WrestleCon Issues Statement On Rick Steiner Returning, Says Rick Tried To Apologize To Gisele Shaw

Rick Steiner will be back at WrestleCon in Detroit.

WrestleCon announced that Rick and Scott Steiner will be at WrestleCon in Detroit on August 4 and 5. Fans were caught off guard by the announcement as Rick Steiner asked to leave WrestleCon during WrestleMania weekend due to alleged derogatory statements he made towards Gisele Shaw regarding her being transgender.

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In a new statement, WrestleCon says that Steiner apologized to the convention, wrestlers, and members of IMPACT. The statement says that he tried to apologize to Gisele, but she chose not to attend the apology.

WrestleCon says they feel Rick has learned from this mistake and are giving him a second chance.

I'm going to address the Rick Steiner issue here instead of responding to every post. I hope everyone takes the time to read, but I also understand if you choose not to hear another side.

Rick made completely inappropriate remarks to Giselle Shaw at our event in Los Angeles.
As soon as we were made aware of what happened, we swiftly addressed the issue, but we never shared details of what happened at the event. In hindsight, it was probably a mistake not to share more details during or immediately after the event concluded. I take full responsibility- my wife died 3 weeks after the LA show at the age of 46, after a long battle with cancer, and I made a lot of mistakes during that time.

However, at no time then or after do we condone the remarks Rick made at LA. We did not fail to act after we were notified, and as a result, we removed him from the convention for the duration of that event. Rick’s poor decision forever impacted his brand , relationships within the wrestling community, and alienated many of his fans.

One of the positive things Rick did, and it was not publicized, is immediately apologize. He apologized to members of the Wrestlecon staff, he apologized to many of his fellow wrestlers, and offerred apologies to the members of Impact Wrestling staff that chose to hear from him at a private mediated event.

Giselle chose not to attend Rick's apology, which we 100% understood, supported, and still support to this day. She had no obligation to hear anything from Rick nor should she ever feel obligated to accept any apology from him then or now.

Now that we are three months beyond this event, I feel that Rick learned a lot from his huge mistake. I know it's easier to cancel people when they make mistakes than to forgive and help educate. However, sometimes I think it's important that we give people a second chance. That being said, Rick will forever be on a zero-tolerance scale moving forward at any of our events. If we are proven wrong, that he has not learned from his mistakes, we will enforce a permanent ban. That is not to imply that everyone gets one free strike.

We continue to strive to have an environment where everyone feels safe and included. If we are faced with issues that compromise that environment, we will take all necessary action.

Michael Bochicchio
Owner of WrestleCon

Rick has not publicly commented on the incident.

Fightful will update fans on any new information when it is presented.

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