Steve Corino, who handles the booking of American talent for the promotion, issued the following statement in regard to ZERO-ONE’s recent issues:
To all Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE fans worldwide,
Over the last few days there have been many stories about the status and future of Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE. With the offical opening of www.ZEROONEUSA.com coming today we thought that we would set the record straight about what is going on. These are the facts that have been emailed to me from Yoshiyuki Nakamura and if there are any changes or devolpments we will update the site.
1. The Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE Fighting Athletes Company is dead. That is true. Shinya Hashimoto, the President of the ZERO-ONE Company, has decided to stop operations officially as of November 30, 2004. Hashimoto, who was the founder and owner of ZERO-ONE since the start of the company in 2001, told the press that due to financial problems he has decided to step away from the company. Reports have him returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling after his surgery and we wish him the best of luck in his future.
2. Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE the brand name is no where near dead. Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE will continue without any delays, stoppage or cancellations. The new parent company name is First On Stage. The brand name will not be changed. All of the fighters and staff agree that the Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE name was made up of the fighters and staff that dedicated their lives to this company and there was no reason to change the name because of Mr. Hashimoto’s departure.
3. The “Fighting Athletes” name that was attached to the ZERO-ONE brand name will not be retained though.
4. First On Stage now own all the assets of Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE.
5. Shinjiro Otani and Yoshiyuki Nakamura are now the official matchmakers for Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE. Steve Corino will remain the Gaijin Agent and ZERO-ONE will continue their working agreements with both the AWA, WORLD-1 (which ZERO-ONE owns) and UPW.
6. All wrestlers contracts will be honored and even re-written for 2005.1
We hope that this solves any confusion or misinformation that we have been on the Internet over the past few days. Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE is very much alive and everyone from the fighters, the staff, and the fans of Japan are looking forward to this new chapter of ZERO-ONE.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to email us at info@zerooneusa.com or you can post on our Message Board at www.ZEROONEUSA.com.
3-2-1- ZERO-ONE!!
Thank you,
Steven Corino
Gaijin Agent, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE
Credit- PWInsider.com
