Dispute between Apartment Championship Wrestling and Night Fights Resolved

Apartment Championship Wrestling (ACW) has resolved a dispute with the Chicago-based Night Fights promotion regarding a claim of contractual interference. Terms of the agreement between the two organizations will not be released to the general public. However, ACW has indicated that it has agreed to work in some type of a promotional capacity with Night Flights. The extent of the alliance has yet to be determined but it is foreseeable that ACW may use some of the Night Fights participants in ACW matches and promotional events. Night Fights will also be afforded the use of some of ACW's video and digital media facilities.

The dispute arose last week after the signing of Nike Foxe and Miranda Alexander to ACW contracts. Both women represented themselves to ACW officials as free agents, able to sign with the promotion. Instead, it became clear on Thursday afternoon that both were under contract to Night Fights when Night Fights legal representatives filed legal documents in an Illinois District court seeking an injunction against ACW and monetary damages for tortious interference with contractual agreements. "Basically the girls got bad advice on their end," said Tanako X, CEO and founder of ACW. "Someone told them that their contract with Night Fights would allow them to also work with other promotions. Unfortunately, our background check was not as thorough as it should have been. While ACW is certainly within its rights to terminate any association with the girls, we do feel, at this time, that it was a simple misunderstanding on their part about their previous commitments to the Night Fights promotion."

While ACW may have been able to find loopholes in the Night Fights contracts, X believed that Night Fights was acting in a good faith effort to protect its interests and had legitimate grounds for its position. "We made it very clear to Nite Void (owner of the Night Fights promotion) that in no way was it our intention to raid his promotion's talent. At the same time, it became clear that he was not seeking to use his legal leverage against us to hold us hostage for a quick buck. The longer our discussions progressed, the more we realized that we were working with the same goal in mind, that being the promotion and growth of our market segment. Going forward, we welcome the ladies into our promotion and hope their unique talents will prove beneficial to ACW. At the same time, we hope that our agreement with Night Fights will prove fruitful to that promotion as well as to ACW. We believe this is just the first in many steps to establish working arrangements with female fighting promotions around the world."

Foxe and Alexander will remain contractually obligated to Night Fights but will be loaned out to ACW for a per appearance fee, much as Hollywood studios used to loan top talent to rival studios in the 1940's and 1950's. While Night Fights will remain an independent promotion, it may also serve as a farm system for new ACW talent. ACW performers may also make personal appearances at Night Fights promotions and ACW may help in the production and distribution of Night Fight catfighting videos as well as other marketing and merchandising ventures. "The implications of this agreement are far-reaching and based upon a long-term approach to the female fight industry," said X. "So much of the fight industry (professional wrestling and professional boxing) has been run with the old school approach of trying to run other promotions out of business and be the king of the hill. Recently, in professional wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation purchased its biggest rival ( World Championship Wrestling) and saw the third largest promotion (Extreme Championship Wrestling) declare bankruptcy. While this has left the WWF as the only major promotion, the industry has suffered and the WWF has experienced a significant decrease in television ratings as well as in Pay Per View, house show and merchandising revenues. We feel that by working in conjunction with other promotions, we can grow the pie to a much larger extent and serve the wide-ranging needs of the diverse segments of the female fighting audience."

While it is premature to hazard a guess at the long term significance of this agreement, it is evident that female fighting fans are anxious for quality action at all levels. In the Night Fights Yahoo club (http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/nightfightersfanclub), it is notable that many fans were most interested in the two organizations working out the dispute and focusing on providing a better product.

Apartment Championship Wrestling
website: http://www.apartmentwrestlers.com
Yahoo club: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/apartmentchampionshipwrestling

Night Fights
website: http://www.nightfights.com
Yahoo club: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/nightfightersfanclub