As noted before, former Reality of Wrestling talent Raychell Rose recently claimed that she was fired by Booker T from the promotion over an incident involving a former RoW talent named Shawn Reed stalking her at multiple wrestling events and talent gatherings. As part of Fightful’s report on the situation, Booker T responded confirming that Rose had been fired from his promotion for “internal reasons.”
In a recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast, ROW owner and co-host Booker T gave another official statement about the incident and allegations made against his company stating:
“A story came out about Reality of Wrestling that was dropped by Fightful. The story was about safety issues and being able to own up to the situation. I want everyone to know that at Reality of Wrestling, allegations like what are in this story, we take very serious. Sharmell and I. We take the allegations very serious. For 20 years, we’ve been working with young people on a weekly basis. My motto has always been safety first. In the ring and out of the ring. My students have always had a line to me as far as they can call me and talk to me on a regular basis. The story that came out, it was about an incident that happened in December of 2022. This isn’t an incident that happened yesterday or anything. Sometimes I question, why didn’t this story come out a year or months ago? It really wasn’t a story, I didn’t believe. I thought it was an incident that happened, a situation that was handled, and we got past that situation.
Let’s go to the night in question. It was an incident that went down and it was the first time I found out about it. The person we’re talking about in this story, Raychell Rose, a former student at Reality of Wrestling, had an issue with a prior student that was part of Reality of Wrestling, years prior. I think he vacated Reality of Wrestling in 2020. A situation that I knew nothing about until this night. I found out about it before the show. I thought I handled it. After the show, Raychell Rose came to me and told me about the problem, not the situation. The problem. When she told me about the problem with her and Shawn Reed, having an issue, I say, ‘Let’s fix this problem.’ I knew Shawn Reed was at the bar next door, off Reality of Wrestling property, and I asked Raychell Rose, ‘Please, don’t go there; go somewhere else so we can diffuse this situation and handle it.’ For me, this is an issue that I can’t handle. This is an issue that police need to be involved with. I left. After that conversation, I stressed, ‘Raychell Rose, go somewhere else. Go anywhere. So many other places you can go to. Do that for me so we can diffuse the situation.’ I left, went home, next thing you know, I’m getting a phone call from the bar owner, I’m getting a phone call from the police and the boys to come back and figure out what happened. Raychell Rose chose to go to the bar. What happened after that was totally out of my control. I just want to stress. Sharmell and I take full responsibility for anything that happens under Reality of Wrestling’s roof. Anything that happens outside of Reality of Wrestling, that is totally out of our hands. For this story to be written the way it was, I fired somebody over a stalking incident, that is not something that happened. We can’t fire anybody because we don’t hire anybody. These are independent contractors. We can book them and not book them. That’s normally the way it works in this wrestling world.
I’m willing to answer any and all questions because I’m not running and I’m not hiding from anybody as far as my integrity goes as far as Reality of Wrestling and what I’ve built for the last 20 years working with so many young women. My young women at Reality of Wrestling, if they ever make it to the next level, I make sure I tell them, ‘If anybody treats you differently than I treated you, you call me because I know that’s not the right way to be treated.’ I treat all of my females at my facility like they are my daughter. I hold that with the utmost respect with anybody who comes into my school.”
In response to comments made by co-host Brad Gilmore over Rose’s claims that ROW did not have armed security and cameras at their wrestling school that would have prevented the stalking issues, Booker T stated:
“Yeah, not just for her safety but for everybody in the building. My family is working day-to-day operations as well. We have students in and out of the gym on a daily basis. After that incident, we had armed security as well as adding cameras to the facility.”
In response to Gilmore’s comments about the no-trespassing decree that Rose claimed was not issued to Reed, Booker T responded stating:
“We did that as well. It’s on paper. It’s in black and white. This goes back to 2020. Shawn Reed was asked to leave Reality of Wrestling’s property back in 2020. It goes back quite some time as far as him not being part of Reality of Wrestling. That’s why I feel this was a police issue more so than it was a Reality of Wrestling issue, as far as everything went. The mall had a report for this kid to not show up. I don’t know how long. I know you can’t get something like that indefinitely. As far as a temporary restraining order for this kid to not be on the property, yes.”
On the topic of the lack of communication between ROW officials, Booker T stated:
“I’m not going to sit and say something didn’t happen and someone didn’t feel like they may feel a certain way. I’m not going to question that. I can’t say Raychell Rose didn’t feel the way she did. As far as being able to communicate to someone, I thought Raychell Rose and my wife had a connection and I thought they talked on a regular basis. My wife is at the school more than I am, and Raychell could have easily called me and said something about it if something was going on. I’m not dismissing Kevin Bernhardt or anybody for not telling me there is an issue going on. I do know that Kevin released Shawn Reed from Reality of Wrestling in 2020. It was out of our hands as far as that went. It was a police matter. It didn’t have anything to do with Reality of Wrestling.”
On the topic of Booker T bringing Reed into a ROW show despite his alleged stalking of Rose, Booker T stated:
“As far as Shawn Reed goes, I didn’t know anything about any of this with Shawn Reed and Raychell Rose until that night. The person that told me about it was Shawn Reed. I was walking out in front of the building, it was before the show started, and he walked up to me. I hadn’t seen this kid in two years. He said the incident that happened with him and Raychell Rose, he said he didn’t want to date her anymore, he said he just wanted to be part of Reality of Wrestling. It was something he had a passion for after the last four years, and he lost it after he left the school. He said, ‘is it possible for me to watch the show?’ This kid, telling me he’s been going through ups and downs since he left the school, he’s been depressed. My thing is, I want to help this kid. I’m not going to throw this kid under the bus and just throw him out. I said, ‘let me bring this kid in. I need to keep this kid close to me.’ I gave him a nice big hug, just to get a feel of him. I brought him and let him watch the show. He watched the show and left that show peacefully. Nothing happened within that two and a half hours.”
