Wrestling #MeToo #SpeakingOut

[TildeGuy~!]

Can’t wait to see what sort of train wreck statement she comes out with.

 

[Daaaaaad!]

2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Nah, just some shitarse.

 

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

5 hours ago, thatvinylgeek said:

Even back then there was such excitement when a "girl" came to training, and it was almost a fight to see who could get their number first without ever worrying about how old they actually were. There was one such girl (who thankfully had her head screwed on) that pretty much everyone took an interest in to the point it made me feel so uncomfortable that I befriended her and asked her to let me know if she ever felt uncomfortable....as she was barely 14 and I was 24 and in a (very) long term relationship, I never thought anything of it, or how it might like to others, she was like a little sister..... However there were several guys who were of a similar age to me who were literally asking her on nights out, as they "could get her in to clubs" to the point where I ended up talking to her mum, who ironically was nearer my age, and just giving her the heads up.

I was actually thinking about that yesterday. Some guys were literally counting down the days to her 16th birthday. It was gross.

[The Four Horsemen]

Impact have let Ryan and Crust go and Elgin has been suspended. 

 

"Impact Wrestling confirms that it has terminated its contracts with Dave Crist and Joey Ryan, effective immediately. In addition, it has suspended Michael Elgin pending further review of allegations of misconduct."

[westlondonmist]

7 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Can’t wait to see what sort of train wreck statement she comes out with.

 

Reading the replies to that people seem ready to support her no matter what. 

Regarding Radbourne's post, although not sexual abuse I think it does outline the circle of friends attitude in wrestling and attempts to say anything bad about the industry have been difficult. 

[dopper]

10 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

He’s been treated harsher then Jimmy Havoc here

I think Sasha Banks may have saved Sammy’s job by reaching out to him yesterday.

Credit to her for approaching the situation in that manner. 

[elisarcabrera]

11 hours ago, PunkStep said:

Nail on the head. 

This industry needs people from the outside to come in and start asking questions such as "what is your safeguarding policy?" or - more importantly to most things - "Why the fuck are you doing that??"

But then again, who on earth gives a shit about British Wrestling enough to do that? This is why this kind of shit can happen and continue to happen. Because nobody cares.

But some of us do have real world experience to bring. And speaking for myself I have zero interests in any current company or employers whether financial or social or otherwise. 

As someone from the film industry, we’ve already been through this. 
 

[PunkStep]

But you're a bit of an exception to be fair Elisar, as you've been out of the industry for almost 20 years, have seen in other industries how things should (and no doubt in some cases, shouldn't) be done so can kind of see the scene through a fresh pair of eyes. 

You would essentially be someone coming from the outside, albeit someone that has experience from many years ago.

Edited June 23, 2020 by PunkStep

[TildeGuy~!]

Instead of making a statement Saraya Knight has just deleted her Twitter account instead.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Absolute fucking state of ICW thinking that installing their own Talent Welfare Officers and Mental Health Officers is a solution to this. What a mess. Hey vulnerable young trainee, why dont you go and tell WRESTLER X how damaged and vulnerable you are. Honestly he isn't a total sex case! 

I'm a firm believer that if there are numerous very similar accusations against someone, its pretty likely that there is at least an element of truth to the story.

Not going to name any names here but I will just say this much. I know 3 girls who also know one of the more high profile UK guys implicated in all this. I can tell you 100% truthfully having seen the screenshots with my own eyes that all 3 have been subjected to relentless creepy, inappropriate DM's from the absolute sex pest.

[BomberPat]

I don't know how much is meant to be public at the moment, given that there are obviously legal implications to what's going on, and the risk of certain people trying to undermine some of the work being done, but I do know that there are outside agencies involved in coming up with solutions to this. At the moment, at least, it isn't just a case of wrestling trying to police itself. 

[lanky316]

It is good that there does seem to be something being done but I still hold my breath over how much it will change attitudes and what's been going on in locker rooms up and down the country. The last time some of this came out (albeit in a smaller scale than we are now seeing) there were still plenty of promotions taking on the known pests and booking them because "well he told me he didn't do it". Hopefully this is going to lead to some form of change and that outside agencies are trying to help out seems like a step in the right direction. 

