Ring Of Honor Wrestling and UK promotion Preston City Wrestling have ended their working relationship, both companies announced in seperate statements on their official website, with Preston City Wrestling now holding events in conjunction with Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and Beyond Wrestling on November 25th and November 26th.

The statement from Ring Of Honor is below, followed by the statement from Preston City Wrestling:

ROH STATEMENT ON PCW

We have had the pleasure of working with PCW for the past few years, as they have brought several ROH wrestlers over for PCW events. In order to help PCW with promotion of their events, we allowed PCW to use the ROH logo and we were very happy with the work we did together.

Over the past few years, ROH has also been working toward producing our own tour of the UK, as the demand for our product has grown. It has been nearly a decade since we last produced a ROH-promoted tour and 2016 was the right time.

At the same time, ROH’s global presence has grown, thanks to working relationships with NJPW and most recently CMLL, while simultaneously growing our touring and television base domestically in the US.

We understand PCW felt slighted with our plans to promote our own tour and never did we plan to conflict with any of their dates. But with our schedule as currently constructed, only a few dates were available and unfortunately, there was a conflict.

When discussed, PCW and ROH agreed to not work together on a 2016 series of shows but the door was always open for the future.

The Preston City Wrestling statement is below:

Ring Of Honor out – Global Collaboration with WXW, CZW & Beyond Wrestling in!

I need to address the PCW calendar which had the dates of November 25th & 26th booked for a Supershow Weekender with Ring Of Honor. I have had to withdraw my intention of working with Ring Of Honor for a third year due to what I feel is a break down in our relationship. I informed ROH of my withdrawal on the 21st August 2016 but as of right now have not received any reply to that message.

We have moved heaven and earth and now plan to run an even better three show format using the same time and dates as previously planned. We now bring something fresh and unique and will be pushed using the driving force of four of the biggest and best independent wrestling promotions in the world. Ladies and Gentlemen we give you the Wrestling World Championships where promotions from across the globe work together to bring you two huge single elimination tournaments featuring some of the hottest independent talent in the world.

PCW are excited to be working with some of the best independent promotions in the world right now to bring the Wrestling World Championships to the UK and hope to capture the imagination of fans in the same light as the WWE’s own Cruiserweight Classic has done. The tournament is split into two weight classes and both are eight men elimination tournaments with two wrestlers from the Open-weight and two wrestlers from the Cruiserweight division of each of the four competing wrestling promotions from around the globe.

WXW
Chosen representatives are –

Open-Weight Tournament
Jurn Simmons – Less than two years after debuting Jurn Simmons won the wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship when he betrayed his partner Karsten Beck this March. The self proclaimed “King of Catch” is one of the true blue chip prospects in wrestling and his impressive physical abilities are only topped by his immense ego. However he hasn’t lost a match since capturing gold earlier this year and he is confident this won’t change facing off against the best heavyweights in the world this November.

TO BE ANNOUNCED

Cruiserweight Tournament
Da Mack – recently represented wXw in the Cruiserweight Classic. The “Urban German” has since been on a roll and is entertaining crowds all over Germany. The current wXw Shotgun Champion is looking to leave the same impression in England that he did in the US taking another country by storm.

Axel Dieter Jnr – A second generation wrestler who made a name for himself as Germany’s premier technical wrestler. Twice he was a finalist in the wXw 16 Carat Gold Tournament but has yet to win a big singles tournament. Axel is looking forward to change that in November!

Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW)
Chosen representatives are –

Open-Weight Tournament
Joey Janela – “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela has been competing for 10 years looking for a big break, and CZW have given him that. This two time CZW Wired champion making his first UK appearance has developed a huge following all over the United States and looks to expand into Europe.

Dave Crist – A former CZW World Tag Team Champion and a CZW Wired TV Champion shows that Dave is no stranger to winning. With much to prove in singles competition could this be the stepping stone he need?

Cruiserweight Tournament
Desmond Xavier – First international tour for this young rookie who is sending shock waves through the global cruiserweight ranks. If you do not know who he is visit Youtube and check out what Desmond can do. While inexperience may hinder him, his talent will not.

Zachary Wentz – Another first timer on an international tour and as above Zachary is a very talented young man. Win or lose once all is said and done I think the CZW cruiserweight entries are both dark horses for the tournament as we have seen what they can do.

Beyond Wrestling
Chosen representatives are –

Open-Weight Tournament
Keith Lee – The first name Beyond Wrestling submitted for their tournament entry. They insist that Keith is the man to get the job done and will make a huge impact on his first trip to the UK. With a big win over Brian Cage and another over AR Fox in his recent outings we certainly agree he is a force to be reckoned with.

Chris Dickinson – A man who is no stranger to the Preston crowd and familiarity may help him when amongst some of the best heavyweight talent in the world. ‘The Dirty Daddy’ is a popular figure in the Beyond Wrestling ranks and will be giving it his all to go home a world champion.

Cruiserweight Tournament
AR Fox – A very well known name for all fans of independent wrestling. AR Fox is known for his speed, agility and risk taking. One of the competition favourites who I am sure will give us his all when making his first appearance in Preston since 2014.

