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WrestleCon issues statement on booking Rick Steiner again after Gisele Shaw incident

Posted: Jul 17th 2023 By: Ian Carey

Rick Steiner has been booked for an upcoming WrestleCon event in Detroit, Michigan.

Impact Wrestling's Gisele Shaw posted to social media on April 1 that Steiner verbally accosted her at a WrestleCon event over WrestleMania weekend. Shaw, who came out as transgender last year, says Steiner referred to her as "a dude," "filth," "a piece of trash," and told her to "get the f*ck away from here." Steiner was not allowed to participate in the remainder of WrestleCon's events that weekend as a result.

However, WrestleCon has announced that Rick Steiner has been booked for their event on August 4 & 5 in Detroit.

Michael Bochicchio, the owner of the convention, addressed booking Steiner for a future event in a social media post on Sunday.

Bochicchio wrote:

"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.

Bochicchio continued to write that Steiner offered an apology to Impact Wrestling staff in a mediated setting. Shaw chose not to attend.

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.

Bochicchio continued to say that Steiner will be permanently banned from future events if there are similar incidents in the future.

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.

GCW's Effy responded to WrestleCon's statement:

absolutely disgusting behavior

wash this shit out from our business for good

no fucking thank you! you value a couple autograph dollars over the lives and safety of LGBTQ+ people who are already under attack constantly everywhere