The hosting of an event billed as the Guyana Wrestle Mania is just over a week away and all that is known is that the National Park has been booked for August 15.
Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony has indicated that his only awareness of the event is through media reports while well-known business, Game Express, of North Road, which was associated with the event, has now distanced itself from the event stating that there was a lack of confirmation about some aspects of it.
Promoter Dennis Adonis, last night told Stabroek Sport that the event will come off.
“Certainly 100 plus percent for a number of reasons it cannot be cancelled,” Adonis said.
The event, dubbed the ‘Survivor Series’ is set to take place at the National Park and Adonis last night said two of the wrestlers Rishiki and Koa Marie were coming in on Tuesday while Stone Cold Steve Austin and `Diamond’ Dallas Page would be coming in on Friday.
He added that the contracts are with the Guyana Revenue Authority that he would be lodging the 36 per cent tax of the total payment to the Wrestlers on Monday.
According to a release from the promoters, Sound Proof Music and the Regional Wrestling Federation, the event promises clashes among some of the biggest stars in international wrestling and will consist of actual wrestling performances by several groups of wrestlers from the World Wrestling Entertainment Group (WWE).
The release stated also that some of the top professional wrestlers expected are Austin, Page, legendary The Iron Sheik, Scotty2hotty and Rikishi, just to name a few.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport yesterday, Minister Anthony said that other than what he had read in the newspapers, he was ignorant of the event being held.
“I haven’t been informed about the event and I only knew about what’s going on with it through what I have been reading in the newspapers,” the minister said.
“I am not aware of it. As a matter of fact, one time, I heard through the Stadium management that someone had wanted to book it for the 15th, but they say after giving the clause of rental and so on, they got back nothing.”
He added: “So now I’m reading it’s for the National Park. You see generally, as you know, most sports associations would inform us when they have such a big event being held here. But I guess, maybe because there is no wrestling association in Guyana, that’s why maybe we are not involved. But like I said, I only know what I read in the newspapers.”
Meanwhile, Game Express, which was initially involved in promoting the event in its early stages has pulled out.
Managing Director, Nazima Henriques, said Game Express was engaged in dialogue with Adonis with regard to being a potential sponsor of the event.
She said that on several occasions she and her husband had asked to see the contractual agreements the promoters had signed with the wrestlers.
No contract was ever produced to date, she said.
She said checks on the WWE website had nothing relating to Guyana and the bookings listed for the slated wrestlers had no August 15 event.
But Adonis said that the wrestlers are no longer associated with the World Wrestling Entertainment but with the Extreme Wrestling Federation.
“It’s the only way we could have gotten to book them,” he said.
Henriques said she went as far as making contact with the WWE events manager via telephone but was greeted with a voicemail. However, she said, she left her questions along with an email address and telephone number and is awaiting a response.
Henriques said that at first, the event was supposed to be held on August 8 and Game Express was paying for advertisements which were aired first on Hits and Jams Television (HJTV Ch72).
However, as discussions with Adonis continued and things didn’t seem right, Game Express pulled out.
Henriques said that people knowing that their business was known for being associated with the sport because it regularly sponsors the Pay-Per-View events on television were turning up at Game Express and asking about tickets.
In an effort to secure the business’s reputation, Henriques made it clear that Game Express was by no way associated with Guyana Wrestle Mania.
Phone Depot, of 232 Middle Street, was the only place to have tickets for the event on sale following checks conducted by this newspaper.
But according to sales representative Damien Dorwish, the store was just a ticketing outlet and not a sponsor of the event.
He said the tickets had been on sale since Monday and people were buying, but sales were slow and not what was expected given the popularity of television wrestling in Guyana.
Checks by this newspaper with the National Parks Commission revealed that the park has been booked for August 15 but officials there refused to say for what event and to whom.
Meanwhile Commander of the ‘A’ Division Leroy Brummell yesterday told Stabroek Sport that the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had only received correspondence relating to the event yesterday but had summoned the promoters to a meeting today.
Tickets for the proposed event cost $1,500 for children, adults $3,000 and VIPs $15,000.