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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 21, 2017 17:32:51 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/112437/flosport-wwn-relationship-looks-to-be-coming-to-an-end.html?p=1FLOSPORT, WWN RELATIONSHIP LOOKS TO BE COMING TO AN END By Mike Johnson on 2017-09-21 14:48:00 Multiple sources over the last week have indicated to PWInsider.com that the relationship between Flosports and Sal Hamoaui's WWN, the parent company of EVOLVE, Style Battle, FIP, SHINE and the now-defunct Dragon Gate USA, is "fraying" and the two sides look to be heading for a legal showdown. PWInsider.com has confirmed that Flosports filed a lawsuit against WWN on 9/15 in Travis County Court in Texas and that WWN are in the process of preparing a counter-suit. PWInsider.com is working to acquire the lawsuit. Sources indicate that while the two sides announced a five year deal publicly in October 2016, there is actually just over a year left on their current agreement and there has been a breakdown of relations between the two sides. Flosports pays WWN to produce a number of events for the streaming service every month. That content fills out the majority of Flosports' offering to its pro wrestling side. Using the name Floslam, Flosports launched its pro wrestling service in October 2016, charging $20 a month/$150 a year for access to live and video on demand programming, including older events and documentary style features. There was a great excitement in certain circles that the company, which had touted back in August 2016 that they had received $21.2 million in new funding, was going to change the landscape for independent wrestling and become a major competitor to WWE's streaming Network. The irony there was that WWE was one of the investors in the company. Unfortunately, despite the initial acquisition of WWN content, the rollout for the service was, in my opinion, haphazard at best. The Roku app had issues until recently as it was not supported by many of Roku's devices (although it worked well with a Roku Express once I purchased one) . The service was not available on any other standard apps, such as Playstation of even Apple. There was no marketing to support the service beyond their social media account and emails sent out to existing subscribers. A number of companies that joined the service, including House of Hardcore and Germany's WXW, would later leave while some companies that were touted as partners were simply involved for one or few events. At one point, the service was even raised to a $30 per month price point (with no advance notice), although that was later rolled back to $20. As I have covered before in great detail, it was as if the Flosports decided to put a plane in the air without knowing where it was going or how to land. Despite all the issues, as of this writing, the two sides are still working together, as this weekend's WWN events will air as scheduled on Flosports. WWE, which has cultivated a relationship with WWN's Gabe Sapolsky, is sending Cedric Alexander to appear on those events, but not as part of the Flosports broadcast. One would have to assume that if WWN can wrangle itself free of the Flosports issues, the long-planned WWE Network tier system could be their next destination. Should this situation end with the departure of WWN content, one does have to ask what would be left for Flosports if they wish to continue with a streaming service dedicated to professional wrestling. House of Hardcore's most recent live events have not been carried on the service, which we are told was a decision made by Tommy Dreamer. PWInsider.com contacted Hamoai, who referred us this morning to WWN's attorney, Sean Heller. We are currently awaiting a statement from Mr. Heller. PWInsider.com has also contacted Flosports, who have not returned queries regarding the situation. Beyond professional wrestling, Flosports also handles streaming services for a variety of other sporting events, including collegiate wrestling, MMA, fitness, boxing, softball, tennis, gymnastics, marching, basketball, volleyball, eSports, cheerleading, and track. Full Disclosure: I am a current annual subscriber to Floslam.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 21, 2017 17:34:05 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/112438/flosports-alleges-wwn-lied-and-induced-them-to-pay-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-based-on-those-lies.html?p=1FLOSPORTS ALLEGES WWN LIED AND INDUCED THEM TO PAY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS BASED ON THOSE LIES By Mike Johnson on 2017-09-21 18:02:00 The lawsuit filed on 9/15 by FloSports, Inc. against WWN, the parent company of EVOLVE, FIP, Style Battle and SHINE in District Court of Travis County, Texas revolves around allegations that WWN, run by Sal Hamaoui and Gabe Sapolsky provided false information that led to Flosports paying inflated prices for WWN content. The lawsuit alleges that "WWN negligently or otherwise misrepresented the number of fans purchasing pay-perview and video-on-demand access to their fighting events. When pressed for the data that backed up WWN’s spreadsheet of viewership, WWN originally claimed it had lost or deleted that information. Ultimately, WWN sent records listing many subscribers more than once and including purchasers of DVDs instead of broadcast services. Even with that artificial inflation of viewership, the numbers WWN attempted to account for were far less than those represented in its initial spreadsheet." While, according to the lawsuit, WWN was contractually obligated to be truthful, instead, "WWN induced FloSports to pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars based on data that was not only inaccurate and unreliable; it was just plain false." Flosports alleged that they have "Invested time and money that it will never recover in the