Rick Steiner Removed From WrestleCon

Rick Steiner had a chance to make a return to the pro wrestling convention circuit after a really messy ordeal at WrestleCon. Now, it appears that is not happening, despite originally getting a spot on the Detroit event.

Rick Steiner drew a 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.

Now, WrestleCon has announced that Rick Steiner has been pulled from their Detroit show to cash in on SummerSlam. This announcement also included an apology for anyone who had any issue with this turn of events.

Attention: Rick Steiner has been removed from Wrestlecon.

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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.

While Rick Steiner 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.

We will have to see what’s next for Rick Steiner. It appears that he is not getting a paycheck from WrestleCon after all. Only time will tell how long it will be until Rick Steiner can get a booking without a groundswell of reaction coming at whoever booked him.

Keep checking back with Ringside News for more information on this story, and many more. We will continue monitoring this story, along with so many more, and we invite you to chime in by leaving a comment below!