[Your Fight Site]

41 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Instead of making a statement Saraya Knight has just deleted her Twitter account instead.

She posted a statement on Facebook and deleted other social media accounts it seems:

 

[AnotherCrapUsername]

Yet another example of why Wrestlers and Promotions should employ a professional PR person.

The most aggressive, poorly written statement so far and that’s saying something.

[John Matrix]

25 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I don't know how much is meant to be public at the moment, given that there are obviously legal implications to what's going on, and the risk of certain people trying to undermine some of the work being done, but I do know that there are outside agencies involved in coming up with solutions to this. At the moment, at least, it isn't just a case of wrestling trying to police itself. 

Mate, you know how much I value and respect your opinion and viewpoint on all of this.

But there’s a few things I don’t understand.  Understand the need for confidentiality in terms of statements, evidence, victim identities etc, but that’s sort of only half of what’s going at the moment - and by far the most important half I should add.

The problem is, the debate is so emotionally charged at the moment it’s almost impossible to offer a perspective that won’t be perceived as aggressive/defensive/contrarian depending on who’s reading it - the other significant part of what’s going on here is the work to clean up the scene if you will.

Now I’m not privy to much of what’s being said on public platforms, I don’t really follow the biz outside of my clients, but what I can see is lots of individuals referring to work going on behind the scenes - there’s very little clarity as to who those people are.  If we’re to imply that those making those statements are those involved in talks, then whilst it doesn’t justify it, I can see why they then find themselves bombarded with approaches both positive and negative.

It’s this repeated use of ‘behind the scenes’ that makes me nervous about the whole thing.  Remind me of the definition of madness?

if there’s a conglomerate of experienced and credible leaders within the industry formally coming together to push for change, then that’s as good a place as any to start - but it’s all started with a lack of transparancy that immediately raises doubt in light of recent revelations.  Confidentiality regards abuse, completely accept that, but I’d love to know what the implications are for stating something along the lines of who is involved - again, casting no aspirations whatsoever, but in the past 72 hours we’ve had a number of people champion the cause only to be brutally exposed just hours later - and what preliminary steps are being taken - what harm is “we’re in exploritary talks with...”  again the lack of transparancy is hurting the cause - if the concern is that a wrong’un might call Equity for example claiming to be X and saying “s’alright lads, we’ve got it sorted”.  Then the way you combat that is by being clear about who is involved and in what capacity.

This might be tough to say and harder to hear, but frankly if you can’t/don’t want to take the inevitable flack that will come from assuming this sort of responsibility, then I’d argue your not best placed to do it - it’s an utterly unenviable task, but an essential one, and the sort of grief/abuse etc will not be in anyway unique to wrestling in that respect, it comes with the territory of identifying yourself as a decision maker.

I had a message yesterday to the effect that some felt under additional pressure (it was far politer than that and not remotely aggressive, but that was the crux of it) by my trying to volunteer my services, much like @elisarcabrera I have experience in a comparable area which I think could be beneficial to the discussions, but rather than an acknowledgement of “we’ll be seeking outside views and will be in touch shortly” or “please outline what you think you could add” nothing, until I was politely informed I was being a nuisance - which I accept, but only because I think there’s a limited and rapidly diminishing opportunity to get this right.

For every promotion that takes its own steps, does its own thing, ticks its own boxes, you get further away from what’s actually needed here, which is an industry wide code of conduct and I’m sorry, but anyone who thinks that isn’t possible, is mistaking it with “that’ll be unpopular with shitarses”

If it were me, I’d advise this team to create a unified online presence, a stepping out Twitter account if need be.  You funnel all the traffic and shit through that instead of what’s happening now, with every individual tenuously referencing their involvement then getting battered with offers, nosiness or information.

From there you have the foundation to build upon in terms of establishing some sort of leadership, but as is often the case, people who want to help, versus people who want actual responsibility are two wildly different things, and so the real challenge here isn’t in establishing some sort of governing body, it’s in  appropriately staffing it, which is where some external input will be essential if the business of wrestling is too look any different in five years time.