Wrestling #MeToo #SpeakingOut

[LWOLeN]

Punching your fans to sell your ‘tough guy persona’. I really hope that isn’t true.

If it is, than Jimmy Havoc is the biggest joke on the planet. Ridiculous. Biggest loser ever. Completely lost himself in being a mark for himself.

Wake up, ‘Jimmy Havoc’ does not really exist! You are in that ring to entertain the fans. They travelled hours and paid their hard earned money to see you wrestle. You should feel honored that they like you and want to shake your hand.

Progress Wrestling should be ashamed for not acting on this directly and brushing it off as ‘he’s and independent contracter’. They really dropped the ball here.

Edited June 22, 2020 by LWOLeN

[AVM]

 

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Edited June 23, 2020 by AVM

[SuperBacon]

That is incredibly disturbing.

[Steve Justice]

The fuck? I was reading that and just assumed he was about 17 or something. My jaw dropped when I read how old he was.

That is 100% paedophilia, right? It's absolutely on the same level as what's being reported. I'm glad it hasn't affected you in any way, but that is just not fucking right.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

14 minutes ago, AVM said:

Now, I've not included this in the whole Speaking Out thing as I don't regard it as sexual abuse on the level of what's been reported

You were 10/11 years old. Apart of your innocence was taken away by her doing that. Its sexual abuse. That's horrible to hear.

[Guest]

Aye, I've downplayed my own experiences in the past with the "nothing compared to what some experience" thing. It all counts  and it all lasts.

[MungoChutney]

 

ICW statement. 

One of the issues I have with a lot of what is being proposed is that this is self-regulation and if any industry ever did not need self-regulation, it's wrestling. 

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Last month, if you to appoint a male member of pro wrestling to be a union leader, it would probably have been someone like David Starr. The business has a problem. But random people as talent welfare officers, when the business has turned a blind eye to this shit for so long is absolutely pointless. Wrestlers arent qualified to be welfare officers. The welfare of the promotion not getting shut down or taken to court is what promoters are after. The welfare of the people in it has always came at least 5th or 6th on the list.

[Cannibal Man]

Aye, no sane cunts gonna believe for a second a wrestling company is capable of self regulation, sorry. Dunno about yous but i'm not sure I trust anybody outside either. This is the problem with nobody respecting wrestling enough to have ever given it a bit of a look for this long, by now you've got more chance regulating motorway burgers.

 

[BomberPat]

It's an absolute nightmare trying to figure out how to resolve something like this. There are people who need to be held to account that, as it stands, can't be.

You want fans, wrestlers and trainees empowered to speak out, but we've seen so many promoters, trainers and self-appointed industry leaders called out as abusers already. Speaking from experience, the problem in a lot of cases hasn't been that nobody was speaking out, it that there's been no one appropriate to speak out to. I don't think you'll find a woman in the business who hasn't been on one or both sides of a "don't work for this promoter", "don't accept a lift from this wrestler", or a "be careful around this one" conversation - it's fallen to people within the business to try and manage it amongst themselves already, because there's no one they can realistically take these complaints to.

I really struggle to envision what a governing body would look like, and I'm not optimistic that it would be viable to create one in any real sense - and then there will have to be a lot of trust involved in who makes up that governing body, who it's accountable to and how, and how we stop people from using it as yet another position of power to abuse. 

 

In the short-term, there needs to be some kind of recognition as to what the good promotions are and what they do - in my limited experience, I would say Riptide are one of the best; I've only been backstage at one of their events, but I was impressed by how comprehensive their code of conduct and health and safety protocols were, how everything was fully risk assessed, and how it generally felt far more in line with a professional production than what I'm used to from independent wrestling. Promotions like that should be called upon to share best practice, to pool resources, and to determine the best steps moving forward - but then, again, we're back to questions of who makes the decisions, who decides who is a "good" promotion, how do we get disparate promotions to agree to work together, and can you do anything about the promotions that refuse to play ball.

In a lot of ways, it's good that this is coming out during lockdown. It means that, hopefully, these conversations can happen, without people muddling through trying to promote shows in the meantime. 

[LWOLeN]

When I was working at a supermarket at 15 I was constantly getting paid less hours than I actually worked. I wasn’t the only one.

So we summed up the troops and we contacted HR.

Our manager was reprimanded by HR and he knew not to mess with his team ever again. 

So you can understand that most simply didn’t get a contract renewal 6 months later....

These tactics happen everywhere.....

[Cousin Jim Bob]

All these places seem to think its fine just going "we are moving a female wrestler to a high up position in our training school". Maybe that might help but what if that woman was like Sweet Saraya. Who in the last 24 hours we have heard kicks the shit out of young female trainees if she is "having a bad day", gropes male trainees genitals, dresses 14 year girls up and sends them to suspected paedophiles and sticks her tongue down 10 year old boys throats.

 

This is going to need to be treated like under 16's sports with government guidelines if you want to run a wrestling school. Its a fucking disgrace how these places have been run and needs to be stopped.

[Devon Malcolm]

😬

 

[SuperBacon]

The problem with all of these promotions changing their structure or appointing Welfare Officers is that they are all appointing people from inside the industry. That's fine to a certain degree as they will have an understanding of the business.

However, if they are to be serious about this, then they need to look outside of the business and how other organisations operate. I have no doubt whatsoever (from the training and experience I have) that someone who has worked/coached young people in football/rugby/hockey or whatever would have a million times better insight into how the promotions can strengthen their safeguarding of young people.

It really just highlights the really unhealthy insider practices that have existed for too long in the scene. Fresh eyes and a different perspective from an outsider will always be better than someone from within.

We're talking about safeguarding young people here. They don't need to know how to work a crowd or take a bump. Go and talk to other existing clubs in your local area. Visit them, learn from them, ask them to advise. Most people will be willing to help. The Progress method of "Ah, we'll just appoint some mates of ours" absolutely smacks of short term desperation.

Progress' response to this has been utterly pathetic.

[tiger_rick]

It's not the worst idea. The problem is its self-regulating so there's no governing body to help, to offer advice or to police it. However, they have to do something and in the absence of that governing body, at least having a process and people in place means they have a point of contact, they can put procedures in place and can cover themselves if issues arise by showing that they've gone through the processes.