Impact Wrestling star Gisele Shaw recently lashed out at WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner. She revealed revealing that he hurled transphobic insults at her during this weekend’s Wrestlecon signing event.
Gisele Shaw accuses Rick Steiner
Shaw transitioned from male to female at age 22 and came out as a transgender woman at the Pride Toronto event at age 33 in 2022.
Shaw took to her Twitter account and accused Steiner. According to Shaw, she was walking to her table and heard someone call her a “man,” “dude,” “a piece of trash,” and “filth” before telling her to “get the f*** away from here.”
At first, she chose to ignore the transphobic tirade and didn’t acknowledge who said it. However, she returned to the same area later on and discovered that it was Steiner, who continued with his insults. When Shaw confronted him about it, he kept yelling derogatory statements at her.
Furthermore, Shaw noted that other wrestling legends in attendance watched the incident unfold and didn’t speak up. “Judging from that experience, it was more important for them to watch something wrong go down as opposed to standing up for someone who’s being bullied and doing what’s right,” she wrote. Shaw said that these incidents keep happening because “people let it slide,” and she won’t work with anyone who does business with those kinds of people moving forward.
Shaw further went on to state that Steiner’s offensive remarks weren’t an isolated incident that day. The WWE Hall of Famer also allegedly used a homophobic slur to refer to another person earlier that day.
“I want to thank all of my Impact peers who were present during the incident and tried to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately a member of that same peer group was also verbally accosted by Rick Steiner being called a “f****t” earlier in the day.”
Afterward, she praised Impact for being a good company to work for. “I am very fortunate to be working alongside such incredible people in a company that has no room for hate, bullying, or judgment,” she added. Steiner hasn’t responded to Shaw’s statement as of this writing.
Chris Jericho posted, “Hey! Don’t even worry about this. #RickSteiner has always been a bully and has gotten away with so much because he is a “Steiner”. Makes me laugh cause I fell for the same shit when he bullied me, Eddie, Chris, Oscar, juvie etc at World War 3 1997!! I got your back @giseleshaw08 …and if Rick has an issue with this, I’d love to discuss with him anytime. It’s 2023 dude…grow the fuck up!”
https://twitter.com/GiseleShaw08/status/1642025847870877700
