The Booneville Situation

Here are three interviews pertaining to the recent incident and resulting situations at EPW in Booneville, MS:

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This is an interview done Friday, August 28, 2009, at the EPW Arena in Booneville, with EPW owner & promoter Edith Poole. As everyone knows, there have been a number of issues recently involving EPW, and that’s what we are here to talk about today, at Edith’s request. As most of you know, I quit doing interviews about a year ago, but I have agreed to do this one because I want to know what Edith has to say, and I think all of you will, too. So, here we go….

Thank you for this opportunity, Edith. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say about all this stuff that has transpired recently.

You’re welcome, Axeman.

I know that, since day one when you opened this promotion up, people have been all over your case, all over the message boards, with all kinds of crap and criticism about EPW and about you, about your roster, about your facility, and on and on. But lately things have gotten a little crazy, so I have a few questions for you. Let’s start with TV – it’s my understanding that you never intended to do TV, is that right?

It had never been discussed.

What made you decide that you wanted to do TV?

Dustin Burcham came to us and said that he wanted to put us on TV. He asked if I would give him permission to use EPW, and I told him we had never discussed doing TV, but I talked to some of the guys about it, and they said if Dustin wanted to do it then yeah, let’s go for it. We knew at that time that our building was not up to par for TV, and we decided to go ahead and let him do it anyway. He started taping after we had done contracts, and he started taping the shows and sending them to WCBI to be put on the air on the MY Mississippi Network.

Things rocked along OK for a few weeks, right?

Yes, we had a little criticism, but… You know, criticism helps in a lot of ways. A lot of people don’t understand that whenever they criticize you it makes you strive to be that much better.

So when did things begin to go wrong & fall apart with the TV effort?

When we booked Pure Destruction, Cody & Brody Hawk, I had been told that it was a possibility that one of our sponsors was going to pull out, but I wasn’t told that that sponsor had pulled out. On the night that LSD was supposed to have gotten hurt, at the hands of Cody & Brody, there was a lot of stuff that went down in the dressing room, and Izzy Rotten was the first one that started, and he texted me a message on my cell phone, which I will let you read, and he told me that he was through with EPW. Now, I was not going to say anything to my booker, which as you know is Kross, because Izzy told me that he was going to talk to Kross on Monday or Tuesday, so I was going to give him the chance to tell Kross. Well, Izzy called Kross, but he never, according to Kross, one time mentioned that he had quit EPW. So when Kross found out, along with some of the other things Kross had asked the guys to do, like if any of the guys has a problem with what he does in the dressing room or what is done in the ring, they need to be coming to Kross because he is the booker, and not come to me. Simply because Izzy ignored what the booker asked him to do, Kross let him go.

But he had already quit, right?

He had already quit.

OK, back to TV, did Dustin pull out, or did you end the arrangement with Dustin, how did it come about that we are not filming for TV any more?

Well, as of right now we are still under contract with Dustin and Arsenic Entertainment. Dustin came to me the Sunday evening after that incident with LSD & Pure Destruction, and he told me that they were wanting out of the contract. He asked me that if he fixed up a contract releasing Arsenic Entertainment and himself from the agreement, would I do it. I agreed to do it at the time, but since then there have been other things that have happened, there have been a lot of things said and a lot of opinions voiced that we had agreed would not be voiced while he was under contract with EPW, and because of that, I am not letting him out of the contract.

So he is still under contract to put EPW on WCBI every week?

He is under contract to put EPW on TV, but he is apparently not interested. He tells me that the people who work with him are not interested in doing any more wrestling, and that they have gotten into recording bands and stuff like that.

Well, OK, are there any circumstances or conditions under which you would let him out of the contract?

I don’t know. I would have to think about that really hard.

So he has not come to you with a proposal or a contract or a form of any kind for you to sign?

No.

OK. You mentioned the incident in the ring with LSD & Pure Destruction earlier. There has been a lot of talk, a lot of controversy, a lot of mud slinging and rumors about what went down that night. What is your opinion about what happened?