Tracy Williams – Incredibly gifted mat worker, “Hot Sauce” seems poised to break out in a big way in the very near future. He has really impressed a lot in Beyond and his stock is only rising.

PCW
Chosen representatives are –

Open-Weight Tournament
Dave Mastiff – All in the UK recognise Mastiff as one of the best big men in the world but it is finally Mastiff’s time to put the world on notice and go on to win the World Championships.

Rampage Brown – The Road To Glory 2016 winner is already a tournament specialist. You also cannot ignore the fact he has been one half of the PCW Tag Team Champions for over three years.

Cruiserweight Tournament
Bubblegum – Another PCW tournament specialist after winning The Road To Glory tournament in 2015. A change in attitude for the current PCW Cruiserweight Champion has also seen a change in fortune with him picking up victory after victory. Is it finally Bubblegum’s time to shine on an international level?

Martin Kirby – One of the most experienced active full time talents in the UK. Works for all of the top companies in the UK and is one of the most consistent cruiserweight wrestlers in the world.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH RING OF HONOR
As always I believe in being honest with the fans. With Ring Of Honor booking a show in Liverpool on November 18th, the exact same day as PCW are running in Liverpool we do not feel this is something that should happen between promotions in partnership with each other. My frustrations have been documented in multiple emails to ROH management but they seem dismissive of my concerns and little options given to resolve. I do not feel I can justify and contribute what would be around $15,000 of PCW money towards flights and visas when the very talent I am helping bring over are running against me in the same town on the same night. I do also feel that this should have been made known to me before it was announced as previous mentions to me of ROH in the UK on the 18th were referenced as ‘shows around London’. My other concern is Liverpool is also just a 40min drive/train from Preston so would also have a negative effect on the draw of the following weekend (November 25th & 26th) events too and this has been reflected by poor ticket sales as of late.

UK talent are setting the world on fire right now in PWG, Evolve, WWE Cruiserweight Series plus other places. I do not see why they overlooked PCW talent such as Dave Mastiff, Bubblegum, El Ligero, Martin Kirby and Lionheart as ROH could have had the UK invasion before others even considered it. I know the PCW talent also have grown frustrated as many times I put them on standby when told by ROH that PCW talent is wanted to be used on shows and given intended dates but it never happened. I was so keen to help PCW talent make a name for themselves in the USA that I offered to pay 50% of their flights as I was so confident in the PCW roster’s ability to perform when given the chance.

The PCW Cruiserweight title situation was disappointing too as I was promised that Adam Cole would wear it on ROH branded shows (including TV) in the USA so was frustrating to see this not happen and does indicate how much PCW partnership is valued by ROH.

I had been promised that ROH will push the PCW/ROH dates of November 25th and 26th but still there was no mention of the shows on their social media or website. It’s clear they are going to favour their own shows but when I am told something I expect it as the money I was contributing towards travel is not something that PCW can afford to throw away.

The UK scene is the strongest it has been in decades right now and a partnership with a UK based wrestling promotion should be something to celebrate. I am very thankful to ROH for the past two years of events and it is just a shame a partnership that could be so much more never did reach its true potential. I have never asked for a penny from ROH towards my shows and have given them some very good exposure to the UK market so this really was a no lose scenario for the ROH brand. I have no hard feelings about how things with Ring Of Honor have gone and wish them the best of luck on their UK tour. I do personally apologise to the talent who have lost a weekend of work but when I did sense things taking a turn for the worse, I did not actually book any of the ROH roster for this November.

In closing there really is no bitterness, regret or resentment towards ROH or any staff member and we are thankful for the working relationship while it lasted. I really must make each decision for the good of PCW and that is why we must do our own thing going forwards for the reasons listed above. I do hope there is no resentment my way from this statement as I am only trying to be open and honest about the reason for the split and I owe that to the fans who have spent their hard earned money on tickets.

Tickets
We understand there will be a huge demand due to November 25th & 26th now being the Wrestling World Championships and we expect a rush for tickets. You can order tickets right now from the PCW website shop at – www.prestoncitywrestling.com. The prices will remain as advertised previously for one week only with it being just £50 for a full general admission weekend ticket. VIP packages remain the same price and include the same perks and we will be bringing in the same volume of talent for this event as we would do with the previous plan. We will also honour all loyalty offers we previously advertised. All customers who purchased tickets before 04/09/2016 and do not wish to be refunded as a goodwill gesture for your loyalty will receive a voucher of 50% of your ticket value that can be used on PCW merchandise or tickets for future shows. The vouchers will be given on arrival to the show on November 25th & 26th at the front desk.

Should you wish to get a refund then – Contact us before 22:00 on 14th September using the email PCWtickets@hotmail.com if you wish to claim a refund for the PCW/ROH show tickets that you pre purchased and send a copy of your paypal receipt. Remember if you do not email before 14th September your tickets and packages to be transferred automatically for tickets to the Wrestling World Championships.