Rick Steiner Removed From Wrestlecon In Detroit

Rick Steiner won’t be welcomed back to Wrestlecon after all.

Back in March, Giselle Shaw took to social media to reveal that WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner had verbally bullied her and launched into a transphobic rant while the two were both guests at Wrestlecon as part of WrestleMania weekend. The allegations were confirmed by IMPACT referee Daniel Spencer. Steiner was removed from the convention, and not allowed to participate in any further events that weekend.

It came as a surprise, then, when fans saw that Steiner was once again advertised to appear at the upcoming Wrestlecon in Detroit as part of SummerSlam weekend. Convention owner Michael Bochicchio issued a statement on the decision to bring back Steiner on a zero-tolerance basis as they believed he’d learned from his mistakes and held a private meeting to apologize to the IMPACT locker room. However, after receiving vocal backlash from fans, it seems that plan has changed.

Taking to social media once more, Wrestlecon announced that Steiner had been removed from the event after failing to issue a public apology. The statement also makes mention of a new Code of Conduct in the works, one that will involve collaboration from other notable convention leaders.

Attention: Rick Steiner has been removed from Wrestlecon.

When we allowed Rick Steiner to return to our Convention as a vendor guest of Tony Hunter Promotions, we did not adequately take into account the impact his past words from our last event still held in the LGBTQIA+ community. We initially allowed him to return because 1) We still feel that people deserve a second chance. 2) Rick did make an apology to all parties that chose to be present. 3) We lacked any type of code of conduct/harassment policy that clearly defined our expectations as a convention participant.

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.

Additionally, we now have created a first draft of our Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment policy that will be posted on our website for everybody to see later today. We will continue to improve upon this code of conduct over time and with the cooperation of others. We understand and appreciate that there will be many differences of opinion among our participants and we want to create a safe and enjoyable space for everybody at our Conventions.

At this time, we have partnered in solidarity with other Wrestling industry Convention leaders, notably Starrcast, Wrestlecade, and The Gathering (Charlotte Fanfest) who also agree to adopt and adhere to a similar code of conduct for their events.

When asked about his father’s behavior after the incident with Giselle Shaw took place, Steiner’s son Bron Breakker did not condone his actions and said they were not a reflection of Breakker or his beliefs.