I did not see anything wrong with it. LSD acted like he was totally hurt. We did the necessary and proper thing – when a person claims that he is hurt and needs medical attention, we call the ambulance. Before the ambulance got here he went to begging us not to make him go to the hospital, saying he was fine. Well, some of the people there with him insisted that he go. So he ended up going to the hospital. They did, according to what I have been told, cat scans and stuff like that, and the reports we have heard said he was not hurt, they could not find anything wrong with him.

This whole incident came about when Pure Destruction did their finishing move with LSD.

Yeah, they did a double spine buster. That Sunday morning after this all went down I called our Commissioner, Sammy Hall, I had him come down here and look at that CD, along with my booker and myself. Sammy watched it, and he told us that Cody & Brody did nothing wrong. They did their finishing move on a trained wrestler, and he did not take the move like he was supposed to.

So it was LSD who botched it.

Yes.

So they tried it again another time.

And he botched it again.

So they tried it again a third time.

Yes, and he botched it again a third time.

So when it was messed up a third time, they went to a different finish.

Yeah, they did something different and ended the match. There have been a lot of things pointed out to me. I called Sammy because, I felt in my heart that nothing had happened to LSD as far as him getting seriously hurt. But in order to clear my mind and get stuff stopped before it got started, I called Sammy Hall to come down and look at that tape. A man that has been in the business for 33 years, if he doesn’t know what a shoot is, then nobody does.

So Sammy found no fault with Cody & Brody’s actions?

He found no fault, he told me and Kross that the only thing he saw was LSD not taking the move like it was supposed to be taken. He said that if he had gotten hurt, then he would have done it on his own, that it was his own fault.

So, I assume Cody & Brody are still on the EPW roster, right?

They sure are.

What is LSD’s status in EPW?

Well, as of right now he has told us that he could not wrestle for a couple of weeks. This past weekend, however, he was in our dressing room. It surprised me to see him here, and when I saw him walk through the door, I asked him what are you doing here? And he wanted to come in and sit out in the crowd with a neck brace on and whatever. With all the bull we have been going through, my booker did not let him. If he had been injured as bad as people were saying he was, then he would have had a neck brace on from the doctor instead of coming to our dressing room to try to find one to wear while he was sitting in the crowd.

So will EPW use LSD in the ring again?

That is very debatable. That would be up to Kross.

There has been a lot of controversy and crap going on since this all went down. Izzy Rotten’s departure from the company, whether he was fired or whether he quit, he’s not working for EPW any more, correct?

Correct.

What else has happened with EPW since then?

Well, there has been a lot of stuff on the message boards that has really hurt my feelings. I’ve done a lot of crying. But I’ve got people standing behind me, and even though someone called the Health Department about my concession stand and restrooms, I want to thank that person simply because there are a lot of things I have been trying to get done & repaired around here that were not getting done, but because of the Health Dept. coming in all that stuff is getting done now by the person responsible for the building. Our bathrooms are being repaired. We will now be able to use both restrooms without it causing problems. My concession stand will have a totally new look, and repairs are being made there, too. We will have all necessary certification. So, to whoever made that call, thank you.

So the concession stand will continue to operate, right?

It will continue to operate with all repairs and with all needed certificates.

Back to Izzy Rotten – you said you had received a text message from Izzy saying that he was quitting EPW. Do you still have it on your phone?

Yes I do. Here it is.

OK, it says: Well I’ve thought long and hard about this. After what I saw tonight I’m done with EPW. I’ve never been a saint in this business but I can’t watch that again, I’ll talk with Kross in the morning. One BMF.

That was sent at 1:32 in the morning on August 16, 2009.

That was read as it appears on your cell phone, correct?

Correct.

So as far as you are concerned, Izzy quit.

