Booker T has responded to a report from a former Reality of Wrestling talent.
On February 10th, Fightful reported details of an incident that took place in December 2022 and the series of events that led to it. Wrestler Raychell Rose, who was signed with ROW at the time, alleges that she was released from the promotion over an incident involving stalking and threatening behaviour from wrestler Shawn Reed.
Reed was asked to stay away from Rose and ROW after previously making Rose uncomfortable on numerous occasions. Reed would continue to make himself present around Rose and others. Rose attempted to file stalking charges with the authorities but the charges were denied as they were not in a relationship.
In December 2022, Reed would once again appear at a ROW event and was removed. Talent claims in the Fightful report that Reed also mentioned attacking other talent to Booker along with claims of “shooting up the venue.”
Reed was spotted in a bar later that night and confronted by Rose, who informed Reed that she would be calling the police. ROW talent also confronted Reed, with Rose telling Fightful that Reed assaulted a ROW wrestler before attempting to attack her. Reed was arrested.
Rose told Fightful that she was fired from Reality of Wrestling after speaking to Booker T about the incident. Rose found this to be unwarranted, stating that she was “effectively cut from the company due to having a stalker in which she’d warned the company about.”
Booker T Responds To Fightful Report
Speaking about the Fightful story on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T, who is the founder of the promotion, said the following:
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,”
Co-host Brad Gilmore questioned Booker T on the series of events that took place. Discussing the night in question on December 2022, the WWE announcer said the following:
“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.”
When asked about Reed being in possession of a firearm at the ROW show, Booker T denied this:
“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.”
When asked about Rose’s allegations of being stalked by Reed, the ROW founder issued the following response:
“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.”
Commenting on Raychell Rose being fired from Reality of Wrestling, Booker T stated that no one ever told Rose that she was fired:
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.”
When asked if he would have done anything differently on that evening, the Hall of Famer responded that there wasn’t much he could have done to change the situation apart from ensuring that everyone made it home safe, once again reiterating that he told Rose to not go to the bar.
Also in the response, Booker T addressed the safety of the ROW promotion and what has been put in place after the incident to ensure that everyone in the building is safe.
An editor’s note was added to the Fightful article, which gave additional comments from the ROW founder. Booker T was said to be frustrated at the timing of the report coming to light, believing it to be in connection to talent being told they could not work for other promotions. The follow-up comments from the Hall of Famer also stated that Rose was fired for an internal reason, but would not elaborate any further.
H/t to Fightful.