Mr. Stokely Hathaway was on top of the world.
Managing top level wrestlers in Major League Wrestling, collaborating with RocNation on new ventures, holding court at 1 OAK and earning a reported fortune along the way.
Then, he disappeared.
Seemingly kidnapped in a shocking encounter filmed while MVP was on the verge of confronting Hathaway in the midst of their publicized business dispute.
For 5 months league officials and investigators have been looking at the footage and speaking to eyewitnesses and while there are leads, the whereabouts of Hathaway remain unknown.
Evidence is hard to come by. One source believes the masked men that roughly escorted Hathaway to a getaway car were speaking Samoan. Another detected Spanish. The audio on the video is grainy at best leaving forensic audio analysts undecided about the audio samples from the video.
One interesting piece of evidence that was conclusive was that the car had New York plates.
The video did not zoom in on the plate numbers, unfortunately. Another dead end yet this is one of the key points to the theory Hathaway himself faked his own kidnapping (more in a moment on that).
Of course, MLW itself is based out of New York. Hathaway had a strained relationship with many league officials due to his take no prisoners approach to fight negotiations. Was it a disgruntled league official who commissioned the kidnapping?
So many conspiracy theories have popped up online it’s hard to keep track.
Some conspiracy theorists have fingered various culprits including: Sami Callihan, Shane Strickland, MVP, Low Ki, Salina de la Renta and even Martin Lawrence. Yes, really. Martin Lawrence.
Hathaway was once the most sought after promoter in the game. Heralded as a managerial genius by the media, the boss of Black Friday Management took the fighter management collective and modernized it into a cash cow for wrestlers.
Now, that empire has evaporated.
Black Friday co-founder Low Ki, the reigning World Champion, has moved on to work with impresaria promoter Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado while the Manhattan offices of Black Friday have remained locked up and dark since the spring.
Whispers of criminal activity have plagued Black Friday since its inception in 2004 when it was under the management of the late Gary Hart. Was the disappearance of Hathaway somehow connected to crime or corruption?
Were things getting too hot for Hathaway?
Did he orchestrate the entire encounter only to be living a carefree, limitless life in Maine? Perhaps he’s moved beyond wrestling and living in Rhode Island. There have been sightings. That much is true. But 5 months and counting and the mysterious disappearance of Stokely Hathaway remains unsolved.
Will Stokely Hathaway ever resurface and if so what happened? Who are the kidnappers? Where did he go and why? We may never get these answers but the league-led investigation continues undeterred despite many labeling it a “cold case” due to the lack of evidence.
Yes the conspiracies and whispers continue.
Perhaps one day the truth about the disappearance of Hathaway will be unearthed. Until then, MLW has asked anyone with leads to contact us. MLW.com will keep fans updated as the investigation continues.
