Stephen Gauntley is the latest in the new generation of
British wrestling promoters. Already a successful businessman,
Stephen branched out into the promotion business with
the highly successful “A Cruel Twist of Fate”
show for his new 1PW company. I had the opportunity to
catch up with Stephen recently for this exclusive interview.
Julian Radbourne (JR): Stephen, thanks
for taking the time out of your schedule for this interview.
Let’s start with some background information, where
you’re from, that sort of thing. When did your interest
in the wrestling business begin, and who were your favourites
back then?
Stephen Gauntley (SG): Well the first
time I was ever exposed to wrestling was WWF in the late
80’s – WrestleMania V was the first event
I ever watched. I was totally hooked from the first time
I saw it. I was a very obsessive child, and I really studied
it. There were so many wrestlers that I really loved;
guys like Hulk Hogan, Ted Dibiase, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts,
Roddy Piper…that’s what I was raised on in
terms of what I could see. Like I said, I studied it,
I was a freak! I used to keep detailed match reports,
time the matches, that sort of thing.
JR: You made your first foray into the
wrestling business in 2003, with the opening of your 1
Up Games wrestling merchandise store. Could you take us
through the opening stages of this, from initial conception,
to where you are today.
SG: Yeah well it’s all been a very
wild ride that’s for sure. Myself and my long suffering
wife Rosie started the company whilst also working full
time. We started the company pretty much from nothing,
with a few thousand pounds, and worked really hard to
build it up. We really wanted to be in business for ourselves,
and not keep working for other people in jobs we hated.
We took a risk and quit our jobs, got some premises, and
worked insane 80 – 90 hour weeks for over a year
to get it going. I’m happy and proud to have done
it. We were lucky to get a wicked team on board, which
has grown very quickly, and 1 UP has become a relatively
successful retail company. Both myself and my wife are
very obsessive, and we just focused all our energies on
making this work.
As we built it up, and built the brand, we were able to
do some really cool things, like get the distribution
deal with ROH, followed by the deal with TNA.
Today we battle on. The company is successful, but like
any relatively new business, it requires a LOT of hard
work and perseverance, sometimes with little tangible
reward. I am really happy with where we have 1 UP positioned
right now, with it’s synergy to 1PW, and I think
the next year will see even more amazing events for us.
In January we will have the first ever UK Exclusive WWE
Jakks wrestling figure, when we bring out our own limited
edition William Regal figure. The future looks very good.
JR: You’ve just announced plans
to move to a larger premises in the new year, which includes
the opening of a larger store. Do you think that the opening
of the larger store will see a marked increase in sales,
and do you think there will come a time when you open
up stores in other parts of the country?
SG: I sincerely hope so! It doesn’t
need to do better business to pay, as the main reason
for the move it to have more office space, and other facilities
that are not related to our retail business.
JR: Earlier this year you took the bold
step and moved into the wrestling business proper, with
the formation of your own promotion, 1 Pro Wrestling.
Why did you decide to move into this aspect of the business?
SG: I really always wanted to. I can’t
remember a time since I first became interested in wrestling,
that I didn’t want to. In the last year as 1 UP
grew, I realized that it was actually pretty feasible
for me to run a show, as a business venture, and so after
much research, planning and considerations, made the date,
and just did it!
JR: While researching this interview,
I saw that unlike other up-start promotions in Britain,
and some more established ones, 1PW is definitely not
a one or two man show, and that you’ve have people
working in different areas. While you yourself are chairman
of the company, you have commercial managers, directors
of operations, etc. Why did you make such appointments,
while other new promoters are content to do most of the
work themselves?
SG: I actually have two companies that
demand my attention, 1 UP Games, and 1PW. Even with all
the help that we currently have, I still have an awful
lot to do. I’m not complaining, I love it, I’m
addicted to my work. I’m not dumb enough to think
I can run an operation the size of 1PW all by myself.
Just like I don’t run 1 UP by myself, I don’t
run 1PW by myself either. My wife is a big part of the
business. She’s the sensibility, if you can call
it that. I don’t have commercial managers, I have
one commercial manager ( Anthony Booth ) , I don’t
have directors of operations, I have one European director
of operations ( Rick Peters ). 1PW is set up like any
ordinary business would be, with different people doing
different roles. We have people like Rick Peters and Kingdom
James, who are really experienced within the wrestling
industry, as I’m not so egotistical to think I can
just make and run a wrestling promotion with no hands
on experience in that field.