Booker T also denied the claims that Reed had a weapon on him at the school that day stating:
“That’s not true. The place he sat, I made sure he was watched by an armed guard and six other people. I made sure of that. I got instinct. I could have easily let Shawn Reed leave the building that night and he left in a depressed state and something really happened that night, but nothing happened at Reality of Wrestling.”
Booker T also stated that he was not aware of the stalking allegations that were made against Reed at the time.
“Not stalking. He made aware that he did not want to date her. He said, ‘I don’t want to date her, I just want to be part of Reality of Wrestling. This is something I’ve missed for the last four years.’ That’s what my concern was. My concern was the kid. I didn’t know about her issue. Maybe had I been aware of her issue, I would have taken just as much consideration. I do know that I have a kid in front of me that going through something, and I have to make a rash decision right now. He hasn’t done anything, so I can’t call the police on him. I have to do something myself. I made a decision and I think the decision that I made was right because nothing happened at Reality of Wrestling.”
In response to comments made by Gilmore about if he had talked to Rose regarding Reed and his alleged stalking behavior, Booker T responded stating:
“Outside of the Reality of Wrestling front door. Raychell Rose came up to me and told me Shawn Reed was here and he shouldn’t be here. I told her, ‘You can’t tell Shawn Reed to leave the bar, the bar owner would have to do that. He would have to have a restraining order. Just go somewhere else, please, for tonight. We need to diffuse this situation.’ Something could really happen if this kid is as deranged and crazy as she’s making it out to be. I need her to go home. Just like I would tell one of my kids, ‘Go home tonight.’ She chose to go there. Her and a couple of other people. They chose to go there. All of this is on video. I’m not making up any stories. I don’t want anybody to think I’m trying to throw anybody under the bus here. Raychell Rose is one of my students for a long time. My wife helped her on so many occasions. I’ve helped her on so many occasions. This is what we do. We help young people. We’re not here to try and hurt them. After this incident happened, and I specifically asked Raychell Rose, vehemently, ‘Please, do not go over there. Go somewhere else tonight so we can diffuse this.’ She literally did the opposite of what I asked her to do. Of course that made me feel a certain way just because, after this incident happened, and I walked back into that chaos, I was fortunate that as little damage was done as it was.”
Booker T also gave his thoughts about Rose’s departure from his promotion.
“After that, a phone call happened between Raychell and I. I would think it was an amicable decision as far as us not working together anymore. Obviously, she didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand her. Maybe it was something where we could have taken a break. No one ever said to Raychell Rose, ‘You’re fired.’ That’s not a word we use at Reality of Wrestling because we don’t hire people. Raychell Rose, if she would have did what I asked, she says it, ‘I remember him saying go somewhere else, but we have a tradition to go to the bar.’ If we have a tradition to go to the bar, we have a problem. I’m trying to help you and save your life. That was disregarded.”
Booker T also stated that things could have been handled differently regarding this situation had he known about any issues involving Rose and Reed prior to December of 2022.
“There hasn’t been an incident at Reality of Wrestling in 20 years. We’ve never had to call the police in 20 years for any incident at Reality of Wrestling after, during, or before a show. This is the only incident. In 20 years, this is the only incident, that happened December 2022. This is not something that happened yesterday. I wish this story would have come out in December 2022. It would be a whole lot more accurate facts. More people that can vouch. It should have happened back then.
“This is the first and only time we’ve ever had a situation like this. I think if someone would have come to myself or my wife with a stalking allegation, the first thing we would have said is, ‘We need to get the police involved.’ That’s not something we can handle ourselves. That’s an internal problem that we can handle ourselves. Only thing we could do is remove this kid from the school, which we did in 2020.”
Booker T also gave his thoughts about if he could have done anything differently that night.
“Even if I was clairvoyant, I don’t think there would have been anything I could have done to change that situation other than try to make sure everybody went home safe that night. I think if everybody listened to me, it’s documented what I said to Raychell Rose, she said it herself. I asked her, ‘Please don’t go over there and confront a person who is perhaps a stalker and has mental problems. Don’t do that. Something could happen and someone could get hurt. I don’t need anybody getting hurt. Go somewhere else that night so we can diffuse the situation and get the police involved,’ because to my knowledge, the police hadn’t been involved.”
Following Booker T’s comments, Reed issued an official statement to Fightful admitting that he had brought a gun a ROW event in the past but denied that this was at a show where Rose was working in.
To clarify: Shawn Reed did not claim he brought a gun to the show in which Rose was at, but stated on a Fightful post that he brought one to Reality of Wrestling in the past. Texas has very loose gun laws.
Fightful did obtain numerous messages sent to and from Reed, and correspondence with the police about Reed’s behavior from well before the December 2022 incident took place.
Rose also recently released a video statement on YouTube in response claiming that ROW failed to protect her from her stalker before her release from the company. Rose also stated that she is still pursuing a restraining order against Reed.
“I recall telling them that the only way to try and keep my stalker away from the school without police involvement is to keep me away from their school. And I recall being told: ‘If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes’ …
This is nothing to do with wanting anything bad to happen to somebody, or anything bad to happen to a wrestling group. This is only to do with me and my personal situation and aid me in getting the legal process completed so that I can move on from this with my life.”
Transcript h/t: Fightful.com, PostWrestling.com
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