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X-treme Wrestling Federation » Warfare Boards » Warfare RP Board
Prologue: "No Such Thing as Bad Publicity"
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Michael Petrović
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08-22-2017, 10:18 PM

Prologue: "No Such Thing as Bad Publicity"

XWF's Most Recent Misstep
By: John Wright

To say that the international juggernaut known as the X-Treme Wrestling Federation (hereinafter XWF) thrives on controversy would be a needlessly singular condemnation that belies a universal truth about the industry it inhabits: all wrestling promotions thrive on controversy. Perhaps more so than any other niche in both the sports and entertainment industries, professional wrestling's bread and butter is transgressing social norms. Often times this leads to angles that verge on tastelessness for tastelessness sake. No company in the wrestling business understands this principle more than XWF, which is why it seems that every other week those three letters are attached to some new PR crisis that would sink any other company in any other area of the aforementioned industries five or six times over. Yet, for XWF, it's just another Tuesday. This is the game professional wrestling plays, and XWF plays it better than anyone else. As the saying goes: don't hate the player, hate the game.

That said, the recent hiring of former Northeastern Championship Wrestling (hereinafter NECW) champion Mihailo "Michael" Petrović is ostensibly not a publicity stunt, which implies more than a little ignorance regarding the baggage that surrounds their acquisition. Ignorance that, in the age of smartphones and instant access to information of all kinds, is unexcusable.

Michael Petrović is a thug. There's no two ways about it. Petrović's agent, Donald Love, is likewise a massive scumbag. Damn near everyone in the Petrović camp is rotten to the core.

Petrović's reign as NECW Heavyweight Champion was a tumultuous ride that ultimately ended with the organization's collapse earlier this year. Whatever credibility the then virtually unknown wrestler had as champion was crushed by allegations of fight-fixing by the previous champion Alexander James "A.J." King, who was released from his contract following the loss, an executive decision that led to a mass exodus of fans.

Further allegations of misconduct by Petrović and Love behind the scenes came pouring with every win. By all accounts the company had given Love an inch, and he kept on taking miles. The constant stream of negative press wound up driving away the remnants of NECW's fanbase.

This isn't the only instance of Petrović and Love performing shady acts. Far from it.

In June, 2015, Petrović was arrested outside of a Manhattan nightclub after a verbal confrontation turned violent. Those charges were quickly dropped, however.

Love, meanwhile, has a trail of fraud lawsuits from former clients about a mile long. Nearly everyone who he's ever represented has come out of the experience claiming they were ripped off, threatened, or coerced by Love. Love has settled out of court on every suit.

Love also resigned as President of Free-Love Enterprises earlier this month amidst a new batch of sexual harassment lawsuits. Despite still claiming innocence, Love settled these out of court as well, claiming he "didn't trust the legal system to do its job properly."

Not even Michael's wife Magnolia Petrović could resist getting in on the action, claiming during in an interview in regards to the sexual harassment suits: "The so-called progressive media is going all-in on treating these allegations as fact. . . . [T]hey're treating him like their own personal field nCENSORED."

This is a real quote.

Now, considering how much baggage Petrović and his agent carry with them, it would be easy to write off their hiring by XWF as nothing more than a publicity stunt, the likes of which are normal for the company. Yet, that isn't the case. There has been no media circus, no mass drawing of attention to this signing. He was simply added to the roster with no fanfare. It could be a matter of timing - considering the hype surrounding the upcoming King of the Ring event - but that doesn't even explain it. Simply put, there's been no advertisement at all of this addition. They're flying under the radar. Either they don't know the history surrounding their acquisition or they don't care to promote it.

Regardless, it likely won't be long before they realize the mistake they made.
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(08-23-2017), Doctor Louis D'Ville (08-22-2017), Finn Kühn (08-25-2017), JimCaedus (08-24-2017), Theo Pryce (08-23-2017), Vincent Lane (08-23-2017)




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