Raychell Rose offers further details Shawn Reed stalking incident, Booker T's comments, and Reality of Wrestling.
On February 10, Fightful published a story regarding an incident that occurred at Reality of Wrestling in December 2022 and the events that led to the incident. In the story, former Reality of Wrestling talent Raychell Rose alleged that she was fired by Booker T and the promotion over an incident regarding Shawn Reed, who she alleges stalked her.
Booker T did comment to Fightful in the story and confirmed that Rose was fired, but cited "internal reasons."
Booker T also gave further comments on the story and the incident, which fans can read in full by clicking here.
In a new video on YouTube, Raychell clarified things on her end from the original article and from Booker's comments.
Booker T stated that anyone at Reality of Wrestling has an open line to him and Sharmell and that Rose could have spoken to either of them about Reed's stalking. Booker said that he thought Rose and Sharmell had a good relationship.
Speaking about going to Booker with concerns about Reed's stalking, Rose said, "That's just not the way things are handled at Reality of Wrestling, in my experience. In my experience, you went to Kevin with the day-to-day operations because he ran day-to-day operations, so you dealt with Kevin Bernhardt directly, and if he told you that you needed to escalate things by talking with Booker or Sharmell, then that's when you would do that. I was never told by Kevin that I needed to talk to Booker and Sharmell. I was also directly told not to do that because he informed me that he kept them informed throughout the entire situation. I, throughout the entire situation, was on the phone with police, lawyers, and district attorneys. After every single one of those phone calls or interactions, I called or talked to Kevin Bernhardt personally in person and he told me each time when I asked if I needed to go to Booker that he had already talked to Booker or that he was going to talk to Booker for me so that I didn't have to worry myself about it. I had no reason to believe otherwise after being told that by Kevin."
Booker T claimed that Reed was issued a trespassing decree by Mainland City Center in Texas, and said he had it on paper. Booker's co-host on Hall of Fame, Brad Gilmore, read the Criminal Trespass Warning that the Mainland City Center issued to Reed. Gilmore, reading the decree, said the document was reviewed on December 18, 2022 and the length of the property ban is a lifetime ban.
Rose said, "I did get on the phone with Texas City Police Department today [February13], and I did ask them for a copy of that record because it would aid me in getting a restraining order and any other kind of legal process to move forward if I have that documentation. I did request a copy of it, and they told me there is no documentation or any kind of record in their database for Shawn Reed as far as trespass warnings go, that he's never been issued a trespass warning in general for that premises of any other."
Rose then showed a video of her on the phone with someone as she tried to obtain a copy of the trespassing warning. The lady on the phone said there was no record of Reed being issued any warning.
"They said that they did see that he was handled at that premises [Mainland City Center] before, but there was no trespass warning requested or issued associated with that event or any other for Shawn Reed. Any claims that there is a trespass warning, it's not a legal trespass warning, whatever they are referring to as far as those claims, it's not something that can be upheld by the police and it's not something, unfortunately, that can aid me in getting any kind of legal aid for my situation," said Rose.
Rose addressed claims that she knew Reed was at the bar by saying, "That's not the case. I was not informed by Booker T or anyone else that Shawn Reed was at that bar. I wasn't informed by Booker T or Kevin Bernhardt that Shawn Reed was in the building and was present for the entire wrestling show that night. I found out Shawn Reed was present for the first time when I went to the same bar that I always go to after Reality of Wrestling shows. I was in my usual place. That is when I first saw Shawn Reed that night. I wasn't going anywhere that I wasn't supposed to be. I wasn't going anywhere that I didn't usually go, and I certainly did not go into that bar looking for Shawn Reed, knowing Shawn Reed was there, or attempting to contact Shawn Reed. He came to that bar knowing I was there and coming to my usual place in order to confront and see me."
Booker T claimed that he spoke with Raychell after the Reality of Wrestling event, which Reed was present for after being brought into the arena by Booker, and told her not to go into the bar where Reed was. He claimed that he told her to go home to diffuse the situation.
Raychell said about her conversation with Booker, "That conversation pertained to me calling the police. It was when I was calling the police and I was urged to go home by Booker T. I was urged...his solution, from what I understood, was for me to go home and not involve the police and that was his solution to help things go away or make my stalking situation go away. I did not disobey Booker in that order. I did what I had to to obey the police when they told me the first time I made a police report that I had to call them immediately every time Shawn Reed showed up. I was obeying police orders when I called the police and let them know that my stalker was here. When I followed the dispatchers direction to look inside the venue to see if my stalker was still inside the venue, I did not do that to disobey Booker, I did that to obey the police instruction for my safety and to help me in my legal process."
On his podcast, Booker T was frustrated at the timing of the article since the incident in question happened in December 2022 and the story was published in February 2024.
Speaking on why it took so long for the story to come out, Rose said, "The article took just over a year to come out. That seems like a long time for people who are removed from the situation, Reality of Wrestling, and anyone associated with it, is removed from the situation. They have not made themselves available to me to aid in my legal matters. I don't believe they've been involved or put much thought into these situations since that night. I, on the other hand, have been dealing with this on a day to day basis throughout this entire year. I still regularly contact police, I still regularly contact lawyers, and I still regularly deal with my stalking situation. It has not been far removed from me, it's something I'm actively dealing with, and this is just another process of me actively dealing with this situation that has been the same for me for years at this point. This situation did not go away for me, it's something I continue to deal with and this was part of the process of dealing with this situation. I can see how it might feel far removed for anyone involved at Reality of Wrestling or anyone running Reality of Wrestling because they have not made themselves available to me to aid in this situation or have anything to do with my legal matters one way or another. They probably have not put thought into this for that year and feel like this came out of the blue when it's not out of the blue for me. It's something I'm still currently dealing with."
On his podcast, Booker was upset over the term "fired" being used, saying that they don't use that term at Reality of Wrestling because no one is hired. He said he had a conversation with Rose after the December 2022 incident and they didn't understand each other.
Rose said about her ROW departure, "There have been comments about the words 'You're fired' having not been said to me. Those words were not said to me. What I recall being said to me was they did not want a crazy person at their school and they did not want police involvement and I recall telling them that the only way to try and keep my stalker away from the school without police involvement is to keep me away from their school, and I recall being told, 'if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes.' I also recall being told that my issue was that I don't take any responsibility for my actions or accountability and that they did not need something or someone like that in their locker room. I did not feel the line of communication with Reality of Wrestling or Booker was open after that point, and I certainly did not feel like the doors were open for me to return after that point. it was heavily implied and heavily stated that I was not to return. In order to keep other people safe, I should keep myself away."
Rose said that her intentions are to get legal aid and get granted a restraining order against her stalker in hopes of never having to deal with him again and to live peacefully and safely.
Fans can hear Rose's comments in full in the video above.
If you or someone you know is being victimized by a stalker, please consider using the following resource:
- https://victimconnect.org/learn/types-of-crime/stalking/
- SPARC
- RAINN
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
