#SpeakingOut

[famicommander]

Shameful behavior on NJPW's part. I wasn't aware of the Chase Owens stuff. Gross.

There needs to be more people calling them out, as well as WWE. How the fuck is Velveteen Dream still employed?

[supersonic]

At the very least, every federation should have a thorough, clearly defined, publicly accessible code of conduct, in particular the bigger ones, which I'd consider ROH, AEW, and NJPW. (To ROH and AEW's credit, they were NOT silent last summer and have since taken action towards certain individuals.)

Codes of conduct are currently available for WWE, the UFC, the NBA, MLB, and the NFL (Google for "NFL personal conduct policy" as the direct link forwards to NFL Game Pass.) The last I can find for the NHL is that it was in the proposal stages about a year ago.

I don't want any excuses that these enterprises with existing codes of conduct are publicly traded or collectively bargained. The owners of NJPW, ROH, and AEW (who also own an NFL franchise) have the means to get it thoroughly done.

[famicommander]

There shouldn't even need to be a code of conduct. Nobody should have to tell you that rape, creeping on teenage girls, domestic abuse, sexual harassment, or vanilla assault are unacceptable.

[supersonic]

Although this is technically outside pro wrestling, I am including this here due to his musical contributions that have been a major part of pro wrestling history, including being used as themes for Raw. SmackDown, Austin Aries, and Christopher Daniels.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/20 ... lyn-manson

[Shanahan]

I dont get the Ospreay outrage. His best friend was accused of rape, he didn't believe it and didn't wanna be in same locker room with the accuser. It was 1 show. If my best friend was accused of something you think i'm gonna side with the the accuser over my best friend? We can judge people on a message board with ease but this is real life and every single person in here has had friend who was accused of something....could be something serious or something trivial...i seriously doubt you went "hey ive known you for years but after that person said that about you....well....bye...i believe them"....suuuuuuuuuurrrrreeeeeeeeee.

[famicommander]

I dont get the Ospreay outrage. His best friend was accused of rape, he didn't believe it and didn't wanna be in same locker room with the accuser. It was 1 show. If my best friend was accused of something you think i'm gonna side with the the accuser over my best friend? We can judge people on a message board with ease but this is real life and every single person in here has had friend who was accused of something....could be something serious or something trivial...i seriously doubt you went "hey ive known you for years but after that person said that about you....well....bye...i believe them"....suuuuuuuuuurrrrreeeeeeeeee.

There's a difference between not immediately believing someone and messing with their job because you don't believe them. If Ospreay didn't want to be on a card with someone who accused his friend of rape, he should have pulled out of the booking himself. Getting someone blacklisted for having the courage to come forward is disgusting and unacceptable.

[Shanahan]

I dont get the Ospreay outrage. His best friend was accused of rape, he didn't believe it and didn't wanna be in same locker room with the accuser. It was 1 show. If my best friend was accused of something you think i'm gonna side with the the accuser over my best friend? We can judge people on a message board with ease but this is real life and every single person in here has had friend who was accused of something....could be something serious or something trivial...i seriously doubt you went "hey ive known you for years but after that person said that about you....well....bye...i believe them"....suuuuuuuuuurrrrreeeeeeeeee.

There's a difference between not immediately believing someone and messing with their job because you don't believe them. If Ospreay didn't want to be on a card with someone who accused his friend of rape, he should have pulled out of the booking himself. Getting someone blacklisted for having the courage to come forward is disgusting and unacceptable.

She wasn't blacklisted. It was 1 show. Comparing him to other guys who actually physically abused women is disgusting and unacceptable.

[famicommander]

I dont get the Ospreay outrage. His best friend was accused of rape, he didn't believe it and didn't wanna be in same locker room with the accuser. It was 1 show. If my best friend was accused of something you think i'm gonna side with the the accuser over my best friend? We can judge people on a message board with ease but this is real life and every single person in here has had friend who was accused of something....could be something serious or something trivial...i seriously doubt you went "hey ive known you for years but after that person said that about you....well....bye...i believe them"....suuuuuuuuuurrrrreeeeeeeeee.

There's a difference between not immediately believing someone and messing with their job because you don't believe them. If Ospreay didn't want to be on a card with someone who accused his friend of rape, he should have pulled out of the booking himself. Getting someone blacklisted for having the courage to come forward is disgusting and unacceptable.

