WrestleCon Issues Statement on Return of Rick Steiner for This August’s WrestleCon Event

As noted before, Impact Wrestling talent Gisele Shaw was involved in a transphobic incident with WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner at an autograph signing convention for WrestleCon this past April. WrestleCon had banned Steiner from future appearances for the company following this incident.

WrestleCon announced earlier today that The Steiner Brothers would be making an appearance for the company at their WrestleCon Destination Detroit convention on August 4-5 in Detroit, Michigan.

Courtesy of Tony Hunter Promotions, coming back to their home state, the Steiner Brothers will be available for Autographs and photo ops on both Friday and Saturday. pic.twitter.com/oYODqgUZGg

— WrestleCon – Detroit – August 4 & 5 (@wrestlecon) July 16, 2023

Following online backlash over the announcement, WrestleCon owner Michael Bochicchio issued an official statement over why they decided to book Steiner again for their upcoming event.

Bochicchio also stated that Steiner had apologized to the convention, wrestlers, and members of Impact Wrestling immediately after the incident and tried to apologize to Shaw but she chose to not attend his apology.

Official statement:

I’m going to address the Rick Steiner issue here instead of responding to every post. I hope everyone takes the time to read, but I also understand if you choose not to hear another side.

Rick made completely inappropriate remarks to Giselle Shaw at our event in Los Angeles.

As soon as we were made aware of what happened, we swiftly addressed the issue, but we never shared details of what happened at the event. In hindsight, it was probably a mistake not to share more details during or immediately after the event concluded. I take full responsibility- my wife died 3 weeks after the LA show at the age of 46, after a long battle with cancer, and I made a lot of mistakes during that time.

However, at no time then or after do we condone the remarks Rick made at LA. We did not fail to act after we were notified, and as a result, we removed him from the convention for the duration of that event. Rick’s poor decision forever impacted his brand , relationships within the wrestling community, and alienated many of his fans.

One of the positive things Rick did, and it was not publicized, is immediately apologize. He apologized to members of the Wrestlecon staff, he apologized to many of his fellow wrestlers, and offerred apologies to the members of Impact Wrestling staff that chose to hear from him at a private mediated event.

Giselle chose not to attend Rick’s apology, which we 100% understood, supported, and still support to this day. She had no obligation to hear anything from Rick nor should she ever feel obligated to accept any apology from him then or now.

Now that we are three months beyond this event, I feel that Rick learned a lot from his huge mistake. I know it’s easier to cancel people when they make mistakes than to forgive and help educate. However, sometimes I think it’s important that we give people a second chance. That being said, Rick will forever be on a zero-tolerance scale moving forward at any of our events. If we are proven wrong, that he has not learned from his mistakes, we will enforce a permanent ban. That is not to imply that everyone gets one free strike.

We continue to strive to have an environment where everyone feels safe and included. If we are faced with issues that compromise that environment, we will take all necessary action.

Michael Bochicchio
Owner of WrestleCon

I'm going to address the Rick Steiner issue here instead of responding to every post. I hope everyone takes the time to read, but I also understand if you choose not to hear another side.

Rick made completely inappropriate remarks to Giselle Shaw at our event in Los Angeles.
As…

— WrestleCon – Detroit – August 4 & 5 (@wrestlecon) July 16, 2023