Trials and Tribunals of a Wrestling Promoter; Adam Cahill

This is basically going to be a booker (look at it as more of a diary/record keeper) for wrestling promoter Adam Cahill. It's an idea I've toyed around with for a while and my main inspiration comes from a guy called Nash on another site who does a diary-like booker but with a wrestler not a promoter. Please leave your thoughts on the background, predictions about what's coming and basically whether you like the idea or not!

Adam Cahill is a professional wrestling promoter and booker from Ireland. Having numerous successes with wrestling promotions in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cahill quickly gained a reputation in the wrestling world as he managed to get Irish Whip Wrestling onto national television (broadcasted on Setanta Sports Ireland). Although it was only a twelve week trial period and IWW wasn't signed to a further contract with Setanta this was seen as a roaring success.

Cahill moved into mainland Europe and took over as head booker of German Stampede Wrestling. Despite langauge barriers Cahill was deemed a great hit, particularly gaining compliments from the wrestling roster citing that they'd love to work with him. His time with GSW came to an abrupt end following a controversial angle involving the GSW World Heavyweight Champion Emil Sitoci and American independent star Sami Callihan that took place in October of 2010.

The main event of the GSW Event that Callihan was booked for seen Emil Sitoci defend his championship against Callihan in front of in what to date was one of the biggest crowds in European wrestling history. After Callihan was disqualified for breaking a kendo stick over the head of Sitoci he contiuned to beat Sitoci down with a variety of weapons. This beating cumilated in Callihan tying Sitoci by the feet and hanging him by his feet from a raised platform. Callihan then to the shock of the German crowd produced a Nazi-flag on a pole and began waving it in front of Sitoci before battering Sitoci with the pole. Callihan then pefromed the infamous 'Hail Hitler' salute sparking riots in the crowd as security rushed to guide Callihan to safety. Cahill admitted to booking the angle and was abruptly fired from his position as head booker. Callihan maintains that he was lucky to get out of that arena alive and although apologizing, he was never booked for a wrestling promotion again.

Although Cahill's reputation was soiled he travelled to America where he eventually found a job in November 2011 as head promoter for Jersey All Pro Wrestling. At their event November to Remember Brodie Lee, the current JAPW Heavyweight Champion, hit the ring and in front of a capacity 1000 fans in the Rahway Rec Center issued an open challenge to any independent wrestler for a non-title match. After over a year hiatus Sami Callihan emerged. The JAPW fans nearly blew the roof off the place and the pop made by Callihan's emergence was only bested when he pinned Brodie Lee to emerge victorious.

The Brodie Lee and Sami Callihan match was very short and it seemed that the two men were stiffing a lot of their strikes and calling moves in the ring. When asked about it later, Brodie Lee stated that he didn't know that Callihan was going to show up. He stated that Adam Cahill just told him to go out and cut a promo issuing an open challenge, get the heat and leave. Brodie Lee's complaints and the JAPW's Board of Director's unhappiness with Sami Callihan being associated with their company seeen Adam Cahill fired with nearly immediate effect.

At the next JAPW event the Rahway Rec Center was packed to the brim and their was a large crowd gathered outside. Chants of "We want Sami!" and "We paid for Callihan" were heard all through the event and during the main event of Brodie Lee and Dan Maff there was arena-wide chants of "Fuck you Brodie!" and "Maff's not Sami!". Jeff Shapiro, the owner of JAPW, came out following the main event and stated that Sami Callihan was not under a contract or any type of agreement with JAPW and confirmed that Adam Cahill had been relinquished from his position as head booker. He then thanked the crowd for coming and hyped their next event in January. This was met with chants of "We won't be back! We won't be back!". The next event had a dismally low attendance of 108 people.

There was a lot of hype around where Sami Callihan would go next with the big three (RoH, Chikara and PWG) vying for him to work with them. Callihan attracted fans big time and the belief that he was going to show up in one of these promotions spiked record attendances for the three promotions during the month of January. In February 2012, Callihan made an appearnace at Chikara's X. However, he was there purely as a fan and was wearing a tee-shirt sporting the slogan "I'm a Cahill guy.". Callihan was heavily expected to show up to Ring of Honor's 10th Anniversary Show but shocked people when he didn't. He turned up again as a viewer to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's DDT4 2012 event in late April. People were expecting him to tag with Roderick Strong in the tournament but Callihan merely viewed the event and was again clad in the "I'm a Cahill guy." tee-shirt. It became apparant that Sami was going where Adam Cahill was and everyone expected Sami to show up in RoH, possibly with Cahill as his manager. Jim Cornette quickly quashed these rumours however stating that he would NEVER employ Adam Cahill and called him a 'cancer' to the business.