She wasn't blacklisted. It was 1 show. Comparing him to other guys who actually physically abused women is disgusting and unacceptable.

To say they're both unacceptable is not to draw an equivalency between them. Of course it's worse to physically abuse someone than it is to try to cost them a paycheck because your friend raped her. But both fall well short of basic human decency.

Plus Ospreay publicly attacked her before she even named her rapist and, according to her, was already actively destroying her reputation throughout the UK scene long before she made any public statements. Your take sounds like you didn't read this whole article:
https://jacksharesgraps.blogspot.com/20 ... aking.html

[supersonic]

Ospreay’s behavior is a shining example of why Me Too and Speaking Out took so long to finally come to fruition.

[supersonic]

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/135 ... 73476?s=20

According to an order issued about 1 hour ago, Joey Ryan's lawsuit against Sierra Loxton and the 2 women whose allegations he says she posted has been dismissed because he had "not adequately responded to" an order to show cause.

It was dismissed w/o prejudice, so he can refile.

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/135 ... 83840?s=20

Something that everyone really needs to get through their heads about Joey Ryan & why you need to support the people he's suing in every way you can:

Even in the event he had no intent of following up—a realistic enough possibility—just filing the suits chilled their speech.

What does that say to anyone around wrestling who wants to come forward with similar allegations? That even if most colleagues & fans believe you and you were joined by at least 16 others, you're just gonna get retraumatized and drained of money anyway.

Even if he loses? He won.

[supersonic]

The Sound of Silence: NJPW and Speaking Out

#Metoo?: How Japanese Legislation and Society Are Failing Sexual Assault Victims

[supersonic]

https://twitter.com/TheRoomba/status/13 ... 9449149440

Joey Ryan bragged about how he bought a house with cash. Days later he posted a link to a family member’s funeral gofundme. I looked, he donated like fifty bucks and it never reached the goal.

[supersonic]

Details on Ryan Nemeth’s short film HEEL - https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com ... el-trailer

[supersonic]

https://twitter.com/leeroycole/status/1 ... 8187873280

My brother Tom Committed suicide a couple of hours ago. Vince Mc Mahon and his wife Linda let child molesters into their companies years ago and did everything possible to cover up what they did to my brother. I hope you can sleep good at night Vince. Our family suffers. Thank U

https://twitter.com/dskolnick/status/13 ... 21543?s=20

Tom Cole sadly committed suicide at the age of 50. To those in politics and wrestling fans unfamiliar with Tom, here is his 1999 interview in Wrestling Perspective here: http://wrestlingperspective.com/issue/78/cole1.html

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/136 ... 00385?s=20

Something I should make clear, as I have a feeling it may come up:

Tom Cole never changed his story. Yes, there were periods where he was more forgiving of the McMahons/WWE. And yes, as more time passed, he got vague in public about what happened. But he never changed his story.

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/136 ... 94530?s=20

Make sure everyone knows about Tom Cole.

That they know why, for instance, an officer of WWE called multiple Business Insider editors to try to convince them that I was a charlatan who had conned them into working on a fabricated story.

David Bixenspan's extensive feature on Business Insider - https://www.businessinsider.in/politics ... 938854.cms

POST Wrestling interviews David Bixenspan about the Ring Boys Scandal - https://www.postwrestling.com/2020/11/0 ... bixenspan/

WARNING: This podcast contains descriptions and language of sexual assault allegations and uncomfortable subject matter, including allegations of sexual assault against minors.

John Pollock is joined by journalist David Bixenspan to speak about his latest feature covering the early ‘90s ring boy scandal in the World Wrestling Federation.

During this hour-plus interview, Bixenspan outlines the key figures involved, the positions that Terry Garvin (Terry Joyal) and Mel Phillips held within the company, the accusations from Tom Cole & Chris Loss, media coverage from the era, new facts uncovered by Bixenspan, statements issued to the outlet from WWE’s legal rep Jerry McDevitt, and how the story has been framed over the past 28 years.

[supersonic]

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/136 ... 78051?s=20

Hot Take: Maybe the gatekeepers of wrestling history shouldn't have mysteriously forgotten for decades that Vince McMahon admitted to 2 reporters on the record that he fired someone who he was concerned was using his job to do molest kids, only to rehire him weeks later.