market" noting, "since viewership drives FloSports’ subscription-base and its advertising revenue, WWN’s misrepresentations robbed FloSports..." Flosports alleged that WWN was responsible for negligent misrepresentation, claiming, that the company "Negligently or otherwise WWN misrepresented the number of fans purchasing pay-perview and video-on-demand access to their fighting events. WWN did not use reasonable care in obtaining or communicating the information. The misrepresentations and omissions were material. A reasonable person would attach importance to and be induced to act on WWN’s representations. WWN had reason to expect that FloSports would rely on its representations, and FloSports did, indeed, reasonably and justifiably rely upon them." Flosports is seeking over one million dollars in damages. WWN has fifty days to respond to the lawsuit with the following materials requested by Flosports (thePlaintiff): *Describe your negotiations with Plaintiff leading up to the agreements between the parties. Include how you first knew Plaintiff; the person who made the initial contact between the parties; and the conversations you had with Plaintiff during negotiations, including the parties to the conversations, date of the conversations, means of conversation, and the substance of the conversations. *Identify any conversations you had with Plaintiff regarding the number of fans purchasing payper-view and video-on-demand access to your fighting events. Include the individuals to each conversation, date of the conversation, means of communication, and the substance of the communication. Interrogatory *Detail your method for calculating the number of fans purchasing pay-per-view and video-ondemand access to your fighting events. *All agreements and drafts of agreements between you and Plaintiff. Include in your response emails and other electronic items (including deleted or archived items). *Produce all documents and communications (electronic or otherwise, including deleted or archived items) regarding any agreements between you and Plaintiff. Include in your response emails and other electronic items. *Produce all documents and communications (electronic or otherwise, including deleted or archived items) reflecting or relating to negotiations between you and Plaintiff. Include in your response e-mails and other electronic items. *Produce all documents and communications (electronic or otherwise, including deleted or archived items) reflecting or relating to the number of fans purchasing pay-per-view and videoon-demand access to your fighting events. *All internal communications regarding Plaintiff. Include in your response emails and other electronic items (including deleted or archived items). *All notes from any conversations with Plaintiff. Include in your response emails and other electronic items (including deleted or archived items). As noted earlier, PWInsider.com is awaiting a statement from the attorney for WWN. Flosports did not respond to queries regarding the lawsuit made earlier today by PWInsider.com
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 21, 2017 17:40:30 GMT -6
www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0921/632413/flosports-files-lawsuit-against-wwn-over-ippv-and-vod-buyrates/FloSports Files Lawsuit Against WWN Over IPPV And VOD Buyrates By Joshua Gagnon | September 21, 2017 Source: PWTorch According to PWTorch, on September 15, FloSports filed a lawsuit against WWN (World Wrestling Network) in Travis County, Texas over WWN misrepresenting financial data of their iPPV and VOD buyrates. FloSports is looking for damages of one-million dollars due to "breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation." FloSports and WWN partnered up back in October of last year where WWN would stream their properties (EVOLVE, FIP, Style Battle, SHINE, and ACW) on FloSports' wrestling channel, FloSlam. The signed contract was for five years. In the lawsuit, FloSports claimed that they initially asked for data to backup WWN's iPPV and VOD buyrates and were told that information was lost. WWN eventually did give them information, but in the document subscribers were listed multiple times and it included those who just purchased DVDs, which wouldn't be included in a buyrate. According to sources who spoke to PWTorch, FloSports is using this as a "scare tactic" to get out of their contract with WWN and that WWN is planning on a counterclaim, potentially looking to get out of the contract early, as well.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 21, 2017 18:32:48 GMT -6
www.wrestlezone.com/news/884545-floslam-suing-wwn-live-over-breach-of-contract-negligent-misrepresentation-over-past-ppv-vod-figuresFloSlam Suing WWN Live Over Breach Of Contract, Negligent Misrepresentation Over Past PPV & VOD Figures PWTorch is reporting FloSports has filed a lawsuit against WWN, the parent company of EVOLVE, due to WWN misrepresenting financial data for iPPV and VOD events. PWTorch says the lawsuit, filed on September 15 in Travis County, Texas, claims FloSlam was induced into paying WWN hundreds of thousands of dollars, but were told data and spreadsheets containing the VOD and PPV numbers had been lost. FloSlam then claimed they finally got the data, but inaccuracies including subscribers being listed multiple times and DVD sales being included led them to request $1 million in damages due to breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation. PWTorch reached out (before obtaining a copy of the suit) to FloSports SVP and General Counsel Paul Hurdlow, who said that FloSports’s position was clear in the lawsuit, but he hoped both sides could reach an agreement out of court. WWN owner Sal Hamaoui did not make any comments on the matter when contacted, but a WWN Source told the Torch they believe this is just a scare tactic from FloSlam to break their contract with WWN, which is currently under negotiation to terminate early.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 21, 2017 19:02:22 GMT -6
