Rick Steiner has been pulled from WrestleCon.
Steiner was previously asked to leave WrestleCon over WrestleMania weekend due to alleged derogatory comments he made towards Gisele Shaw regarding her being transgender. WrestleCon then sparked plenty of controversy when they announced that Rick and Scott Steiner would be at WrestleCon in Detroit. In the statement, WrestleCon noted that they believed Steiner had learned from his mistake, and he tried to apologize to Shaw.
On July 18, WrestleCon announced that Steiner had been pulled from the convention and issued a statement on the matter. The statement noted that they believed Steiner needed to publicly make a statement, and he failed to do so within the time limit. WrestleCon also stated that they have created a first draft of our Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment policy.
The statement is as follows:
Attention: Rick Steiner has been removed from Wrestlecon.
When we allowed Rick Steiner to return to our Convention as a vendor guest of Tony Hunter Promotions, we did not adequately take into account the impact his past words from our last event still held in the LGBTQIA+ community. We initially allowed him to return because 1) We still feel that people deserve a second chance. 2) Rick did make an apology to all parties that chose to be present. 3) We lacked any type of code of conduct/harassment policy that clearly defined our expectations as a convention participant.
After a thoughtful dialogue with Brian Bell from SB Nation's Outsports and host of the LGBT In the Ring podcast on Monday morning, we agreed with his opinion it was necessary to have some type of public acknowledgment/apology from Rick Steiner, at an absolute minimum, to allow him to attend Detroit. Because we understand this issue required great urgency, we gave Rick Steiner 24 hours to make such a statement. Unfortunately, there is not currently and we do not expect to receive such a statement, and we have therefore made a decision to revoke our permission for him to attend.
Additionally, we now have created a first draft of our Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment policy that will be posted on our website for everybody to see later today. We will continue to improve upon this code of conduct over time and with the cooperation of others. We understand and appreciate that there will be many differences of opinion among our participants and we want to create a safe and enjoyable space for everybody at our Conventions. At this time, we have partnered in solidarity with other Wrestling industry Convention leaders, notably Starrcast, Wrestlecade, and The Gathering (Charlotte Fanfest) who also agree to adopt and adhere to a similar code of conduct for their events.
Fightful will provide more information as it becomes available.
Bron Breakker, Rick's son, previously stated that his father's comments were not a reflection of him. Click here to see what he had to say.
Mick Foley previously shared his thoughts on Steiner's comments. More information is available here.
