Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the entire wrestling world plans to descend onto Tampa, Florida this coming April for WrestleMania week. One wrestler who will no longer join the festivities is The Great Muta, who was initially booked for a match at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 4 and an autograph signing at Wrestlecon. GCW posted last night that he is off the show due to a dispute between the company and Sonny Onoo, a wrestling agent who claims to represent Muta for WrestleMania weekend.
An update regarding The Great Muta appearing at Joey Janela's Spring Break 4… pic.twitter.com/Jlr9V7GPuq
— GameChangerWrestling (@GCWrestling_) March 2, 2020
Onoo himself replied to several fans talking about the announcement, giving his side of the story. According to Sonny, GCW failed to pay him as requested or book air travel for the week, which led to the dissolution of their agreement.
I have booked Muta for Starrcast / AEW for Conrad Thompson. and for @RealTracyMurray at wrestlecade ! In order to protect the talent: The policy is alway the same for all the talent I represent. 50% deposit before any advertising and balance 50% up on arrival to the location.
— Sonny.Onoo-selfieguy (@SonnyOnoo) March 2, 2020
…….of the event Hotel. Confirm Air flight reservation. No air reservation was ever booked or deposit was sent by this promotion.
— Sonny.Onoo-selfieguy (@SonnyOnoo) March 2, 2020
GCW’s full statement concerning the incident has been reproduced below:
In October of 2019, we initiated the process of booking The Great muta for Spring Break 4. In doing so, we went through our normal intermediary, the same intermediary who successfully helped us book every single Japanese wrestling legend that you have seen on GCW events for the last 3 years. In those 3 years, we have had outstanding experiences with each and every talent, and have been thanked for our professionalism and attention to detail in ensuring that all of our obligations were met, and exceeded.
In early November, we reached 2 separate deals for The Great Muta to appear at JJSB4. The first, a deal for Muta to sign and wrestle at Spring Break, and then later, a more comprehensive and more lucrative deal for Muta to appear at Spring Break, and also at WrestleCon as a guest of Game Changer Wrestling. Messages were sent back and forth, a deal was reached, and we were given approval by Muta’s camp to announce him as appearing at JJSB4 and as a guest at WrestleCon.
On December 23rs, we were contacted by Sonny Onoo. For those who aren’t aware, Sonny is the self-proclaimed agent of many Japanese wrestlers, and carries with him a questionable track record which has led to no fewer than 3 well-known indie promoters whom we have worked with to vow never to work with him, or ANY of his clients again. All 3 of these promoters are more than willing to share their experience with Sonny if needed.
Sonny informed us that he had spoken to “Mrs. Muta”, and that he would be handling all matters regarding this booking going forward. Of course, this was baffling to us, because we had already reached a comprehensive (and profitable) deal for Muta that would cover all his needs and send him home with a healthy payday.
Sonny also informed us that he would be “looking for more work for Muta” on WrestleMania weekend. We told him we were open to the idea, and to get back to us if he found any other offers. Shortly thereafter, Sonny informed us that he had found a vendor that made a good offer to bring Muta in to WrestleCon, and as such, Muta would only take our original agreed upon offer to appear at Spring Break.
We told Sonny that we were OK with that, but that we would expect any other promoter/vendor who worked with Muta on Mania weekend to share in travel and lodging expenses. Despite this being common practice (especially with International talent on Mania weekend), Sonny acted shocked, said that we should assume his full travel and hotel expenses, and accused us of “preventing Muta from getting work”. This of course was further baffling, because not only is it standard for promoters to share expenses, but we had already reached a deal to bring muta to WrestleCon. We told Sonny that we were not happy with this development, and that we would get back to him.
In the ensuing days, we made several calls and pieced everything together, and learned what we had suspected from the beginning. The “mystery vendor” was Sonny Onoo himself, and his goal was to make GCW pay Muta to appear as Sonny’s guest at WrestleCon, where he would rake in the profits at our expense. We called Sonny and told him that we knew he was the vendor, and after some mild backtracking, he admitted that our suspicions were correct.
Since then, we have made countless attempts to reach a fair deal to being Muta to GCW, but it appears that Sonny stopped relaying out messages to Muta long ago (if he even relayed them at all.) All of our offers have been at fair market value and then some (based on Muta’s arrangements in the USA over the last 12 months), and we have continued to act in good faith despite Sonny’s questionable tactics. We have been urged for weeks to come forward with our experience, but our #1 priority has been to deliver on what was promised (and agreed upon) for the GCW fans.
Unfortunately, at this time it does not appear that The Great Muta will appear at Joey Janela’s Spring Break. Our offer still stands, and if Sonny Onoo changes his mind, we are still willing to work with him to see this through to the finish line.
In the meantime, we will work hard to find a replacement that meets the expectations of the GCW fans, and the spectacle that is Joey Janela’s Spring Break.
Thank you for your understanding, and your continued support.
Game Changer Wrestling
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