Filler withdrawn from Reyes cup
- Thread starter Monti
- Start date
If you read his explanation why he played the WPA even, he blamed it on his wife's schedule.
If you wasn't the POS he is he'd have gone and watched her play like Fedor did.
Filler will be just fine. He's got a lot going for him and he's not the weak minded type that's influenced by "cyberbullying." The only people that are bothered by it are those that have never actually dealt with real confrontation. Get punched in the face just one time in your life and it makes reading stuff from trolls a lot easier.
My thoughts what´s gonna happen in future:
I hope WPA cancel all banning stuff and players can play where they want. MR does not care IF they still have best players playing most of MR Majors. They need best players to get good product. If couple is missing it won´t matter but if camp divides then it is not ok.
I fear this going to divide 2 groups and players have to decide what camp they choose.
Predator/WPA or MR.
If MR can´t get product they want they just zip the tour and take losses and never come back. Probably takes 2-3 years to see where all this is going.
Matchroom is always been : "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" Invitationals like Masters, Mosconi etc..
So players who want to be part of them...
I hope WPA cancel all banning stuff and players can play where they want. MR does not care IF they still have best players playing most of MR Majors. They need best players to get good product. If couple is missing it won´t matter but if camp divides then it is not ok.
I fear this going to divide 2 groups and players have to decide what camp they choose.
Predator/WPA or MR.
If MR can´t get product they want they just zip the tour and take losses and never come back. Probably takes 2-3 years to see where all this is going.
Matchroom is always been : "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" Invitationals like Masters, Mosconi etc..
So players who want to be part of them...
Don't think so. If Filler has withdrawn, the statement would have read "Filler has withdrawn" instead of "Filler has been withdrawn".
Like saying Filler has been fired from Reyes Cup instead of he has resigned
Actually, more like he is suspended/ disqualified. cos even though RC is an invitational event, actually only last 2 wildcard spots are invited. The first 3 spots are earned thru ranking points. Whoever earn one of the 3 spots automatically get a bonus i.e. play in RC and guaranteed minimum prizemoney (not sure how much it is in RC, in MC is $20K , RC should be less than MC)
Initial press release said "team integrity". That does not necessarily mean it is decision of players.
Highly unlikely the players didn't want him there.
If Team Europe players replace Filler with weaker player they will reduce their chances of winning Reyes Cup and their winnings $$ and why would they do that? Team Asia players also unlikely to want him out as it will not be good perception for them to play a weaker Europe team
When we talk “bans” we are usually referring to things like the ACBS suspending all Vietnamese players from July 2024 to Jan 2025 with a $5k fine to be reinstated just because they were born in that country and the city of Hanoi hosted the 2023 Hanoi Open even though those players didn’t participate in it.
This is Matchroom saying to Filler you’re no longer invited to play in our special 10-man exhibition in Asia after making an utterly cringeworthy PR spectacle of yourself but you’re free to join all our open events.
It’s just worth noting there’s a massive scale difference between the two.
I think the Hanoi Open and the Reyes Cup represent Matchroom’s efforts to establish a presence in an Asian market knowing that the potential audience in countries like Vietnam, Philippines, and Chinese Taipei could really help them grow the product they’re marketing to the benefit of themselves and the players. These are early days for those events. Not as early as what things looked like during the inaugural Mosconi Cup. But certainly early compared to what they’ll become. So you’re not going to get “merit-based” Matchroom out the gate. You’re getting “promoter” Matchroom. We already don’t have the five best Asians. Hoang Quoc Doang was obviously selected because Matchroom wanted a Vietnamese player given how gargantuan that fan base is. And that doesn’t get tapped into in a vacuum. I assume the Vietnamese fans are well in tune with the ACBS bans on players from their country. #WeStandTogether likely meant something to that market.
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I doubt WPA or WNT will change their vision, as long as they have a stable of good players. WNT will make celebrities out of their stable. WPA will make the same players they have made for the last 40 years.
NBA, MLB, NFL, PGA, WTA, WWE, or any other promotion, doesn’t need all of the best, as long as they have an elite group. WNT will make American pool grow. They already have. They are Matchroom Multisport. This isn’t entirely new ground for them.
At the end of the Aranas vs SVB race, the fans nearly over ran DD and SVB, for pics and autographs. It was an impressive sight. Also want to add, after Chua’s recent social media posts, do people really believe the Asian contingent aren’t aware of the WPA/WNT battle? I believe they are fully aware and quite angry about it.
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NBA, MLB, NFL, PGA, WTA, WWE, or any other promotion, doesn’t need all of the best, as long as they have an elite group. WNT will make American pool grow. They already have. They are Matchroom Multisport. This isn’t entirely new ground for them.
At the end of the Aranas vs SVB race, the fans nearly over ran DD and SVB, for pics and autographs. It was an impressive sight. Also want to add, after Chua’s recent social media posts, do people really believe the Asian contingent aren’t aware of the WPA/WNT battle? I believe they are fully aware and quite angry about it.
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Flakeandrun
Well-known member
Asia is fully aware. Having spoken to friends in China, Vietnam and Thailand (while in those countries for travel or work). Also Korean and Japanese friends who live here in China. Most friends interested in pool I would agree are angry about it.
WNT needs the market/audience to agree with it, and that is what it does well as a production company. Panders to the largest market, and aims to get the numbers on its side. WPA cannot compete on the same scale.
Both sides seem like exclusive clubs at this point, neither seem to be the inclusive entity needed to grow sport for actual sport's sake/sporting prowess. But WNT/MR have the capacity to grow the sport in the way they deem fit through pure capital.
It comes downs to the fact that Joshua Filler effectively hoodwinked his peers and picked up a $75,000 prize by winning the World Eight Ball Championship, when most of the other players stuck by their word and sat out. That probably leaves a bad taste in their mouth even if they are friends with Filler.
Make an example? Is that why Matchroom edited their original statement to remove "team integrity"?
Indeed. He made his choice and now he’s facing the consequences.
Atorontopoolplayer
Active member
Yeah this is the thing, I don't really have a problem with matchroom removing him from a invitational exhibition free pay day thing, which they specifically made really only available to WNT players.
If he's not going to be full WNT I do not see why he should expect to get the free pay days
It's not an invitational. This is an event for which the automatic qualification requirements were established by Matchroom. Filler, on merit, met those qualifications.
Unless they have determined that he is in violation of his WNT contract (something they would have likely announced if it were the case), they had no grounds for disqualifying him.
By the way, who is full WNT? Not Shane, not Skyler, not Kaci, not FSR, for all of them played in the World 10-ball, a WPA event.
He was disqualified by the event producer despite having qualified on merit. Problem not even close to solved.