Indy Promoter Responds To Kevin Nash And Sean Waltman, Sends Us Proof Of Payment

As noted earlier, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman ripped Top Rope Wrestling in Virginia after working a show for them last night. Chris Graham of Top Rope Promotions sent me the following message this afternoon, and also passed along an image of the cashed check to Nash, as well as an email that Waltman sent about working the show:

There was no "scam," and such an allegation, in a legal sense, is defamatory. Mr. Nash was paid $4,000 for his appearance, by check, mailed to him on Monday, April 8, funds cleared by the bank on Friday, April 12. Mr. Waltman was paid $1,200, in cash, the night of the show. He did not have to complain to get his payment. In fact, neither Nash nor Waltman complained to anybody in Top Rope management about pay the night of the show. They both checked in to the hotel that we had booked for them after the show, and we only became aware of their complaints regarding pay when we saw the tweets from the two this morning.

Both had travel and accommodations paid for by the promotion as well, as is standard. There was no agreement in place with talent to disburse any of those revenues to talent. For Mr. Nash and Mr. Waltman to suggest otherwise is untrue, and we feel is clearly intended to do harm to the reputation of Top Rope Pro Wrestling, not only in the sense of the allegations regarding pay and the "scam" comment, but also in the adjectives used by Mr. Nash calling one of our staffers a "scumbag" and "hick," and as such constitutes actionable defamation on the part of Mr. Nash and Mr. Waltman.

Similar arrangements regarding the VIP Meet and Greet were in place with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson and Mick Foley. Jake "The Snake" Roberts also did a VIP Meet and Greet, and we agreed with him ahead of time to give him half of the proceeds of that meet and greet to go toward his medical bills. Jake was paid $1,000 from the VIP ticket sales per our agreement.

It is telling that Mr. Waltman has taken down eight of the nine tweets related to the show, including the most inflammatory ones, about not getting paid and about "scams." Perhaps he was given legal advice as to what constitutes slander and defamation and came to the realization that he had crossed the line and exposed himself to legal action.

We are considering all options to correct for the slanderous and defamatory statements made by Mr. Nash and Mr. Waltman and the damage to our reputation that has been done with these materially false messages being sent out to their hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and the additional coverage that has been given to their messages on various wrestling news websites.

We will also be in contact with the state commission that regulates pro wrestling in Virginia regarding the wrestling licenses of Mr. Nash and Mr. Waltman. It is our hope that we can prevent other promoters in Virginia, at the least, from being exposed to this kind of malicious treatment from these two performers in the future.

Graham also passed along the following email that Waltman sent to him last week in regards to working the show:

I'm making the show in spite of the fact my Dr. has forbid me to wrestle. I feel strongly about showing up to shows I'm advertised on. I hope you understand I will not be able to do very much in the ring. As much as giving the fans their money's worth means to me, nothing is worth wearing a colostomy bag for the rest of my life. i will do my best under the circumstances & will try to make up for my lack of in ring ability during the meet n greet or whatever we are doing to meet the people. Looking forward to seeing you. Absolutely dreading getting on an airplane. I hope the people appreciate the situation & again I will do my best under the circumstances. Looking forward to seeing all the great people that come to your shows. Kevin pick up my slack buddy system style. that's how we do it.