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 11:10:19 GMT -6
www.wrestlezone.com/news/884707-wwn-live-issues-statement-regarding-floslams-lawsuit-against-themWWN Live Issues Statement Regarding FloSlam’s Lawsuit Against Them PWInsider.com reached out to to WWN Live for a comment on the recent lawsuit that has been filed against them by FloSlam. The attorney representing WWN Live, Samuel Heller, responded to them with the following: While we prefer not to litigate cases in the media, it is clear that FloSports is attempting to use the press to create leverage in this dispute by spreading false, defamatory and misleading statements about WWN. In reality, FloSports has wholly failed to honor its contractual obligation to promote WWN’s events, and has been unable to successfully integrate WWN into its mismanaged and failing subscription streaming platform. At no time has WWN provided incorrect, false or misleading information and this lawsuit is nothing more than a transparent effort by FloSports to avoid its responsibility to WWN, its talent and its fans. We are confident that the litigation will result favorably to WWN.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 11:16:09 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/112448/taking-a-deep-look-into-the-flosports-vs-wwn-situation.html?p=1TAKING A DEEP LOOK INTO THE FLOSPORTS VS. WWN SITUATION By Mike Johnson on 2017-09-22 11:56:00 The news that FloSlam has filed a lawsuit against WWN, the parent company of EVOLVE and so many other companies has brought a lot of questions and a lot of speculation, so let's dive into all that. The lawsuit alleges that WWN management falsified information in order to make their content appear to be more valuable than it actually was, getting FloSports to pay "hundreds of thousands" to WWN. If that's the case, certainly, it would be fraudulent behavior. If I told you my baseball cards were worth $1000 and they were only worth $10, I've lied to you. So, if WWN indeed falsified records to include the same iPPV buyer and even DVD purchases to boost their numbers, and FloSports can prove that in court, WWN is in the wrong. When you flip the hourglass, however, you do have to ask several questions about FloSports. One, if the records were falsified to the point that the same buyers were listed as multiple, different buyers and if DVD purchases were itemized as iPPV buys, why did FloSports still enter into a relationship with WWN? Who was responsible for signing off on a deal with such blatant "false" information and are they being held responsible in any way, shape, or form? I used the baseball card analogy above and while I would be lying to a buyer if I said the cards were worth $1000 as opposed to $10, there has to be some form of responsibility from the buyer for not doing their due diligence and being dumb enough to go along with it. So, how much of this situation is simply buyer's remorse because the FloSlam streaming service has failed to bring in numbers that are pleasing FloSports management? The FloSlam service has been a haphazard, at best, service since it began. I can only speak for my own experiences, but they include purchasing an annual subscription and paying $150 up front only to learn that none of the Rook devices I owned would correctly interface with the service. I had to go and purchase a Rook Express in order to finally be able to stream the events without issues. The interface is fine for finding live streaming but the VOD aspect is clunky and cluttered. If I want to watch a House of Hardcore event, I have to try and find that promotion, then figure out how to find the actual event I want, as nothing is in chronological order and random matches are tossed into the selection higgly-piggly. In a world where consumers want their content immediately so they can enjoy, FloSlam isn't exactly conducive to that. I can't compare Roku to any other platform because, for FloSlam, there's been no real launching of apps for other platforms - not even places like Playstation or Amazon, both of which are extremely important. There's been absolutely no marketing of FloSlam to any outlets. They have a Twitter account, which you have to discover and follow. They have an email list that pushes what's coming up on FloSlam, but you have to be a paid subscriber to receive it. Unless you are already choosing to be inside the FloSlam bubble, there's no attempt to reach you and tell you that the service even exists. FloSports chose to exist in that bubble and failed because of it. I've already noted that I am a paid subscriber to the service, but remove that from the equation and think of this. There has never been one press release issued to PWInsider.com by the service touting itself. Not once. Hell, Google for yourself and you'll find there has never been one press release issued to any pro wrestling website, period. There's no evidence of any advertising taken out even on sports websites pushing that FloSlam exists. They did a few interviews a year ago when it launched with several outlets, including The Taz Show, but that was it. In fact, my initial attempt to reach out to a FloSlam representative (who appeared on the Taz Show the same day I do) led to him publicly complaining about me (on Twitter) contacting him and referring me to their PR department. The PR department has never returned that email. That representative was later fired from the company. 