WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner has been disinvited from WrestleCon next month after allegedly using “hateful phrases” toward transgender female pro wrestler Gisele Shaw. The convention would have allowed him to attend if he simply gave a public apology, but it sounds like he has no intention of doing that.
In a lengthy post on Twitter, WrestleCon owner Michael Bochicchio that in order for Rick Steiner to be allowed to attend next week’s event, had he given “some type of public acknowledgment/apology.” But Bochicchio made it pretty clear that he does not expect that to happen.
“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,” Bonchicchio said.
It’s worth noting that Steiner did issue an apology to a small group of people, but the apology was not public and Shaw chose not to be present at his apology.
