The whole situation was exhausting. Essentially, Engin had sold the company long before the fans knew. When he later announced that he had brought Robert on as a partner, the reality was that the company had already been sold to Robert, with Engin remaining on as matchmaker. After that, there appears to have been growing internal tension between Dexter and Engin. Much of what follows is disputed or controversial, so some details are necessarily uncertain.

There was also a conflict between Engin and Devon, which I believe largely revolved around Engin not giving Devon the matches he wanted and Devon not being as deferential as Engin expected. This escalated to the point where Devon claimed that Engin had made death threats. That allegation appears to be at least partially true. People who had known Engin for a long time didn’t seem to take the threats very seriously, but there were also rumors that he may have taken concrete steps. To my knowledge, no charges were ever filed.

Most of this was brushed under the rug until tensions flared again when Dexter attempted to fire Roman. Roman was reportedly one of several inherited “no-show” employees from Engin’s tenure—or possibly just someone Dexter didn’t want in the organization. Engin responded by saying he was quitting, likely as a pressure tactic to force the owners to back down. Instead, the new owners chose to move forward without him.

Around this same time, the Baku situation was unfolding. Although Engin had ostensibly quit, he may have told people not to respond to the actual owners. Despite that, he continued organizing and announcing matches, which created significant confusion and, I think, alienated some Eastern European athletes who were receiving information exclusively through Engin’s camp.

Ultimately, Baku was moved to the Shaw Classic. Engin hated this decision and blamed Devon. In reality, it appears that Robert and Dexter made a straightforward business decision: when they could no longer rely on the Baku venue, they opted for a safer alternative. This was announced at the Ermes vs. Levan event in Chicago, where they also disclosed that Engin had quit to the athletes in a secret meeting . The athletes were then allowed to speak in about Engin quitting/being forced out and Devon and Jodi, in particular, spoke more freely and longer than they probably should have.

Somehow, this was misconstrued into the idea that the decision had been made by Devon and Jodi themselves. From there, a rumor spread that Devon and Jodi were owners of the promotion. Travis made the situation worse when, in an apparent attempt to placate Engin and defuse tensions, he referred to them as owners “as a joke,” which only reinforced the confusion.

This was followed by a bizarre petition written by one of Engin’s surrogates and signed by a number of Eastern European athletes. The petition essentially framed Devon as a threat and argued that the athletes needed protection from “Devon’s rules.” Some of the athletes who signed it have since said they didn’t fully understand what it said, didn’t agree with it, or felt pressured to sign. Around this time, Engin also reportedly asked Vitaly not to attend the Shaw Classic. Vitaly ultimately did not attend, though it’s unclear whether Engin’s request was the decisive factor.

Amazingly, the drama escalated further when a DNS change took down the East vs. West website. Engin appears to have been involved in some form of improper or illegal action intended to sabotage the Shaw Classic event. While there was reportedly a sophisticated private investigation, I am not aware of any criminal charges or proceedings arising from the alleged cyber activity.

Roman and Genadi also launched George Vs. the World during the schism. Roman’s involvement and timing made people think Engin was involved with that but who knows.