Wrestling Forward: We’re failing LGBTQ wrestlers during Pride month

Ring of Honor comments on Bully Ray incident

Ring of Honor had a situation at a recent show in Portland, Oregon in which a fan was confronted by wrestler Bully Ray backstage after drawing the ire of Velvet Sky and Mandy Leon, whom the fan claims spit at him. The fan said that his insults didn’t cross the line and were the standard comments a fan delivers to heels like “The Allure”, but calling them the “tramp stamp trio” seems to cross the line in my eyes. It’s one of those things that’s hard to get a read on since we don’t know exactly what was said by the fan, especially since women in wrestling are frequently subject to abuse. The women involved tweeted their own thoughts on the situation.

For ROH, the real issue was the fact that Bully Ray met the fan face-to-face backstage and intimidated the fan. This was clearly an unsafe situation and not the right way to address any possible verbal abuse from the fan. ROH conducted their own independent investigation of the incident and released a statement as an apology to their fanbase as a whole, though they do note that the investigation is ongoing.

It’s a complicated situation, and it’s important for fans to understand that they need to be careful what they say to women in wrestling. Some phrases that seem to be harmless to some male fans aren’t. But wrestling promotions need to make sure they are dealing with these situations correctly instead of taking justice into their own hands the “old school” way by having wrestlers intimidating fans backstage as a third party. That can be messy and distract from any misdoings by the fan, if this is what did take place.

I’m glad the fan and the wrestlers are safe, and hopefully ROH come up with a “Code of Conduct” or a set protocol for situations like this in the future. Fans, be careful out there, and, above all else, remember that even if the wrestlers are heels, they are still human beings and not actually evil characters. Please exercise caution when uncertain.

ROH made the headlines for this particular incident going public, but the events that unfolded at this live event in Portland take place all over the world at wrestling shows. This is far from the only well-known promotion where something like this could happen, and one benefit of pro wrestling promotions actually working together would be the implementation of clear expectations across promotions in terms of conduct from both fans and the professionals in the ring and backstage.

Montez Ford talks to Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts’s burial of Bianca Belair, one of WWE’s most talented superstars, on the NXT TakeOver pre-show panels raised eyebrows across the wrestling world. Here was Roberts, whose stated job is to generate interest in matches, crossing the line even in terms of announcer heel heat by attacking Belair’s credentials as a title-contending superstar. Her surprising back-to-back losses to NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler only raised more eyebrows.

Montez Ford is married to Belair and is now one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions. He addressed Roberts’s comments on Belair person-to-person on Roberts’s podcast, and I am incredibly impressed by Ford’s poise, restraint and supportiveness.

Longer contracts from WWE

Per a report from the Wrestling Observer News‘s Dave Meltzer, via Fightful.com’s Jeremy Lambert, WWE is now offering five-year deals to NXT talent instead of just three-year deals. This, of course, is designed to ensure talent stay in WWE for longer before potentially leaving to a rival promotion, and the timing of this move less than a month after AEW’s highly successful first show is uncanny.

It’s an understandable move from WWE, and most talent will take the longer deals. Not only does it give them more security, but, as Meltzer reports, WWE can offer the guaranteed money to ensure that their deals are too good to pass up on. Even with AEW emerging, there are more limited paying spots outside WWE, and WWE has the kind of money to sign essentially as many talented wrestlers as they’d like.

This move increases WWE’s power, but wrestlers who are already established outside WWE may be less interested in locking themselves in to a long deal if they feel like they can cash in on their talent elsewhere. Five years is a long time to commitment, especially to a promotion that has come under fire from wrestlers for being a restrictive, stressful environment.

Wrestlers that get to the main roster quickly may have a tougher time under a five-year set-up, since there are no guarantees on the main roster. For younger, less proven wrestlers, this could be an opportunity to have a stable income in WWE’s system before raising their star status and either signing a more lucrative second deal with WWE or signing a contract as a new top star for a different promotion.

Not every up-and-coming wrestler is interested in signing with WWE, of course. Dave Meltzer also reported, as per Fightful.com’s Andrew Thompson, that Millie McKenzie turned down a deal from the sports entertainment giants earlier this year. The deal was for McKenzie to formally join the NXT UK roster after making some impressive television appearances for Triple H’s newest brand.

McKenzie has a world of potential at just 18 and is one of the toughest wrestlers on the planet, and it makes plenty of sense for her to continue to raise her star outside WWE. She’s one of the absolute best wrestlers and biggest rising stars on the independent scene, having set the United Kingdom ablaze in a breakout 2018.

Regardless, this is an interesting situation to monitor and, as Lambert wrote in his Fightful piece, AEW’s presence has made contracts an even more interesting talking point for wrestling fans.