Extreme Rising cancels all upcoming shows

Just days before scheduled events in the former ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, the Extreme Rising promotion has cancelled all upcoming events – Friday, April 25’s “Springtime Beatdown” (which was originally scheduled for March 1), Saturday, April 26’s “Anniversary Event/Fan Apperciation Night” and Saturday, May 3’s “Black, Gold and Extreme” event in Pittsburgh, PA. Little information is available on the Extreme Rising website – other than the fact that fans are being told to contact their credit card company or banks to receive refunds.

While I don’t claim to have the whole story, the Extreme Rising promotion has apparently been on rocky ground for some time now.

This isn’t the first time several Extreme Rising shows have been cancelled, though. During the harsh winter Pennsylvania experienced, at least one show was cancelled because of weather, though another show (according to examiner.com) was cancelled because the building the promotion had leased for the show couldn’t be cleared by building inspectors in time. A TV series produced at Extreme Rising shows was also allegedly in the works, slated to air in January 2014 – though the month came and went with no new information about said series.

Following the several Extreme Rising cancellations, the promotion’s champion Stevie Richards defended his title against Luke Hawx in the ECWA promotion. Richards allegedly dropped the title to Hawx at the show – only to have Steve O’Neill, the owner of Extreme Rising, claim that the title match wasn’t sanctioned and therefore Stevie Richards was still the company’s champion. As of this writing, Hawx is still apparently in possession of the title belt.

Since the cancellations and apparent unauthorized title change, Hawx has been at odds with O’Neill on social networking sites, bashing the promoter and company and stating that fans will be able to catch him at other upcoming shows in the region. O’Neill also allegedly lashed out at fans over social networking, though those comments have since been deleted.

This entire situation seems like a mess through and through and mostly the fans come out of it the losers. The Extreme Rising promotion was an interesting idea but it seemed to fall flat in execution time and time again. Cancelled shows and a public spat with Shane Douglas, who helped get the promotion off the ground, have brought the promotion’s momentum to a screeching halt. While it doesn’t appear that Extreme Rising is shut down entirely, all future events have been effectively shuttered. It’s also worrisome that the promotion is telling fans to seek refunds from their credit card companies or banks rather than being refunded by the promotion. Because if Extreme Rising is planning on continuing after this debacle, they sure are making it hard for anyone to want to continue supporting their product.

As of this writing, the Masked Mania event planned for Sunday, April 27 in the former ECW Arena is still happening.