Is TNA taking the Aries/Hemme crotch incident too seriously?

[Sabretooth]

TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter addressed Austin Aries' lewd behavior towards ring announcer Christy Hemme on last week's episode of Impact Wrestling with a stern statement via Twitter this afternoon.

"TNA has ZERO tolerance for inappropriate behavior," she wrote. "The incident with Austin Aries was taken very seriously and handled immediately."

David Schwarz, Senior Vice President of Communications for Spike TV, stated this week to Mark Madden of Wrestlezone.com that action would be taken against Aries for his public form of sexual harassment towards the veteran Knockout.

“We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment,†said Schwarz. “We discussed [the incident] with our partner. [Aries is] being disciplined. I’m trying to get more information on what action is being taken. Dixie Carter took this very personally. He will be disciplined. Again, we have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment.

“I’m not sure specifically how [the discipline] will be handled. To what extent, I don’t know. This is certainly something we don’t condone and don’t tolerate. Such behavior is not welcome."

In response to whether Aries' discipline should be made public since Hemme was harassed on national television, Schwarz responded, "I think that a statement of some sort will be coming. That’s being worked out. But immediate action will be taken."

On the show, Hemme mistakenly introduced Aries and tag team partner Bobby Roode as their opponents for the evening, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian. This led Aries to corner Hemme in the ring as he intimidated her into correctly introducing him before climbing onto a mid-level turnbuckle and shoving his groin near her face.

Following the event, Hemme voiced her displeasure with Aries' actions via Twitter, deeming it "unacceptable." Late Saturday night, Aries appeared to address the incident though the social networking outlet, writing, "Pretty nuts, some of the junk people get the balls to say over the net, knowing they couldn't to your face...Eh, anyway, time to sack out."

So what do you guys think?

 

[Castiel]

Absolutely. Hopefully the discipline is just a fine or something. I stand by the fact that nothing terrible happened here and it should hardly be consider sexual harassment when it was obviously a simple joke that's been blown way out of proportion.

 

[Swamps]

I think they are taking it way too seriously. It was an improv move made and wasnt intended to be of sexual nature. People are to damn sensitive these days.

 

[JakeYourBooty]

if they fire him....it would be insanity...he is one of the best things about that promotion

 

[Sabretooth]

if they fire him....it would be insanity...he is one of the best things about that promotion

If I were Aries, I'd tell them that I'm their best wrestler and they can fire me if they want. I'd just go to another promotion (guess which) and steal the show there

 

[Fuji Vice]

Aries twitter response to Hemme is reason enough not to discipline him, it's comedy GOLD!!!

Anyhow, if they don't make the discipline public it means that they didn't do anything about it other than telling people that they did.

 

[Postman Dave]

Aries twitter response to Hemme is reason enough not to discipline him, it's comedy GOLD!!!

Anyhow, if they don't make the discipline public it means that they didn't do anything about it other than telling people that they did.

It's a lot like the Jay Briscoe thing. Whether people think it's okay or not, the company have to be seen taking a stand to avoid upsetting those who were offended.

 

[Sabretooth]

Austin Aries was issued a "severe fine" and has to apologize to Christy Hemme for the 'crotching' incident on last Thursday's episode of Impact according to a report by TMZ.

TNA has not disclosing the amount of the fine for Aries' unscripted action.

TMZ also noted that Aries reached out to Hemme and "privately apologized," while acknowledging that he crossed the line of playing a heel.

I think that even that's too much but at least no suspension

 

[Krisis]

Better that than getting sued

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Fuji Vice]

TNA has not disclosing the amount of the fine for Aries' unscripted action.

Aside from this being horrible grammar, TNA not disclosing the amount of the "severe" fine tells me that they didn't actually fine him at all.

 

[Sabretooth]

Aside from this being horrible grammar, TNA not disclosing the amount of the "severe" fine tells me that they didn't actually fine him at all.

Just saying I didn't write that.

 

[Wang Chung]

Honestly this is a joke and I agree with Fuji. Someone made a big deal about this and Aries was just playing a character. I really don't think anything should have been done about it and doubt that anything really was.

Sent From My Awesome EVO 3-D.

 

[Alex Scott]

I hate shit like this. Just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right. I agree with the consensus that Aries did nothing wrong. TNA and everyone else who are offended need to lighten up.

 

[Wang Chung]

I hate shit like this. Just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right. I agree with the consensus that Aries did nothing wrong. TNA and everyone else who are offended need to lighten up.

I really don't think it is TNA who were offended but some sponsors and Spike, which concerns me considering how much spike makes woman just an object on other shows and this is what offends them.

Sent From My Awesome EVO 3-D.

 

[The Viper]

Just saying I didn't write that.

Who said you did? He was saying it was horrible grammar.

Also, anybody who is taking this situation seriously is just trying their hardest to be "politically correct" and failing while they just look like they're jumping on Mark Madden's bandwagon. Aries did nothing wrong.