Indie Pro Wrestling Company Cancels Event After Fraud Allegations

The pro wrestling business is full of controversies, and sadly, sometimes there aren’t very good businessmen around. There is some big trouble with UK pro wrestling promotion 1PW, and we have a lot to unpack here.

1PW had its initial launch in 2005, but they halted operations in 2011. After a comeback in 2022 with Steven Gauntley, its founder, being a part of the revival, the company is now the subject of some serious scrutiny.

The promotion had been promoting an event scheduled for October 28th, featuring wrestlers like Matt Cardona, Erick Redbeard, and James Storm. However, several wrestlers who were booked for the show have confirmed that the event has been canceled.

Announcer Joe Dombrowski has accused Gauntley of engaging in fraudulent and illegal activities. He provided evidence to support his claims, including Gauntley filing a termination of appointment document with the UK government on September 26th. He provided a string of posts on X, along with plenty of receipts in the form of screenshots.

If anybody isn’t aware, this post by Steven Gauntley a few weeks back on the 1PW acct was & is blatantly false. I speak for myself & several others. I hate putting my business out there but feel I have no choice. Here’s a thread of what I learned this week about Steven Gauntley.

Steven Gauntley had a secret bank account he used to embezzle 1PW income without his business partners knowing.

From the time it was meant to be closed (April) onward, over 5,000 GBP were transferred from there directly to his personal bank account. 1PW never saw it come in.

Please help spread the word to any fans or staff or talent you may know that aren’t aware.

There is literally no one running this company according to the UK government. If anyone is still owed money & needs contact info to attempt to get it from the source, please contact me.

Steven Gauntley misrepresented the company’s value, by claiming things he or the company didn’t even own (such as camera equipment, the ring, all of which are rented) as assets. In other words, fraud. This arrangement didn’t last. But he had another plan to raise funds.

Steven Gauntley kept booking & announcing talent for Oct & Dec in spite of multiple talents still needing paid for June & some even earlier. He claimed to me NONE required deposits for Oct, but turns out he was offering several. When I confronted him on this, the story changed.

Steven Gauntley continued to offer cheap vapid excuses to stall for time. Day after day, everything from “figuring out PayPal” to “vacation to Bulgaria”. Finally he told me he was leaving 1PW. Not because of fraud, embezzlement or debt… but because he fell down the stairs.

Ultimately, once Steven Gauntley realized how close to all of this information I was, he did what he knows to do… he ran. I was able to join a growing list of “friend” and “associates” who can now see this view anytime they want.

Please help spread the word to any fans or staff or talent you may know that aren’t aware. There is literally no one running this company according to the UK government. If anyone is still owed money & needs contact info to attempt to get it from the source, please contact me.

The 1PW social media account is no longer active, and ticket sales for the October 28th event have been temporarily halted by the venue. A spokesperson from the venue stated, “We are investigating the issues raised concerning the 1PW event, so we have decided to suspend ticket sales for the time being. We will provide an update to customers once we have more information.”

We will have to keep an eye on this story, because there could be some serious harm done in the end. We can only hope that everyone involved is able to protect themselves, and some kind of resolution can be found.

Keep checking back with us here at Ringside News for more on this story, and so many more. You never know what can happen next, but we can’t wait to bring you the headlines.

What’s your take on this new controversy? Sound off in the comments to let us know what you think!