11 months later, not one FloSlam exec has ever reached out to PWInsider.com. When you compare that to the Fite App or the WWE Network or The Highspots Wrestling Network, all of which do their own outreach and advertising and marketing campaigns and have built relationships with PWInsider.com and similar websites, it's been apparent that FloSports for some time has completely stalled in that regard - so if they are upset at a lack of subscribers and a lack of growth, that has to fall on their own shoulders, not WWN or any other partner promotion. In pro wrestling, there's such a thing as a "sold show." If I am a promoter and I sell a show to a venue or organization, I am paid a flat fee that I use to budget the event I am bringing in. I pay my expenses and my wrestlers. That's my responsibility. Sure, I will promote the event, but the actual responsibility for the event's success falls on the organization and venue. If, for example, The Brooklyn Cyclones pay to bring in ROH, it's on them, not ROH to tell their regular fans and their surrounding neighborhood that ROH is coming to town and try to get them interested in the show. FloSports didn't do that. They didn't even attempt to do that. They bought the shows and let them die on the vine. Again, not the fault of their partner promotions. It's sad to see what the FloSlam service has become considering how many people were so excited and had, as Han Solo might say, delusions of grandeur about how the service was going to change things for independent wrestling. It was going to give wrestlers and promotions a place to be seen on a major scale and was going to drive up the price of content that WWE might want. It was going to be something that was going to mark a new chapter in pro wrestling, some people said. None of that happened. None of that is going to happen - and that's no one's fault but FloSports. All that said, if WWN is proven to have falsified their records in any way, it's still fraud. Not only that, it would be fraud of a company that the publicly traded WWE has invested in at the same time its Vice President of Talent Relations, Creative and Marketing Gabe Sapolsky has been building a relationship with WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative Paul Levesque. Think about the ramifications of that if it's in any way true. It's mind-boggling and insane if any of that turns out to indeed be the case. The ripple effects of it being proven correct could not only kill WWN, but any of their execs from having a position elsewhere in professional wrestling and for Sapolsky, it's the genre he's been working in since he was in college. Even if the WWN allegations are false (and remember, innocent until proven guilty), they could still end up hurting WWN, as the initial impression will always remain. After all, how many wrongly accused criminals end up on the front page only to see the retractions buried somewhere in the middle of the paper? FloSports has lobbed some heavy accusations at Gabe Sapolsky and Sal Hamaoui, but what if Flo is wrong? There's no way to measure the hit their reputations will be taking over the course of this process. Think about how badly exposed Dixie Carter looked after Billy Corgan sued Impact? It didn't matter that Corgan didn't win, Carter was exposed. This could be no different. If I am WWE, a publicly traded company, wouldn't I think twice about wanting to work with WWN due to the stench of these allegations? If you think the answer is no, you may want to look up how corporate America works. Of course, the one question I will ask (and I am shocked that no one has asked this one before me) is why has it taken FloSports nearly twelve months to bring up these allegations? Think about this for a second: Flosports entered into business with WWN in October 2016, so how is it that they were unable to sift through the records and find that the numbers weren't adding up? If WWN claimed that their records were deleted or lost, as FloSports alleges in their lawsuit, why didn't this raise red flags to begin with? FloSports had no problem paying what has amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars for live streams of WWN events that were taking place in small venues before, in some cases, sparse crowds, and they are now, a year later, gobsmacked to realize that wrestling at that level doesn't result in thousands upon thousands of iPPV buys? Really? They announced in August of 2016 they had over $21 million in new financing - did none of it go to vetting their potential partners in a new section of their service? A quick Google search and some common sense would tell anyone what realm independent wrestling exists on, with the rare exception of weeks like Wrestlemania where the indy realm gets to plug into the mass of humanity that WWE brings in to a market. If FloSports entered in the indy wrestling world without knowing what they are getting into, well, no one told them to do that without doing their proper research. If you enter the haunted cabin in the woods, as Ash and his friends did in Evil Dead, well, no one forced you to walk in there. No one forced FloSports to launch FloSlam. They did that of their own accord. If they did so in a way that they are not happy with a year out, well, that's something they need to address internally. Earlier today, WWN's attorney Samuel Heller issued the following statement to PWInsider.com regarding the lawsuit: "While we prefer not to litigate cases in the media, it is clear that FloSports is attempting to use the press to create leverage in this dispute by spreading false, defamatory and misleading statements about WWN. In reality, FloSports has wholly failed to honor its contractual obligation to promote WWN’s events, and has been unable to successfully integrate WWN into its mismanaged and failing subscription streaming platform. At no time has WWN provided incorrect, false or misleading information and this lawsuit is nothing more than a transparent effort by FloSports to avoid its responsibility to WWN, its talent and its fans. We are confident that the litigation will result favorably to WWN." Without seeing the contract (which, given WWN intends to countersue, we may soon have a chance to see), there's no way to know exactly what FloSports did