Rick Steiner Pulled From WrestleCon

WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner has been pulled from an upcoming WrestleCon event, due to backlash stemming from the announcement of his appearance. 

IMPACT Wrestling star Gisele Shaw accused Steiner of bullying and making transphobic comments towards her during a WrestleCon event over WrestleMania weekend in early April. Her account of the incident was subsequently verified by several witnesses. 

WrestleCon organisers initially advertised the Dog-Faced Gremlin for their events in Detroit on August 5 & 6 and issued a statement defending their decision, but have now removed him from their lineup. 

In a statement posted to their Twitter account, WrestleCon said: 

"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".

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