WrestleCon issues statement about booking Rick Steiner

[Chris]

Rick Steiner has been booked for an upcoming WrestleCon event in Detroit, Michigan.

Impact Wrestling's Gisele Shaw posted to social media on April 1 that Steiner verbally accosted her at a WrestleCon event over WrestleMania weekend. Shaw, who came out as transgender last year, says Steiner referred to her as "a dude," "filth," "a piece of trash," and told her to "get the f*ck away from here." Steiner was not allowed to participate in the remainder of WrestleCon's events that weekend as a result.



However, WrestleCon has announced that Rick Steiner has been booked for their event on August 4 & 5 in Detroit.

Michael Bochicchio, the owner of the convention, addressed booking Steiner for a future event in a social media post on Sunday.

Bochicchio wrote:

"I'm going to address the Rick Steiner issue here instead of responding to every post. I hope everyone takes the time to read, but I also understand if you choose not to hear another side. Rick made completely inappropriate remarks to Giselle Shaw at our event in Los Angeles. As soon as we were made aware of what happened, we swiftly addressed the issue, but we never shared details of what happened at the event.
In hindsight, it was probably a mistake not to share more details during or immediately after the event concluded. I take full responsibility- my wife died 3 weeks after the LA show at the age of 46, after a long battle with cancer, and I made a lot of mistakes during that time. However, at no time then or after do we condone the remarks Rick made at LA. We did not fail to act after we were notified, and as a result, we removed him from the convention for the duration of that event. Rick’s poor decision forever impacted his brand , relationships within the wrestling community, and alienated many of his fans.

Bochicchio continued to write that Steiner offered an apology to Impact Wrestling staff in a mediated setting. Shaw chose not to attend.

One of the positive things Rick did, and it was not publicized, is immediately apologize. He apologized to members of the Wrestlecon staff, he apologized to many of his fellow wrestlers, and offerred apologies to the members of Impact Wrestling staff that chose to hear from him at a private mediated event. Giselle chose not to attend Rick's apology, which we 100% understood, supported, and still support to this day. She had no obligation to hear anything from Rick nor should she ever feel obligated to accept any apology from him then or now.

Bochicchio continued to say that Steiner will be permanently banned from future events if there are similar incidents in the future.

Now that we are three months beyond this event, I feel that Rick learned a lot from his huge mistake. I know it's easier to cancel people when they make mistakes than to forgive and help educate. However, sometimes I think it's important that we give people a second chance. That being said, Rick will forever be on a zero-tolerance scale moving forward at any of our events. If we are proven wrong, that he has not learned from his mistakes, we will enforce a permanent ban. That is not to imply that everyone gets one free strike. We continue to strive to have an environment where everyone feels safe and included. If we are faced with issues that compromise that environment, we will take all necessary action.

GCW's Effy responded to WrestleCon's statement:

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/wrestlecon-issues-statement-on-booking-rick-steiner-again-after-gisele-shaw-incident

 

[Hoss]

Well, I tend to be in favor of giving a second chance but in this instance there's two big problems for me.

First, it was like three months ago when the incident happened. Hardly an appropriate amount of time for reflection and in the grand scheme of things, plus he really faced no actual repercussions for his behavior. If you, as an organization, are actually opposed to be his actions, then you're not showing it here. Clearly the money you're going to bring in by booking The Steiners in Detroit is more important that actually making sure he's changed.

Secondly, it's easy to say "my bad, I don't think like that anymore" when you get caught being a transphobe and realize it's gonna impact your wallet. I don't really take someone at their word in this kinda scenario. In all likelihood, this is just a guy getting a free pass for his prejudices and being given another platform to pad his bank account, and as long as he doesn’t publicly spew his bullshit, he's gonna keep getting paid. I guess if there's any silver lining to this, it's that people who have a problem with him aren't being forced to buy an autograph or whatever, but presumably he's still getting paid a good chunk for just appearing so, yeah, unfortunate.

But at the end of the day I reckon it's up to the patrons and talent of WrestleCon to send a message if they find this kind of thing is unacceptable, and for Rick to show some actual change of heart if he wants anyone to buy his apology.

 

[Canadian Dragon]

what a joke. fuck these greedy cowards.

 

[The Gipper]

All those words just for it to be a slap on the wrist

 

[Jimmy King]

Update on this.

 

[Chris]

Lmao embarrassing having the organizer make a long post defending why he's booked after initial outrage only to walk it back anyway, congratulations now you've got everyone mad at you and rightfully so

 

[Hoss]

Going out sad all around but the bright side is they at least now have some policy in place (bit overdue huh)

 

[The Gipper]

And of course the twitter replies are about cancel culture, why would they not be?

 

[Hoss]

Most people's definition of cancel culture nowadays is someone being held accountable for dirtbag behavior, so yeah. Those people who are angry can just as easily boycott WrestleCon if they were planning on attending. Unlikely anyone who wanted Rick removed will care or miss their presence.

 

[Chris]

Most people's definition of cancel culture nowadays is someone being held accountable for dirtbag behavior, so yeah. Those people who are angry can just as easily boycott WrestleCon if they were planning on attending. Unlikely anyone who wanted Rick removed will care or miss their presence.

So you're suggesting they cancel WrestleCon

 

[Hoss]

So you're suggesting they cancel WrestleCon

If they want to. No one's being forced to be a patron of anything they don't agree with. I dont give a fuck.

 

[Y2Jayne]

Bron Breakker hearing about the whole thing :

 

[#Waddles]

Good. I don't want that trash and filth in my city when I come to watch SummerSlam.

 

[Doom]

Rick's a hateful person for spewing out transphobic comments at Gisele Shaw. With all the ongoing hatred against transgendered people, he thinks it's okay when he said those words to make him feel good. After that, he didn't give one apology to Shaw over his comments. Okay. Does it feel good now that there's a zero-tolerance policy hovering over him for the rest of your miserable wrestling career?