Last weekend, New Dawn Wrestling held one of the most botched wrestling shows you’ll ever hear about. Advertised as a tribute to the late Macho Man Randy Savage, the event was organized by Dino Puglia and slated to feature appearances by familiar stars such as The Honky Tonk Man and the Genius Lanny Poffo, Savage’s brother. As you can see in the poster to the right, proceeds were even to be donated to All Children’s Hospital. Sounds great, right?
Unfortunately, none of this happened.
Instead, Puglia wasn’t able to pay the workers who appeared at the event, or even the band that played beforehand. Half of the advertised talent, including both of the aforementioned WWE alumni, were not part of the show. According to them, they never agreed to appear to begin with, and had been falsely advertised from the get-go. No money was donated to charity, nor did the charity in question ever give the promotion consent to use their name for any kind of fundraiser.
The promoter made a hasty exit from the arena before the event even wrapped up, citing a “cardiac emergency” as the reason for his swift departure. The event was said to have drawn about 150 people, all of whom paid either $5 or $10 for admission, and while that doesn’t add up to a great sum, one would think at least some of the talent would be paid. Big Vito, who was scheduled for the event, has referred to Puglia’s folly as a “blemish” and his promotion as a “rinky dink operation.” Puglia has since deleted Vito from his Facebook friends, as if this will prevent his voice from being heard.
The most ridiculous tidbit from all of this: “There was no sound system, no bell to ring. In honor of the Macho Man, Puglia held marginally observed moments of silence, repeating “ding” into the microphone.”
Ding. Into the microphone. Really wish I could have been there for that. Below is a profanity laced phone call between the Honky Tonk man and the promoter behind this train wreck, Dino Puglia, in which HTM calls him out for fraud and false advertising.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR8nzrVA9co]