JR: You suffered a blow early on when
Matt Hardy pulled out of your first show after he returned
to the WWE. Although you quickly replaced Hardy with A.J.
Styles, how annoyed were you when Hardy pulled out of
the show?
SG: Yes I was. I was really angry at
the time, as I felt I was lied to. I am actually now grateful
for the experience though, as it taught me some valuable
hard lessons about the wrestling industry, and how to
deal with problems as they arise. I was really happy with
how we dealt with it, and we were lucky enough to be able
to replace Matt with some really good performers. When
we lost Matt, we actually booked Tommy Dreamer, AJ Styles,
D-lo Brown and Jerry Lynn, in his place. I think the final
show was better then if Matt had have kept his booking,
and I have total peace with the situation now.
JR: Your first show, “A Cruel Twist
of Fate”, took place this past September, and featured
a veritable who’s who of American indy talent, such
as the aforementioned Styles, Abyss, Raven, the Sandman,
Steve Corino, and WWE trainer Al Snow, along with British
stars Doug Williams, Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm. Some
people in the business were somewhat critical of the fact
that you packed your show with overseas talent. Why was
this?
SG: First off let me say I know there
will always be people who disagree with me here. To those
people, I’m really sorry. This is our philosophy
with 1PW. If our fans wanted to see a show full of British
wrestlers, there are loads of other shows they could go
to. Our shows are different, as we want to give British
fans the chance to see a lot of talent they just wouldn’t
get the chance to see live. Plus, a big part of our strategy
is to market our shows back to the US. We have a DVD deal
in States, and we intend to produce shows that will sell
a lot of DVDs in the US, in addition to providing our
awesome fans ( and they are honestly awesome ) in the
UK with the kind of wrestling we want to produce.
JR: How did you feel in the days leading
up to the show, and did you ever think that the whole
thing could go wrong, given the fact that the majority
of your talent was flying in from overseas?
SG: I was nervous as hell. We had everything
riding on that show, and I mean everything.
I was nervous for a whole host of reasons, I’d say
the travel US imports were only one of them.
JR: The show earned some rave reviews
from those who attended, but the one criticism of the
show was that it ran a little too long, with the show
finishing around midnight. Is this something you will
be addressing in the future?
SG: Absolutely! Yes we have taken pointers,
and learnt some great lessons from A Cruel Twist of Fate.
We will present a much tighter experience in January.
We will do so many things different, and try to improve
in every area possible.
JR: Let’s move on to your upcoming
shows in January, the “No Turning Back” tour.
Originally you were scheduled to hold a show at the Blackpool
Winter Gardens on January 6th, but you had to move the
show to the Doncaster Dome. Why did you have to do this?
SG: There was a legal problem with the
venue. I wasn’t 100% sure we would be able to resolve
it, and I really didn’t want to get down the line,
and be say, six weeks before the show, and have to cancel
it. As much as I didn’t want to cancel an announced
show, it was something that had to be done. I’m
happy I made that decision now, as I think it was the
right thing to do.
JR: So you’re now holding both
of your shows at the Doncaster Dome on January 6th and
7th. Do you think that by holding both shows at the same
venue you’re actually decreasing the size of your
target audience?
SG: Yes probably. WE have actually sold
tickets for the January shows to people from France, Holland,
Germany and Belgium, as well as to people all over the
UK and Ireland. I guess right now our line up is so good,
and our product is that attractive to fans, that they
are willing to come to us. We do have plans to present
shows in different arenas then the Doncaster Dome, but
the Dome will always be considered as our “ home
“ arena.
JR: You’ve once again announced
a veritable who’s who for those two shows, including
Charlie Haas, Low-Ki, Samoa Joe, Masato Tanaka, Homicide
and Jeff Jarrett, some of whom will be competing in matches
in your World title tournament. You’ve certainly
pulled off some coups here, haven’t you?
SG: Yes I’m really happy with all
the talent we got in for the January shows. Its our philosophy
to not do things by halves. We are really serious about
1PW as a business. We treat our performers with respect
and work with them, and it creates a really good place
to come work. Guys want to come work here. We are really
happy with all the guys that are coming in to work , our
roster is fantastic!
