Rick Steiner drew ton of negative attention to himself over WrestleMania weekend, when he went out of pocket at WrestleCon. The WWE Hall of Famer made several obscene remarks to Gisele Shaw, while misgendered her in the process. That resulted in quite a public ordeal, to say the least.
It appears that Rick Steiner is making efforts to rectify the situation following an incident where he made transphobic remarks. This information is just now surfacing, months after the controversy.
Back in April, Rich Steiner faced significant backlash for his behavior at WrestleCon during WrestleMania 39 weekend. Witnesses confirmed that he made transphobic comments directed towards Impact Wrestling star Gisele Shaw.
While his son, Bron Breakker, didn’t face any consequences within WWE due to the incident, it did impact Rick Steiner’s relationship with the company. It resulted in the company distancing itself from him and potentially ruling out any future utilization of Steiner for a considerable period.
WrestleCon has now noted in a statement that Steienr has offered to apologize to Shaw privately. You can read the entire statement below.
“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 offered 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 Steiner was promptly banned from WrestleCon, and Scott Steiner showed up without his brother for the rest of the weekend. It should also be noted that WrestleCon did not book the Steiners, as they were brought in by a 3rd party vendor.
We will have to see what is next for this situation. Rick Steiner’s name certainly has a blemish on it at this point, but it didn’t negatively affect his son Bron Breakker’s run in NXT.
What’s your take on Rick Steiner? Do you think that Gisele Shaw should accept his apology? Sound off in the comments!
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