and didn't live up to in terms of their agreement with WWN. It's quite possible they didn't. We won't know until there are additional court filings. Over the last 48 hours, there's been talk that this lawsuit could be FloSports' way of getting out of paying WWN the remainder of what they are owed or even trying to strong-arm WWN into taking a lesser fee. Certainly, those are possible reasons for why the lawsuit was filed. Hell, if WWN wants to get out from under this deal and go work with WWE (which, at least in the case of Gabe Sapolsky, looks to be the case), all of this could be in their best interest. We won't know for sure until all this works it's way through the court system. At the end of the day, it will come down to what FloSports' forensic accountants have pilfered from the WWN records they claim were falsified and whether it can be proven WWN actually did something wrong. Until we see what WWN's response to this is, legally and on the record, we only know a piece of the story (and we know there's going to be some REALLY awkward moments at this weekend's EVOLVE events when FloSlam employees arrive), but in the end, we can already state one thing with certainty. Once again, opportunities to better professional wrestling have been lost and as always, when a big opportunity goes to hell, it leaves a stain on pro wrestling that could prevent the next big opportunity from even happening, because these type of allegations are the exact type of thing that allows pro wrestling's bad reputation to continue to exist Even if every allegation here is false, the implication that pro wrestling is a scuzzy business has been reinforced yet again. Whether FloSports mismanaged FloSlam badly or not, whether WWN misled FloSports or not and no matter who takes the blame and the responsibility, when all the dust settles and the case is completed, once again, it will be pro wrestling and the people that love it, who end up hurt yet again. Great, just great. Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com. He invites any Floslam representative to reach out to him.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 15:00:52 GMT -6
www.fightful.com/flosports-sues-wwn-1-million-alleges-they-provided-just-plain-false-business-records-duringFloSports Sues WWN for $1 Million+, Alleges That They Provided 'Just Plain False' Business Records During Negotiations DAVID BIXENSPANSEP 21, 20175:45PM EDTShare this Article through Social Media: FacebookTwitterShare Last Friday, September 15th, FloSports, the parent company of wrestling subscription streaming service FloSlam, sued WWN Inc., the parent company of the World Wrestling Network family of promotions, in Texas’s Travis County District Court. In the complaint, Flo is alleging that last year, when they made a deal with WWN to become the exclusive streaming home of all of their in-house promotions, they were not provided with accurate data about internet pay-per-view buys and video on demand purchases. According to the complaint, FloSports is asking for in excess of $1 million in damages. “WWN induced FloSports to pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars based on data that was not only inaccurate and unreliable; it was just plain false,” reads the complaint. “When pressed for the data that backed up WWN’s spreadsheet of viewership, WWN originally claimed it had lost or deleted that information. Ultimately, WWN sent records listing many subscribers more than once and including purchasers of DVDs instead of broadcast services. Even with that artificial inflation of viewership, the numbers WWN attempted to account for were far less than those represented in its initial spreadsheet.” FloSports is suing on grounds of breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation. WWN’s lawyer, who owner Sal Hamaoui has been referring reporters to, has not yet responded to a request for comment as of this writing. “The lawsuit isn’t to get out of the partnership,” FloSports Senior Vice President and General Counsel Paul Hurdlow told Fightful. “It really is our hope that we’ll get back to talking to WWN and kind of work things out outside of the litigation….Sometimes you have to file a complaint to sort of protect your interest in particular situations. We’re not apologizing that we did it—we chose to do it—but it’s really our preference to have dialogue and work things out with them outside of litigation.” One Flo source familiar with the numbers told Fightful that during negotiations, WWN told Flo that they were averaging about 5,000 buys per Evolve pay-per-view, which sounds very high based on conversations with indie wrestling sources familiar with the internet pay-per-view landscape. The other WWN in-house promotions, Full Impact Pro, Shine, Style Battle, and ACW, which all draw incredibly small crowds even by indie standards, are believed to have been included in the deal as a value add. A WWN source—Joshua Gavin—who was privy to conversations within the company during negotiations alleged to Fightful that management was openly talking about inflating the numbers, with the idea that Flo had no way of verifying them. In the end, per the Flo source, FloSlam was up to just under 2,000 paying subscribers before a brief flirtations with a $30/month price point scared some users off. Starting with that move, all of FloSports’ channels are available when you pay the monthly subscription price, whereas before, you only got one sport on the monthly plans (the one that went from $20 to $30 to $20) and had to do a discounted annual subscription to get all of them in one shot. The new allegations give a great deal of context to the various stories about Flo and WWN that had been floating around as of late, both publicly and privately. For example, in an article about wrestling streaming services that I published Wednesday at Deadspin, I mentioned the story of Josh Wheeler, the promoter of Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment. Wheeler had made a deal early in 2017 to work with WWN on the July 9th Evolve show in Atlanta, the latter’s debut in the market. As part of the deal, the AWE pre-show card before the Evolve main-card would be streamed through FloSlam, the same way that they had with the Tier 1 Wrestling pre-show in New York City and the PWX pre-show in North Carolina. In the deal brokered by WWN, Wheeler says he was initially promised $1,000 as the rights fee, only for it to be cut to $250 just two days out. Flo filing the lawsuit also comes just four days after the twentieth anniversary of the beginning of federal case filed against Jerry Lawler and business partner Larry Burton stemming from the sale of the United States Wrestling Association to Mark Selker’s XL Sports. XL alleged that Lawler and Selker has cooked the books to make it appear that the dying promotion was worth several multiples of its actual value, with Vince McMahon even giving them a meeting where he told Selker that it was a good investment at the price being asked for. XL won a judgment against Burton only, with the jury believing Lawler, who claimed to have been duped himself by his partner.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 15:10:22 GMT -6
www.fightful.com/floslam-pulls-evolve-events-schedule-gabe-sapolsky-tweets-matterFloSlam Pulls EVOLVE Events From Schedule, Gabe Sapolsky Tweets On Matter It's been a rough week for EVOLVE, WWN and FloSports, as they're all embroiled in a legal battle that has now forced WWN off of FloSlam's broadcast schedule. FloSports has pulled this weekend's EVOLVE events off of their planned broadcasts, as well as all future events. This comes after FloSports filed a suit against WWN making several accusations. Fightful.com's David Bixenspan wrote about the news yesterday. “WWN induced FloSports to pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars based on data that was not only inaccurate and unreliable; it was just plain false,” reads the complaint. “When pressed for the data that backed up WWN’s spreadsheet of viewership, WWN originally claimed it had lost or deleted that information. Ultimately, WWN sent records listing many subscribers more than once and including purchasers of DVDs instead of broadcast services. Even with that artificial inflation of viewership, the numbers WWN attempted to account for were far less than those represented in its initial spreadsheet.” FloSports is suing on grounds of breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation. WWN’s lawyer, who owner Sal Hamaoui has been referring reporters to, has not yet responded to a request for comment as of this writing. “The lawsuit isn’t to get out of the partnership,” FloSports Senior Vice President and General Counsel Paul Hurdlow told Fightful. “It really is our hope that we’ll get back to talking to WWN and kind of work things out outside of the litigation….Sometimes you have to file a complaint to sort of protect your interest in particular situations. We’re not apologizing that we did it—we chose to do it—but it’s really our preference to have dialogue and work things out with them outside of litigation.” One Flo source familiar with the numbers told Fightful that during negotiations, WWN told Flo that they were averaging about 5,000 buys per Evolve pay-per-view, which sounds very high based on conversations with indie wrestling sources familiar with the internet pay-per-view landscape. The other WWN in-house promotions, Full Impact Pro, Shine, Style Battle, and ACW, which all draw incredibly small crowds even by indie standards, are believed to have been included in the deal as a value add. A WWN source—Joshua Gavin—who was privy to conversations within the company during negotiations alleged to Fightful that management was openly talking about inflating the numbers, with the idea that Flo had no way of verifying them. WWN owner Gabe Sapolsky confirmed the news, saying that the decision was FloSlam's. EVOLVE 92 & 93 are set for this weekend, with WWE Superstar Cedric Alexander working the shows. Fightful.com will have full results of the events.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 15:30:05 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/112453/flosports-pulls-this-weekends-evolve-events-.html?p=1FLOSPORTS PULLS THIS WEEKEND'S EVOLVE EVENTS By Mike Johnson on 2017-09-22 15:28:00 PWInsider.com has learned from multiple sources that FloSports has informed WWN that this weekend's EVOLVE events will not be carried by FloSports, which means in all likelyhood, either will be any future events. We are told WWN officials were told just minutes ago and are deciding their next course of action. EVOLVE is slated to run events in Michigan and Illinois tonight and tomorrow. PWInsider.com was told earlier today that FloSports had informed employees slated to travel to the events that they were not to go to EVOLVE and work the shows. As noted over the last 24 hours, Flosports has filed a lawsuit against WWN, alleging they provided false data when negotiating their deal with FloSports. WWN intends to counter-sue. It would appear that one of the things WWN will be suing for is breach of contract as we are hearing the company had been previously informed by FloSports that the streaming service was going to withhold payments for WWN's content that were due from July 2017 on. That would mean that WWN (which bumped up to running five shows a month as part of their contract with Flosports) was now in the bag for all of the July and August events they produced for the service without getting paid for that content, just as they will not be paid for the now-cancelled broadcasts this week. WWN and FloSports announced a five year agreement in October 2016, but sources indicate that after 24 months, there was an option to end the agreement. That point would be 15 months away, according to sources and it is believed that the lawsuit may have been filed so Flosports can get out of the agreement with WWN or potentially strong-arm them into taking a lesser deal. I am working on additional details of the WWN-FloSports situation as you read this. Stay tuned.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 15:31:51 GMT -6