JR: Which brings me to my next question
- this past week you announced that none other than former
WWF and WCW Champion Bret “Hitman” Hart will
be making an appearance in January. I’ve just got
to ask you, how did you manage to do something that not
even TNA and WWE have managed to do by getting the Hitman
on your show?
SG: We have been working things out with
Bret for over four months now. Rick Peters has put countless
hours hard work into the deal. Rick has very good ties
with Bret. I can see why not many other promoters manage
to book Bret, as Rick had to be really patient, and really
work so hard at getting it done. I can tell you that Bret
himself is very excited about it too. He is really looking
forward to meeting his UK fans, and to stepping into the
1PW ring to address his fans. I think signing Bret Hart
proves that 1PW means business with our product. I know
how passionate the 1PW fans were for our first show, and
I honestly cant wait for the reception Bret will get.
JR: Given the fact that you’re
mainly using overseas talent on your shows, do you think
there will ever come a time when you start to use more
and more British stars on the show?
SG: Absolutely. In the long term we want
to utilize more local talent. The product we are promoting
right now needs to feature mostly name value Americans
though. Like I said before, we market ourselves to the
US wrestling consumers too, in terms of DVD sales. I think
people who said we are bad for British wrestling cant
understand what we want to do. If you look at our debut
show, we featured Darren Burridge going over in our “
win a 1PW contract “ battle royal – and we
plan to feature him on upcoming shows. We featured Spud
in an angle with Abyss, and have huge plans for him in
2006. Although Iceman lost to Low Ki on the show, he left
to a huge standing ovation, and is another worker we have
big plans for. Not to mention Doug, Jonny & Jody all
emerging victorious over their American counterparts in
their respective matches. We would love to find some pretty
much un-known talent, and build them up gradually over
time as a 1PW Wrestler. Refer to this discussion in one
year, and two years from know, and take a look at what
we do with some British guys.
JR: With 1PW, The Wrestling Channel
and Alex Shane promoting “super-shows” using
mainly overseas talent this year, do you think that this
is the way forward for British wrestling?
SG: I cant speak fro anyone else, or
what does or doesn’t make money fro them. But for
1PW, we have our own business model, and we are very happy
with it. Of course competitors shows do factor into that
business model, they aren’t a major factor in it
for us. I know what kind of shows we want to put on, and
like I have said many times, we have a really specific
vision for those.
JR: What is your long-term goal as a
wrestling promoter? Would you like to promote monthly
shows, or try and get 1PW shows onto television?
SG: I don’t want to say. In my
grandest moments I have all kinds of monumental things
envisaged, and in my normal moments I take it one day
at a time. I feel totally blessed to be where I’m
at.
JR: As chairman of 1PW, do you think
there will come a time when you yourself will appear on
1PW shows as an authority figure character, as other promoters
have done recently?
SG: Not at all. I have no inclination
whatsoever to go out there. Our fans don’t pay their
money to come and see me, they come to see world class
athletes laying it on the line for their entertainment.
Our philosophy with 1PW would totally rule me out of ever
stepping out there, as I want our stage to be for the
performers. We want to cut the bullshit, and present wrestling
to wrestling fans. So yeah don’t worry, I’m
not going to book myself into being the first 1PW Champion..
I can probably be seen near the backstage area at our
shows.. I’m the tall guy looking stressed.
JR: Where do you see yourself in five-to-ten
years time?
SG: In ten years to be honest id like
to be retired, writing my book, and getting to spend time
with my beautiful wife, and family.
JR: Anything you’d like to plug
while we’re here?
SG: Yes – I do love a good plug
– thank you kindly! 1PW No Turning Back tickets
( for both Friday Jan 6th and Saturday Jan 7th ) are on
sale now, and available from the Doncaster Dome Box Office
on 0800 801 572, or via the 1PW Ticket Line on 0870 224
2992 , or available to purchase securely online via www.1upgames.co.uk
JR: Stephen, it’s been a pleasure
talking to you. The best of luck with your shows and your
store, and I hope to hear a lot more from 1PW in the future.
SG: Cheers mate!
***
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