The real news broke in the last week of April when it was revealed Adam Cahill was setting up his own independent promotion named Wrestling One in the Chicago area. Cahill admitted he was about to set up his own company and said he was hoping to have the first event in late May. Until then he was busy acquiring a roster of sorts and he said he hoped to attract some of the biggest names on the independent wrestling scene. When asked about Sami Callihan Cahill said that he hadn't been in touch and at the moment isn't involved with Wrestling One.

This is where our story begins ...

What do people think? Also, Wrestling One information will go here,

Looks cool. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is very intriguing, and one can only assume that that is what a lot of the story will be based on. The rest of the potential roster is promising too. I like the prologue and the inclusion of various promotion, events to get people caught up and get an idea of the type of booker you are, etc.

PWG being included as one of the big 3 in place of, let's say, DGUSA/EVOLVE is kinda weird, since they aren't really as serious as ROH, CHIKARA, etc. about making wrestling a business - Excalibur has gone on record, speaking for Super Dragon as well, and said that the reason PWG doesn't do iPPVs or anything of that sort and never goes out of Cali' except for European Vacation was that they do shows for fun. Your figures are exaggerated too. 100 people for a wrestling show, unless it's ROH really, is decent for a show, and pays all expenses with money to spare usually. 1000 people for a JAPW show is really exaggerated - those are numbers usually reserved for ROH or a smaller Japanese promotion. If you're gonna go through with this, you're gonna have to check your figures and info for realism.

Future Surge wrote:

Looks cool. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is very intriguing, and one can only assume that that is what a lot of the story will be based on. The rest of the potential roster is promising too. I like the prologue and the inclusion of various promotion, events to get people caught up and get an idea of the type of booker you are, etc.

PWG being included as one of the big 3 in place of, let's say, DGUSA/EVOLVE is kinda weird, since they aren't really as serious as ROH, CHIKARA, etc. about making wrestling a business - Excalibur has gone on record, speaking for Super Dragon as well, and said that the reason PWG doesn't do iPPVs or anything of that sort and never goes out of Cali' except for European Vacation was that they do shows for fun. Your figures are exaggerated too. 100 people for a wrestling show, unless it's ROH really, is decent for a show, and pays all expenses with money to spare usually. 1000 people for a JAPW show is really exaggerated - those are numbers usually reserved for ROH or a smaller Japanese promotion. If you're gonna go through with this, you're gonna have to check your figures and info for realism.

Shit no problem, I just noticed that JAPW does it's shows in the Rahway Rec Center and capacity is 1000 didn't take it into account that JAPW is only a small indy. Shit thanks for that man, I'll probably badger you on MSN for things like that.

Callihan/Cahill does have a huge part to play in the story act with some major twists and unexpectedness. Thanks for posting man, means a lot coming from you.

Adam wrote:

Future Surge wrote:

Looks cool. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is very intriguing, and one can only assume that that is what a lot of the story will be based on. The rest of the potential roster is promising too. I like the prologue and the inclusion of various promotion, events to get people caught up and get an idea of the type of booker you are, etc.

PWG being included as one of the big 3 in place of, let's say, DGUSA/EVOLVE is kinda weird, since they aren't really as serious as ROH, CHIKARA, etc. about making wrestling a business - Excalibur has gone on record, speaking for Super Dragon as well, and said that the reason PWG doesn't do iPPVs or anything of that sort and never goes out of Cali' except for European Vacation was that they do shows for fun. Your figures are exaggerated too. 100 people for a wrestling show, unless it's ROH really, is decent for a show, and pays all expenses with money to spare usually. 1000 people for a JAPW show is really exaggerated - those are numbers usually reserved for ROH or a smaller Japanese promotion. If you're gonna go through with this, you're gonna have to check your figures and info for realism.

Shit no problem, I just noticed that JAPW does it's shows in the Rahway Rec Center and capacity is 1000 didn't take it into account that JAPW is only a small indy. Shit thanks for that man, I'll probably badger you on MSN for things like that.

