5 Star Wrestling putting on 128-man tournament

Yeah, you read that heading right. A 128-man wrestling tournament.

To make it even bigger... they've made an offer to CM Punk - $1m. Not only is that ridiculous, they're also a UK promotion so offering in dollars actually saves them money as a million dollars is just less than £800k.

5 Star Wrestling Offer CM Punk $1million to make UK Wrestling Return. The Biggest Ever UK Wrestling Contract Is On Offer To Compete In 128-Man Tournament

As reported in today’s Fighting Talk column in The Daily Star, 5 Star Wrestling have decided to make the most lucrative contract offer in British wrestling history to the former WWE World Champion, CM Punk. The creator of 5 Star Wrestling, Daniel Hinkles spoke to Fighting Talk editor Patrick Lennon this week to publicly make the $1million offer to Punk to compete in the world’s first 128-man wrestling tournament that will begin on June 10th in Liverpool’s Echo Arena and continue around the country, culminating in a year ending show at Manchester Arena on December 30th. Hinkles was quoted as saying "I’ve been trying to contact CM Punk for well over a year. We wanted him on the first show we did in Edinburgh in 2015. I’ve tried going through friends in the industry, I’ve gone through his website and sent dozens of emails.

We want to offer CM Punk $1 million dollars to come and join the 5 Star Wrestling tour starting June 10th.

It’s a genuine offer. We’d love to hear back from the man himself. We want to do this with him.

Even if it’s a no, we want to know he’s at least heard the offer. It doesn’t get more credible than CM Punk. We all know that if he ever comes back to wrestling it will be one of those all time, epic moments – I want that to be with 5 Star Wrestling.

We are hugely ambitious. Starting June 10th we will have a weekly show airing LIVE, from the UK’s biggest indoor arena’s, on Saturday’s at 8pm. We want to fill the show with the biggest stars and the best wrestlers from this country and from all around the world. When we ask the fans who they want to see, CM Punk’s name is on everybody’s wish list and we’re willing to spend big to make it happen. I know he is seemingly focused on MMA at the moment and this wouldn’t have to end that, but wrestling is in his blood and $1 million has to be worth thinking about." CM Punk has not wrestled since the 2014 WWE Royal Rumble and his return to the ring would be seen as one of the most iconic moments in modern wrestling history. 5 Star Wrestling is a British wrestling promotion, quickly becoming known for putting on huge shows with large scale production levels, and bringing in the biggest available stars from around the wrestling world, to tussle with the best home grown talent in the country. The 5 Star Wresting Championship is currently held by John Morrison (AKA Johnny Mundo) and other international stars that have recently competed under their banner include Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles, Colt Cabana, Jay Lethal, Moose, Grado, Carlito, Magnus, Marty Scurll, Joe Coffey, Zack Gibson, Will Ospreay and Drew Galloway.

The upcoming 128-man tournament tour starts on Saturday 10th June at Liverpool Echo Arena and culminates at the Manchester Arena on Saturday 30th December with a massive, year-ending show. The 30 dates will run right across the UK, with the cities set to host these ground-breaking events including Liverpool, Blackburn, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Belfast, Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham, Dundee, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester & London. Tickets for many of the events are already on sale with the rest being made available in due course.

Over the 30 weeks fans will witness the biggest wrestling tournament in history along with the formation of exciting new championship divisions and some truly huge match ups, as 5 Star Wrestling strives to become the UK’s largest wrestling promotion.

It's quite nice to see a UK promotion showing this much ambition though. Just hope that they're being realistic and don't run themselves into the ground. This is one hell of an event though.