Seriously, THIS SHOULD BE A THING HARDCORE FANS ALL KNOW. Yet after two weeks, the wrestling newsletters, including one published by one of those reporters, never mentioned it again. Ever. Even in retrospectives about the ring boys scandal.

[famicommander]

Cole's brother:

We are talking about grown men that molested children for a long period of time in the WWE. Did other men like my Brother Tom, kill themselves because of the pain. The McMahons covered for Patterson, Garvin and Phillips, who else did they cover for.

All those people who paid tribute to Patterson knew he did this.

[supersonic]

Mat Matters: Cole, dead at 50, was the original whistleblower for #SpeakingOut

[supersonic]

https://cultaholic.com/posts/progress-w ... nt-tapings

PROGRESS Wrestling held tapings for the first time in months recently and the British promotion returned over the weekend with Chapter 104 on WWE Network.

PROGRESS was quickly placed under scrutiny, though, following a rumour that Paul Robinson had worked as an agent at the recent tapings.

Allegations were made against Robinson during the Speaking Out movement back in June 2020. The Twitter account from which the allegations originated has since been deleted, but screenshots can be found here.

The allegations are as follows: "On 6th December 2014, a group of us from IPWUK were flown over to Oberhausen, Germany, all paid for by Daniel Edler (or.... at least he paid for all of it for me). At this time I was 16. We spent the day being shown around the area by Jimmy Havoc. Whilst wandering the streets, Paul Robinson and myself started talking more and more and it was really fun, we felt comfortable around eachother. During the WXW show later that night (a show at which Daniel Edler purchased me lots of drinks, I think that should go without saying at this point.), we both went outside for a cigarette together, and one thing led to another and we ended up kissing. We were inseparable that whole weekend. In the following weeks, we would share phonecalls together just to chat and hear each other's voices. Somehow his children's mother ended up finding out we were talking and sent me nasty messages. I was 16 why would I want to be in a situation like that? We drifted apart and he eventually blocked me on social media, and that was that really."

Following pressure from the British Wrestling community, PROGRESS confirmed earlier today that Robinson worked as a backstage agent at the recent tapings. The promotion failed to address if Robinson was at the tapings during an initial statement over the weekend.

PROGRESS wrote on Monday:

"It was always our intent to name talent competing on each card, so that those who wish to watch can make a judgement for themselves. When a talent is working in a non-performing capacity, we require their permission to name them publically.

Paul Robinson has agreed that we can state that he was working as an agent on Chapter 104-108. Paul Robinson would have been an in ring competitor on this card, which changed only with conflicts of availability, and would have meant him being announced in the originally planned card.

To reiterate our statement from 20th February, all talent were aware who would be working backstage on the show, and no issues were raised. We are happy that everyone working on that show has passed all of our vetting procedures.
We ask if anyone has information about any of our talent or crew please get in contact via progress@progresswrestling.com and we will act on the information accordingly.

Thank you for all those who watched Chapter 104, we are looking forward to Chapter 105 this weekend.

All The Best
Team PROGRESS"

[supersonic]

https://twitter.com/BritWresAwayDay/sta ... 23878?s=20

"We checked with the wrestlers and they said it was okay" while holding and speaking from a position of power over those wrestlers comes off reading like exactly the same kind of position/relationship dynamic that was behind so many of the Speaking Out stories in the first place.

https://twitter.com/Alan4L/status/13638 ... 75746?s=20

Here's something about the whole "all the crew were fine with him being there" argument.....

If that's the case, why did someone there leak it to people outside the shows?

BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEY COULDN'T COMPLAIN TO MANAGEMENT SO THEY WENT EXTERNAL!

https://twitter.com/SarahFlann/status/1 ... 25423?s=20

Even from the bog standard PR POV. This is not how all of this works! The VERY FIRST press release should've had all this information. Be transparent and expect questions from the start?? What's so hard about this? How could you not foresee this happen, I don't understand

I'm just so sick of ineptness on so many levels. I HATE that I love wrestling. I hate that so many people have been hurt because structures and accountability have never been a thing. I'm so sorry it's failed so many people.

[famicommander]

The UK scene is disgusting and promotions affiliated with WWE are disgusting. Progress checks both boxes so it's not surprising they're cool with getting 16 year olds drunk and taking advantage. Maybe they should call up Marty.