined by the best of British wrestling. Jody Fleisch, Jonny Storm and Doug Williams were some of the top wrestlers in the country and were featured heavily by 1PW.
In 2006 they even managed to get Bret Hart over the Atlantic Ocean for a rare appearance in Great Britain. He cut a short promo in the Doncaster Dome, complimenting his fans in the UK and making a lot of money in the process.
The following year 1PW went into liquidation but were back in business just months later, although under a new company and with some very angry creditors. They kept going bust and coming back over the years but the company refused to die, with Danny Rodd taking over the running of the promotion.
Following on from Bret Hart’s appearance, the company sought to recapture that magic in 2011 by bringing in his long-time rival Shawn Michaels to Doncaster for the first time.
1PW Booked Shawn Michaels For An Appearance In 2011
Shawn Michaels was booked for the “Shawn Michaels United Kingdom Tour” with IPW, due to commence on October 6th 2011.
This would have been huge for British wrestling at the time. The WWE Hall of Famer had only retired a year earlier after losing in one of the best matches of all time to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26. He was a huge name, one of the best wrestlers of all time and a massive coup for Danny Rodd.
In February that year, the announcement was made that the Heart Break Kid was coming to Britain. The UK Tour would consist of three dates that would give fans the chance to attend a gala and Q&A sessions with Shawn Michaels. The three events he was scheduled for were:
Oct 7th: Gala Dinner & Q&A
Oct 8th: 1PW Anniversary Show (Doncaster Dome)
Oct 9th: 1PW Convention + 1PW Anniversary Fallout Show (Doncaster Dome)
Tickets flew off the shelves as the Doncaster fans saw an opportunity to see the former DX member, possibly for the last time. Other dates for Michaels were also announced, including a Q&A session in Oxford on October 6th run by the FWA.
It all seemed too good to be true. And as the old adage goes, it absolutely was.
The Event Was Cancelled After Months Of Rumours
One by one, everything went horribly wrong for those who bought tickets to see Shawn Michaels in 1PW.
Rumours swirled in July as the Oxford event was cancelled. FWA Booker Mark Sloan explained on UKFF that he had received information about Michaels that forced him to cancel the event and refund all tickets sold in full.
“I can’t comment regarding 1PW. We’ve received information that has caused us to pull his appearance on October 6th. Every single ticket has already been refunded and I personally emailed everybody explaining why were have decided against advertising the appearance. We have no issue with 1PW in regards to this specific event and notified them and Shawn’s agent of our decision before refunding all the tickets.”
More news began to trickle in. WrestleZone posted an email sent by Shawn Michaels agents revealing he had pulled out of the tour, but quickly retracted it once asked to by said agent, who revealed Michaels and 1PW were still negotiating over the tour.
However, 1PW confirmed that his appearance was still on and kept advertising Michaels and selling tickets for the shows.
The truth was finally revealed in August 2011. A press release from Shawn Michaels’ camp revealed that the tour had been cancelled with two months’ notice. They hoped that it was enough notice as to not inconvenience any fans who bought tickets, but blamed a lack of reciprocity in communication from 1PW as to why Shawn Michaels was not coming to Great Britain in October.
“Due to circumstances outside of Shawn Michaels’ control, his agents at Encore Sports & Entertainment, LLC regret to announce that the advertised 1PW Management tour scheduled to begin on October 6, 2011 in London, England has been cancelled. Despite numerous efforts to work with and communicate with 1PW Management during the past month, our efforts have not been reciprocated. Shawn is very disappointed by this result, but it was unavoidable under the circumstances. It is Shawn’s hope that this announcement comes far enough in advance of the proposed tour dates such that there is no inconvenience to his fans.” The press release on WrestleView said.
Fans Struggled Getting Refunds From 1PW After Shawn Michaels Cancelled
Despite the event being cancelled months in advance, 1PW did their best to halt any communication with fans and avoid giving them their money back.
The company announced in July of that year that its Anniversary show in October 2011 would be the final one in the company’s history.
On their Facebook page, they wrote, “1PW Would now also like to take the time to announce that 1PW – The Anniversary Show will be the last ever 1PW Show. to the “haters” you got what you wanted, to the fans that have always supported 1PW, Thank You, the UK is full of other promotions. Pro Wrestling Elite, PCW – Preston City Wrestling plus many more like PBW & FWA – Love us, Hate us, Either way, Thank You.”.
This statement was made before the official announcement that Shawn Michaels would not be appearing, but did not mention him at all in the statement. However, that show would not take place at all, with 1PW The Last Stand in May 2011 being the show’s last event before the company shut down completely.
Fans struggled to get refunds from the company, with tickets for the full Shawn Michaels tour going for around £50 each. This is a big sum of money for a UK indie show, especially nearly a decade and a half ago. Fans attempted to get their money back but faced a barrage of insults from Danny Rodd on Twitter upon request.
Danny Rodd eventually sat down with SweetChin.com to reveal that he was the victim of a scam and denied any wrongdoing in the whole situation. This of course didn’t lead to refunds as 1PW and Rodd pocketed the cash and ignored any and all pleas to do the right (and legal) thing.
Shawn Michaels never came to the UK for that tour, and IPW shut down for 11 years until their triumphant return (which involved them scamming both wrestlers AND fans alike this time).