Callihan/Cahill does have a huge part to play in the story act with some major twists and unexpectedness. Thanks for posting man, means a lot coming from you.

Ask me anything, man - wages, attendance, booking, etc. Happy to help.

It's look really interesting and I'm excited to see where you go with this, Sami Callihan is one of my two favourite indy wrestlers so if you get Johnny Gargano involved too I'd be completely sold haha.

I'm interested to see how you're going to handle the shows as from what I've gathered this going to be more focused on the booker himself not the shows, review form would be my guess. Good luck with this and I hope you follow through!

Jericho wrote:

It's look really interesting and I'm excited to see where you go with this, Sami Callihan is one of my two favourite indy wrestlers so if you get Johnny Gargano involved too I'd be completely sold haha.

I'm interested to see how you're going to handle the shows as from what I've gathered this going to be more focused on the booker himself not the shows, review form would be my guess. Good luck with this and I hope you follow through!

You'd be correct in that assumption. It will be more focused on Cahill than the actual W1 shows but they do kind of go hand in hand.

Adam, when you need antyhing about German Wrestling... i'm your Men!

It's small, but it's informative. Def' adds hype to the project. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is quite intriguing as well.

However, I have to criticize you on your realism again. Homicide isn't under an ROH contract; so a booker would have to talk to UWF instead most likely (his contract with UWF even kept him out of regular ROH appearances). As for the PWG guys, Ricochet would be a DGUSA arrangement (besides Wrestlereunion which was a PWG/DGUSA co-operation, he didn't work for them since May of 2011), and Mack and Avalon would most likely be a NWA arrangement if any at all, since they work all around Cali' and beyond. Really, your use of PWG as one of the top indy companies in the States is misappropriated. ROH, DGUSA/EVOLVE, CHIKARA, etc., are monopolized, business-minded promotions that are looking to expand, while PWG just does it for fun and is happy with its place. So, yea, do your research.

Good work Adam.
I look forward to see what you've got instore!

Marik,
What would you say about El Generico? Would he be under PWG, ROH?

Future Surge wrote:

It's small, but it's informative. Def' adds hype to the project. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is quite intriguing as well.

However, I have to criticize you on your realism again. Homicide isn't under an ROH contract; so a booker would have to talk to UWF instead most likely (his contract with UWF even kept him out of regular ROH appearances). As for the PWG guys, Ricochet would be a DGUSA arrangement (besides Wrestlereunion which was a PWG/DGUSA co-operation, he didn't work for them since May of 2011), and Mack and Avalon would most likely be a NWA arrangement if any at all, since they work all around Cali' and beyond. Really, your use of PWG as one of the top indy companies in the States is misappropriated. ROH, DGUSA/EVOLVE, CHIKARA, etc., are monopolized, business-minded promotions that are looking to expand, while PWG just does it for fun and is happy with its place. So, yea, do your research.

This PWG stuff is irking me, would I be wrong to be going to wikipedia? That's where I got all my info on rosters and stuff. I presumed Homicide was under contract due to his listing on the roster. If Homicide has nothing to do with RoH it really fucks up my next installment, so clarity on that would be really helpful. I've got a way to skirt around it though and still kind of get across the point of the next installment. Is there any sites or anything you can point me to so I can gain knowledge in regards to major indie stuff?

Adam wrote:

Future Surge wrote:

It's small, but it's informative. Def' adds hype to the project. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is quite intriguing as well.

However, I have to criticize you on your realism again. Homicide isn't under an ROH contract; so a booker would have to talk to UWF instead most likely (his contract with UWF even kept him out of regular ROH appearances). As for the PWG guys, Ricochet would be a DGUSA arrangement (besides Wrestlereunion which was a PWG/DGUSA co-operation, he didn't work for them since May of 2011), and Mack and Avalon would most likely be a NWA arrangement if any at all, since they work all around Cali' and beyond. Really, your use of PWG as one of the top indy companies in the States is misappropriated. ROH, DGUSA/EVOLVE, CHIKARA, etc., are monopolized, business-minded promotions that are looking to expand, while PWG just does it for fun and is happy with its place. So, yea, do your research.

This PWG stuff is irking me, would I be wrong to be going to wikipedia? That's where I got all my info on rosters and stuff. I presumed Homicide was under contract due to his listing on the roster. If Homicide has nothing to do with RoH it really fucks up my next installment, so clarity on that would be really helpful. I've got a way to skirt around it though and still kind of get across the point of the next installment. Is there any sites or anything you can point me to so I can gain knowledge in regards to major indie stuff?

