#SpeakingOut
I think I stand with every person right now, wrestling fan or otherwise in saying that what is happening in this industry and has been happening for years is absolutely disgusting. My stomach turns thinking of the wrestlers that I have supported and ‘stanned’ for over years that have now been named as rapists and predators.
I believe every single one of these women and men, and can’t even begin to imagine what they’ve went through all these years and the sheer courage it has taken them for coming out with their stories. I know personally I could never be brave enough to be as fore-coming as they have been. Reading their stories has broken my heart, as I’m sure it has with all wrestling fans.
I have noticed a change in Twitter in the past coming days from what has been a place of truth, love and adoration for these women and men, has now become what we know Twitter to be - toxic. Their stories have now been drowned out by people look for validation of their stories from the higher ups. The argument that will always be there between wrestling companies is now over taking their stories.
The arguments ongoing on what will AEW do now, what will WWE have to say back. What company is going to do the most for those that have spoken out. AND Whatever statements do come back, come with 10% positivity, 90% that isn’t good enough, and the truth is, whatever they do, will not been good enough. Having constant arguments and bickering on the #speakingout hashtag has just overwhelmed every single one of these people’s stories.
This is what has happened in regards to the statements:
WWE:
Gentleman Jack released immediately - great the world rejoices - Goodbye!
Matt Riddle - Debuts on Smackdown the night of his allegations. Not a word said about it from WWE.
Jordan Devlin - It will be looked into
Travis Banks - It will be looked into
AEW:
Jimmy Havoc - Rehab. A shitty notes app statement, that needed to be better. I believe they went the rehab route as multiple stories had reported on his drug and alcohol abuse and suicidal tendencies. Let’s try rehabilitate this offender, do the best for him and make sure he’s in the right frame of mind before we fire him. If the man committed suicide after being released, the twitter world would be shocked that AEW didn’t do better.
Sammy Guevara - Suspended without pay, all pay will be donated to a woman’s charity. He has been sent on sensitivity training and then they will see what to do. Within minutes of Sammy’s podcast being released fans were in outcry to AEW for a statement, ‘they said they would never become WWE, they’re hiding’. Do you honestly believe a company can come out with a statement within 15 minutes? They need to be able to assess the situation, perhaps speak to both parties and see what they can do better before coming out with an ‘ill look into it’. They come out with a damn good statement, Twitter - ‘this disgraceful’.
I hate to be controversial but why is everyone only tweeting Cody Rhodes for a statement from when their is also three other EVP’s who also NOT issued a statement?
Impact Wrestling - with perhaps the MOST allegations towards one man in particular, Joey Ryan - let’s flood twitter with promo for our show this week and not release a single statement. Bar maybe ten tweets to this company, I’ve seen twitter be maybe a little too quite towards this company.
ROH - not one statement for all allegations against their roster.
Every Indie Brand - notices and dismayed by everything, higher ups resigning from their positions. Genuine statements about what they can do better and ways in which every wrestling company can do better.
I honestly can’t say more than what’s already been said, or perhaps not been said at all. What we should look for is what can be done for these women, how can we help them positively and towards the wellbeing of their futures. What can we do to ensure this doesn’t happen again and women and men feel protected both working at this events and attending wrestling events. Not flooding twitter looking for companies to top each other’s statements. This really isn’t going to resolve this issue.
Let’s get back onto Twitter, help these men and women, listen to their stories, educate ourselves, and try make wrestling safe for these people.