Yeah. When he texted me and told me he was through, I thought OK, he’s not coming back. Well, you know, I thought for sure he had left us because of what supposedly happened to LSD. Izzy showed up in the dressing room the following Saturday after he had sent that text telling me he had quit, and I looked at him funny and told him I wasn’t looking for him to be here since he told me he had quit. He told me he had talked to Kross and everything was fine. So I knew by that that he had not told Kross what he had told me. But Kross already knew it because he is my booker, and I’m not going to keep secrets from him, so he already knew what Izzy had told me, but that was not the issue. The issue was that the guys are going to have to abide by the rules my booker has given them. One of those rules is that if a wrestler has any problem with anything that goes on in the dressing room or in the ring, they should go to Kross instead of coming to me. Izzy did not do that.

Kross told me before he agreed to be my booker that he runs things differently than a lot of bookers I have worked with before. I told him I understood that and that I would agree to stand behind him, and that is exactly what I am going to do.

What does the future hold for EPW?

Bigger and better things, I hope. We sure are going to give it a shot.

So you and EPW are not going anywhere.

I’m not going anywhere. They can throw whatever they want to at us, but we will survive. One way or the other we will survive.

Any thoughts of future TV, or are you done with TV?

We have had another offer. We have not really sat down and discussed anything. But maybe later on we may be doing TV again.

OK, is there anything else you would like to say to your fans or those who will read this interview?

Only that it doesn’t matter what takes place in the dressing room, whatever takes place in the dressing room is between the booker, the promoter, and whoever is involved, and everyone else who is not involved and does not know what they are talking about and are just hearing rumors, don’t believe everything you hear. I have heard stuff about LSD, like he almost died, his neck was broken, and stuff like that. There is, of course, no truth to that. It’s just totally amazing to me that promoters cannot run shows without all the trouble and crap that comes with it. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Alright, Edith, thank you for your time.

You’re welcome, and I appreciate you giving me this time to tell my side of the story, and hopefully, once and for all, get everything cleared up.

As always, anyone who is a party to any of these situations we have talked about, if you have any response or comments about anything said here, contact me at axemanchopchop@yahoo.com, and your comments will be posted as well.

--Axeman

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This is a brief interview with Pure Destruction, Cody & Brody Hawk, done after the EPW show on Saturday night. 8-29-09.

Ok, guys, I would like to get your comments on the situation and recent events that started after your recent match with LSD.

Brody: OK, first of all, when we come in to some place, and we get asked to do something, if it’s within reason, we do it. We have never, ever, intentionally gone out and tried to hurt somebody, unless they’ve made us mad and it’s personal stuff. It has nothing to do with LSD or anyone else. If it’s something like, with Gary, he has made it personal. So now, I’m subject to just knock the shit out of Gary when I see him again. But, Gary wants to run his mouth about somebody trying to hurt somebody – well what about the time in Lexington, Tennessee, when he intentionally broke a kid’s elbow? Intentionally, did he not?

Cody: That was a boy who either didn’t know how to work or he messed the move up, so Gary took a trash can and put on top of him and beat him until his arm was broken.

Brody: Beat on that kid until his arm got broken. So, until he can sit there and say that he screwed up and admit he did it on purpose, he don’t need to say a word to anybody else in the wrestling business about intentionally trying to do something to somebody else. Because he is full of shit, he’s a back stabbing little piece of shit, all he does is run his mouth about everybody. The next time I see him, if he doesn’t straighten shit out, I’m gonna straighten his ass out myself. Plain & simple. He wants to shoot his mouth, well here comes a shoot, bitch.

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This is a brief interview I did with the EPW booker, Kross, at the EPW Arena in Booneville on Saturday, 8-29-09:

Kross, I would like to get your comments and opinions on the recent incidents at EPW, since you are the booker and your name has come up very often over the past week or so. Let’s start by talking about the situation involving Izzy Rotten and his departure from EPW. Do you have anything you want to say about that situation?

