It seems as if Rick Steiner won’t be attending Wrestlecon after all.
Just days after announcing Steiner would be returning Wrestlecon has rescinded their offer.
“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,” began a statement posted by the official Wrestlecon account on Twitter.
WrestleCon then explained how they hinged that return on a public apology by Steiner.
“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,” they continued.
WrestleCon also stated they have drafted a Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment policy.
Just two days ago Michael Bochicchio, the owner of WrestleCon, published a statement announcing that Steiner was invited back after making a private apology to members of the Wrestlecon staff, to many of his fellow wrestlers and offering apologies to the members of Impact Wrestling staff that chose to hear from him at a private mediated event. Giselle Shaw, the target of Steiner’s hateful tirade that day, chose not to attend Rick’s apology.
“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,” he wrote at the time.
Steiner was banned in April after targeting Impact’s Giselle Shaw with hateful comments such as “You’re a man! You’re a dude! You’re a piece of trash! You are filth! Get the f–k away from here!” and using a gay slur to verbally attack another member of the Impact staff.
“I am not writing this because I want sympathy. I am writing this because I am done being bullied to silence. Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility and I am standing up for myself and for other people who go through the exact same situation on a daily basis. I want everyone to know what kind of a deplorable person Rick Steiner is and that this cannot be tolerated. This keeps happening because people let it slide and do not take any action. If you do business with these [types] of people then I will not do business with you,” she wrote at the time.
https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/07/16/wrestlecon-invites-rick-steiner-back/
https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/04/01/wrestlecon-bans-rick-steiner/
https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/04/01/gisele-shaw-accuses-rick-steiner-of/
https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2022/09/19/gisele-shaw-on-coming-out-and-coming-up-in-impact-wrestling/