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 16:05:00 GMT -6
www.f4wonline.com/indies/wwn-events-pulled-floslam-schedule-243271WWN EVENTS PULLED FROM FLOSLAM SCHEDULE BY JOSEPH CURRIER | @josephcurrier | SEP 22, 2017 1:32 PM The relationship between FloSports and WWN, Inc. took another turn for the worse this afternoon. Despite the ongoing legal situation, EVOLVE's shows in Livonia, Michigan tonight and Summit, Illinois tomorrow had been scheduled to stream live on FloSlam -- but that now won't be happening. WWN's Gabe Sapolsky announced on Twitter today that FloSlam won't be airing tonight's show. "FloSlam is refusing to broadcast tonight's EVOLVE event," Sapolsky wrote. "We apologize, but this is their decision. Please contact them for customer issues." Sapolsky added that WWN is doing their best to get tonight's show on their own website as soon as possible, which is how they used to offer events before their deal with FloSports began last year. No WWN events are currently listed on the FloSlam schedule. IPW:UK's Supershow 12, which will air on November 19th, is the only upcoming event currently listed. News broke yesterday that FloSports had filed a lawsuit against WWN on September 15th in U.S. District Court in Travis County, Texas that asked for more than $1 million in damages. It alleged that WWN provided them with "just plain false" data on how many people were ordering events, causing FloSports to make a deal based on those numbers. FloSports and WWN announced a five-year agreement in October of 2016, with shows from WWN promotions (EVOLVE, FIP, SHINE, and Style Battle) anchoring the streaming service's content lineup since. WWN attorney Samuel Heller released a statement earlier today claiming that FloSports was using the press to spread false statements about WWN. Heller also wrote that FloSports had failed to live up to their contractual obligations and that FloSlam is a mismanaged and failing platform. UPDATE: FloSports confirmed that WWN events will no longer be available on FloSlam going forward: "Planned coverage of WWN events will no longer be available on FloSlam. This includes EVOLVE, SHINE, FIP, Style Battle, and ACW events. We know fans are excited about these events and we're disappointed to share that we will no longer provide the coverage you deserve and expect. If you'd like a refund, please email support@flosports.tv with the subject line 'FloSlam Refund Request,' and our team will assist you." Tonight's EVOLVE show will be available on WWN's website and they're offering a $5 refund to FloSlam subscribers who purchase it if they send proof of their subscription.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 19:17:14 GMT -6
www.f4wonline.com/daily-updates/daily-update-ddt-floslam-terry-funk-wrestling-weekend-243236After the statement made by WWN attorney Samuel Heller, FloSlam responded by cancelling the broadcast of tonight's Evolve show in Livonia, MI and tomorrow's show in Summit, IL. I guess that pretty much tells you the split looks to be final. Tonight's show will stream on www.WWNlive.com for $9.99. FloSports sent out a post saying that they will no longer be carrying Evolve, Shine, Style Battle, FIP and ACW and if you are looking for a refund you can send to support@flosports.tv.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 19:25:37 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/112460/more-details-on-what-led-to-the-wwnflosports-breakdown-how-wwn-will-stream-this-weekends-evolve-events.html?p=1MORE DETAILS ON WHAT LED TO THE WWN-FLOSPORTS BREAKDOWN, HOW WWN WILL STREAM THIS WEEKEND'S EVOLVE EVENTS By Mike Johnson on 2017-09-22 17:23:00 One of the aspects of the WWN vs. FloSports lawsuit over the last 24 hours has been the allegation that WWN falsified information in order to get a better deal out of the streaming service, which earlier today, informed WWN that they would not carry the EVOLVE events this weekend. The FloSlam streaming service officially launched in October 2016, but PWInsider.com is told by sources that conversations with WWN began as early as January 2016. At that point, FloSlam was hoping to make deals with WWN, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. In the end, WWN signed with FloSports first and the other two companies passed. When FloSports came to WWN, they requested data regarding their iPPV buys. We are told that at the time, WWN had just left one hosting company, Fine Line Hosting and moved to another, as they were in the process of building a new website at WWNLive.com and were shifting everything over to the new server. The previous hosting company not only deleted the servers but shut down entirely as the company went out of business. WWN had to scramble to track down the data and provided it to FloSports It should be noted that there have been some insane numbers floated in the last few days, including the idea that WWN was bringing in 5,000 iPPV orders per show, which would equate to something in the area of a $75,000 profit per show. Unless we see hard data over the course of the court case that proves WWN provided that insane number to FloSports, I would be shocked that is the case for several reasons. One, that would mean the company gave up $150,000 per month in revenue and development of their own website in order to sign with FloSports to produce five shows a month for far less money per show. The math doesn't add up and WWN officials would have had to have been insane to give up that sort of money and momentum. PWInsider.com has been told that in actuality, in 2016, WWN (on average) was doing in the area of 1,300 iPPV buys for EVOLVE, 600-7000 for SHINE and less than 200 buys for FIP events while selling those events. The year before, which they also provided to FloSports, those numbers were lower and the EVOLVE numbers were said to have been way up from the year before because WWE was promoting that brand. Sources close to the company are adamant that correct information was given to FloSports and that this is an attempt by the streaming service to break the contract, which has another 12-15 months on it until a period where the two sides can determine if they are going to continue moving forward. Obviously, the truth will come out in the legal proceedings. Until the hard evidence pops up, all that is really out there is speculation and that speculation, when you sprinkle some logic on it, doesn't add up to much in the way of common sense. If WWN provided those ridiculous numbers to FloSports and FloSports didn't do its due dilligence before offering a deal, well, one has to wonder why they didn't. WWN sources claim that after the company provided numbers to FloSports, they, within 24 hours, were presented with an offer to create content for the streaming service, which they quickly agreed to because it was a great offer for the company. At that point, they bumped up from running 2-3 shows a month to five, as FloSports wanted that much material. PWInsider.com, in asking around, was told there was no contractual obligation from WWN for anything beyond providing the content (which had been provided in the form of the EVOLVE, ACW, Style Battle, SHINE and FIP promotions) and producing that content for FloSports, so FloSports did not have to have anyone on their end doing production. We are also told there was also nothing in the contract that would have led to penalties for WWN if they did not perform at a certain level, which if that's the case, seems pretty insane from FloSport's perspective. The timeline of the data issue, PWInsider.com is told, is that six months ago, FloSports came seeking additional information on WWN's iPPV numbers prior to WWN migrating to FloSports service. WWN tracked down the owner of the former hosting company who provided all information that he had. FloSports returned asking for additional information that neither the former host nor WWN had and were told as such. One source stated that FloSports was looking for time stamped information regarding orders on the old WWNLive streaming site, which we are told that, based on the makeup of the site, the old host never recorded. As an aside, when that site existed, PWInsider.com, like many other sites, had an affiliate link and when we looked up orders, it would list the name of the user who signed up through the link and a list of the shows that user ordered, but had no time stamped information beyond when that user signed up for the account. As one might imagine, it has been a stressful week for WWN. We are told the company had no idea anything was amiss until they were informed of the lawsuit, which they were informed of while in the middle of producing last week's SHINE broadcast, the first of three live shows that they were producing for FloSports. We are also told that yesterday, FloSports indicated to WWN that they wanted to continue the relationship (and there have been some negotiations over the last week, although none led to any agreement) yet today, they instead pulled all the programming. As noted earlier, as of right now, FloSports has stopped paying WWN for the content created in July, August and now September, which is obviously going to put a financial hurting on the company. What is most mind-boggling about pulling the live programming is that FloSports has now let down their own paying subscribers by not providing what had been advertised to them. The events have been pulled down and as a paid FloSports subscriber, I can tell you that no announcement was made to their mailing list or via their platforms as to why the scheduled EVOLVE shows have disappeared from the schedule. WWN, meanwhile, has decided they will air this weekend's show on their WWNLive.com website, offering them for $10 each. If you provide documentation that you are a current FloSlam subscriber, you can order the shows for $5 each. Since WWN was not ready to set up and accept orders for the iPPVs on their website at such a late juncture, the shows have to be ordered via direct links. That information is embedded below. Obviously, this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. We are told WWN will be filing a counter-suit next week.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Sept 22, 2017 19:33:20 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/112461/floslam-statement-on-yanked-wwn-content.html?p=1FLOSLAM STATEMENT ON YANKED WWN CONTENT By Mike Johnson on 2017-09-22 17:40:00 FloSlam posted the following on their website: "Planned coverage of WWN events will no longer be available on FloSlam. This includes EVOLVE, SHINE, FIP, Style Battle, and ACW events. We know fans are excited If about these events and we're disappointed to share that we will no longer provide the coverage you deserve and expect. If you'd like a refund, please email support@flosports.tv with the subject line "Floslam Refund Request" and our team will assist you." The statement makes it clear WWN content is completely gone from the service, although the existing VOD content produced by WWN is currently still available. If that is yanked as well, there will be very little left to the service. There is no indication as to what live content will be provided going forward. House of Hardcore, which was the other major draw for the streaming service, had turned down opportunities to have its last half dozen shows that took place in Australia and The United States be carried on the service.
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