Yeah, Axeman, this whole situation has really gotten blown out of hand. Earlier on, I had made an announcement in the back room that anybody having an issue please come to me, as far as me taking care of the back room, because Edith was being pressured too much with things from the outside and everyone running to her, so to take a burden off of her, I made the announcement that everyone, if you have an issue, should come to me first, and if we cannot resolve it, then we go to Edith, that’s where we bring her in. I thought I made that clear, and not wanting to be discriminating towards anyone, no matter who you are, so we had the situation with LSD, and Izzy Rotten went to Edith, he texted her and told her he was through with EPW. She was getting calls & texts from him, and it really caused a big uproar, mixed signals and everything like that, and that’s strictly something on my behalf that I asked everyone not to do, don’t go to her, come to me first. That’s why I had a meeting with Izzy, and I had Edith out here with me, and while we were talking I basically broke it down, I didn’t do it with any disrespect or anything like that, I plainly told him that I had asked everybody, I had a meeting with everybody, asking them to come to me first. And Izzy said yeah, he acknowledged all of it, and I said that by me asking you not to do something, and you still went and did it, and caused more problems than anything, I said I was going to have to let him go. His exact words were I don’t give a shit. And that’s fine. That’s basically the situation with Izzy.

Izzy Rotten has, since that time, done a number of things. Any comments about what has gone down since then?

Axeman, this is a business, and professionalism is everything, and I know Izzy Rotten’s history and everything, and when I talked with him and told him I was letting him go, I told him it was not personal, but it’s just like any other company, you broke a rule, and sometimes when you do that, they terminate you, and that’s what happened in this situation. What Izzy is doing now is, I think, purely unprofessional and completely unnecessary. If you tell somebody you don’t give a shit about them letting you go, and then do what he is doing now, that shows absolutely different. Like I said, it’s not necessary, trying to get other wrestlers to leave, by whatever means he has done it, but what it’s supposed to prove, I do not know. But like I said, we have a business here, and we are going to keep it going like a business. EPW will not fold. Izzy Rotten is just showing his true colors.

OK, let’s talk a little about the situation with Pure Destruction and LSD. What are your thoughts on that incident? Did it go too far?

The situation with Pure Destruction, I don’t think it went too far, but this goes to show you that when guys get into that ring, they should be properly trained to take a normal wrestling move. When you’re not properly trained, there are things that can happen. The Commissioner reviewed the tape, as well as I reviewed the tape, and I would never, ever, send anybody on anyone to hurt them, to mangle anyone, because I am fully capable of doing it myself if I wanted to do something like that. That’s not the type of business we’re running. We’re a family back here, that’s the way we try to run it. They gave the kid the move one time, he held on to their shirts. They gave him the move a second time, he still held on to their shirts. They gave it to them a third time, and he really made them look like crap. Some other people would have gotten a chair and beaten the kid. But that is not what they did. I think Pure Destruction was purely professional, and what they did was in no way intended to hurt him. LSD called me the next day, no – it was Monday that LSD called me, and he told me man, he was just scared. The guys from another organization put a rib on him, they told him there was a hit out on him. Nothing happened that Friday, so then he came to the show Saturday, he came here, and when he got in the ring with PD, he thought they were hit men or something. Hits don’t happen in wrestling, at least not here, that’s drama stuff. That’s TV, that’s what it is. It just don’t happen in wrestling. I am a professional about what I do, no matter what people might think about me. I will carry on as such. Pure Destruction was in there trying to make themselves look good, trying to save something that someone who was totally inexperienced messed up, and in the words of Sammy Hall, the kid shouldn’t even have a license to be in the ring.

Is there anything else you want to say about any of this that has gone down?

The only thing I wish is that, instead of pulling Izzy Rotten to the side and letting him go, I had Miss Edith with me, but I should have done it in front of the whole dressing room. Maybe, if I had done it in front of the whole dressing room – I didn’t because I thought that may be humiliating – but I should have done it in front of everyone instead of trying to consider someone’s feelings, because you see what we are going through now, which just shows that he don’t care about anybody’s feelings. And yeah, he’s cost us workers, and by him costing us workers, that’s their opportunity gone, because EPW is gonna make it, EPW is gonna be a success, and I’m not giving up. The last thing I want to say about it is that I don’t have to post on the internet, hollywoodjimmy.com, or anything. I am man enough to say anything I have to say face to face. That’s how I do business. I don’t do texts, you ask Izzy Rotten, I talked to him face to face before I let him go.

Alright, Thank you for your comments.

Thank you, Axeman.