You wouldn't be wrong with Wiki, you just seem to be relying on it too much. As for sites, I wouldn't trust dirt sheets or whatever either. Gotta be careful where you get info from, dude - a lot of these reporters, self-professed "smarks", etc. are really some of the biggest marks and idiots of all.

Homicide is a tricky one, since his UWF contract is exclusive. It prohibits him working TV and regular PPVs, but he can obviously wrestle for whoever outside of those requirements. He's got stuff to do with ROH, just not as much as he used to, or you'd like to think, either. I think I know where you're going with the Homicide situation, though, and without spoiling anything, Cornette can still get involved.

As always, you can run stuff by me.

SP wrote:

Good work Adam.
I look forward to see what you've got instore!

Marik,
What would you say about El Generico? Would he be under PWG, ROH?

No one, besides Super Dragon, would be exclusive to PWG. And not ROH, either. The guy tours a lot, and as you can see, he hasn't had a lot of ROH dates lately, but I've seen him in CHIKARA a lot more now, and he's wrestling for Gabe too, along with his constant world tours. Dude's the embodiment of what being a free agent is.

On a side note, ROH is really the only "indy" (if you can call them that) company that has the luxury of employing contracts. CHIKARA is somewhat similar, but without actual contracts, just Quackenbush and his bat with a nail in it.

Future Surge wrote:

Adam wrote:

Future Surge wrote:

It's small, but it's informative. Def' adds hype to the project. The whole Callihan/Cahill relationship is quite intriguing as well.

However, I have to criticize you on your realism again. Homicide isn't under an ROH contract; so a booker would have to talk to UWF instead most likely (his contract with UWF even kept him out of regular ROH appearances). As for the PWG guys, Ricochet would be a DGUSA arrangement (besides Wrestlereunion which was a PWG/DGUSA co-operation, he didn't work for them since May of 2011), and Mack and Avalon would most likely be a NWA arrangement if any at all, since they work all around Cali' and beyond. Really, your use of PWG as one of the top indy companies in the States is misappropriated. ROH, DGUSA/EVOLVE, CHIKARA, etc., are monopolized, business-minded promotions that are looking to expand, while PWG just does it for fun and is happy with its place. So, yea, do your research.

This PWG stuff is irking me, would I be wrong to be going to wikipedia? That's where I got all my info on rosters and stuff. I presumed Homicide was under contract due to his listing on the roster. If Homicide has nothing to do with RoH it really fucks up my next installment, so clarity on that would be really helpful. I've got a way to skirt around it though and still kind of get across the point of the next installment. Is there any sites or anything you can point me to so I can gain knowledge in regards to major indie stuff?

You wouldn't be wrong with Wiki, you just seem to be relying on it too much. As for sites, I wouldn't trust dirt sheets or whatever either. Gotta be careful where you get info from, dude - a lot of these reporters, self-professed "smarks", etc. are really some of the biggest marks and idiots of all.

Homicide is a tricky one, since his UWF contract is exclusive. It prohibits him working TV and regular PPVs, but he can obviously wrestle for whoever outside of those requirements. He's got stuff to do with ROH, just not as much as he used to, or you'd like to think, either. I think I know where you're going with the Homicide situation, though, and without spoiling anything, Cornette can still get involved.

As always, you can run stuff by me.

SP wrote:

Good work Adam.
I look forward to see what you've got instore!

Marik,
What would you say about El Generico? Would he be under PWG, ROH?

No one, besides Super Dragon, would be exclusive to PWG. And not ROH, either. The guy tours a lot, and as you can see, he hasn't had a lot of ROH dates lately, but I've seen him in CHIKARA a lot more now, and he's wrestling for Gabe too, along with his constant world tours. Dude's the embodiment of what being a free agent is.

On a side note, ROH is really the only "indy" (if you can call them that) company that has the luxury of employing contracts. CHIKARA is somewhat similar, but without actual contracts, just Quackenbush and his bat with a nail in it.

Thanks man, I'm gunna catch you on MSN over the weekend and probably run a shit ton by you, so be prepared haha! Thanks for the feedback.

Also SP, thanks for your comments

I liked the first update, nothing special, like you stated, but it gets across the importance of Sami Callihan in this whole saga. I'm interested to see where it goes next!