Pat Roach has made a statement to FWA management regarding British Uprising 2 today. The bullet points of his statement were:
“I apologise to the FWA fans for my tardiness in giving some my thoughts on the FWA supercard that took place on October 18th at Bethnal Green. The reason was simple, Alex Shane, the self-proclaimed Showstealer, was late in sending me a VHS of the show (something I usually receive from him within a couple of days of an event). Shane decided to go a bit AWOL in the days after Uprising 2, switching off his mobile and not being available for the usual post-event chat we have. Shane has not made any statement to me or to any FWA official about his heinous actions at Uprising. I know he was somewhat disgruntled from having missed out on being on the show but even I can tell this can’t be the only reason why Shane would turn his back on the FWA fans, FWA management and more importantly his friends within the company such as Ulf Herman. If no such statement is forthcoming from the Showstealer, than I would expect one to be made direct to the fans at the next FWA event, tentatively scheduled for December.
“Incidently, Ulf Herman received a fracture to his elbow as a result of Shane’s attack with the chair at Bethnal Green. This was not disagnosed properly until Herman returned home to Germany. His arm will be in a hard cast from anywhere between two to four months.
“I have a full and frank assurance from Stevie Knight that he is not the person who has put a bounty on Nikita. Knight claimed to me in a phonecall he made to me two days after the event that as much as he dislikes Nikita he is not in a position to offer such a reward. My investigation will continue into the matter.
“Contrary to some fans thoughts, it was not part of the schedule for Zebra Kid not to be part of the Uprising 2 action. He had a genuine travel problem which prevented him from getting to London. With regards to what happened, and after speaking with Elisar Cabrera, my thoughts are as follows. Flash Barker turned up to wrestle. Hade Vansen tried his luck and demanded a match. In wanting to keep the fans happy Elisar offered Hade Vansen a match with Flash Barker. Vansen added a condition, he would wrestle only if the All-England title was put on the line. Elisar, without authority and consultation with any other FWA official (and the Assistant Directors I believe were backstage), granted the condition in a belief that the fans should not be deprived of the All-England title match due to Zebra Kid’s travel problems. I should point out that there has been precedent in the past for such actions (Justin Richards being stripped of the FWA title for a no-show in 2001 springs to mind). Flash Barker was injured early on in the match. His knee has been bothering him of late and he bravely carried on even though it was obvious he was in pain. Hade Vansen capitalised on the situation and won the match. Barker in the meantime has been recommended surgery for his knee which could take him out of the FWA from anywhere between four to six months. So now we have a situation where a person who is not a member of the FWA roster (Vansen) being the title holder of belt still in the possession of the Zebra Kid. I have not yet made a decision on this situation.
“There are other matters about the show to be discussed but until I have spoken to every member of the FWA board in full, I will keep these thoughts to myself for the time being.”