Bill DeMott Resigns From WWE Amid Bullying Scandal But Major Problem Still Exist

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On Friday, head WWE NXT trainer Bill DeMott announce his resignation from the company. The resignation came after a firestorm of accusations against the former WCW wrestler accusing him of bullying via verbal and physical abuse of his trainees. While many saw the accusations as just hearsay, it proved to be too much for the WWE and DeMott. No one knows days later whether the resignation was DeMott’s idea or forced by the WWE, a publicly traded company.

It all started earlier this week as former WWE developmental wrestler Austin Draven (WWE name Judas Devlin) released a letter he sent to the WWE’s talent relations department back in 2013. Here are some of the highlights from the letter that was leaked this week.

• DeMott repeatedly used derogatory names to refer to students. For example, calling wrestlers “pedophiles” and creating names for his students based on their ethnicity.
• Forcing students to train while hurt. Devlin gave numerous examples of DeMott forcing students to get in the ring and work when they were not cleared for activity. For those who refused to work hurt, he disparaged them and used them as examples of men and women who did not want to work and would not succeed in the business.
• DeMott also physically abused wrestlers during training such grabbing current WWE Superstar Rusev by his shirt collar and attempting to rip his shirt off of him. Rusev was at the time recovering from neck surgery and was not cleared for any activity. There was also an example of DeMott kicking the walking boot of a trainee who was recovering from a broken leg.

Now upon first glance, many assumed that Draven was just a burned-out, bitter and unsuccessful wrestler just venting his frustrations at his lack of a career. The WWE released a statement last week saying that the claims were investigated but they could not be verified. Draven responded by saying that DeMott confronted him about the claims in his office, where Draven claims DeMott kept a firearm. He admitted he dispelled the accusations in front of DeMott fearing for his life.

The accusations continued as two more former developmental wrestlers told similar stories of DeMott verbally abusing trainees and physically intimidating them. According to those other wrestlers, DeMott even went as far as to call wrestlers “faggots” and even referred to a wrestler of Middle Eastern decent as “terrorist”. Of course with DeMott’s long history in the wrestling industry, he has his defenders. Chris Jericho took to Twitter to state a case for DeMott saying “Hey Bill DeMott is a good friend and a great trainer. If u can’t handle it then quit. My training at #HartBrothers cap was 10,000 time worse.” Jericho later deleted the tweet.

After less than a week, it became clear that the story was gaining traction and as more former talents began to corroborate the story, it become too much for DeMott to survive. He resigned on a Friday, when most news is thrown since no one really pays attention. According to sources, many of the current NXT talents are ecstatic about the move as former WWE Superstar and current announce team member Jason Alberts is the interim head trainer.

For many, this is still just a case of sour grapes from wrestlers who “were not good enough” to make it to the big time of the WWE. I know for a fact that many older wrestlers, like Jericho, believe this to be true but surprisingly enough many fans believe this also. Some fans say that this is just another example of the new generation of wrestlers being soft and not being tough skinned enough to be a wrestler. This way of thinking is outdated and plain wrong.

The fact of the matter is that times have changed. When guys were being trained by the legendary Stu Hart or other old-school trainers, things like verbal and physical abuse was the norm. Back then however, everyone knew that if you were able to get through those training camps, you were made to be a wrestler. Nowadays, you are not getting inexperienced wrestlers who doesn’t know any better. Athletes from all sports are converging to attempt to become the next Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock. You cannot do what those old trainers did because society has changed and political correctness is the new norm.

Does this mean that these men and women need to be coddled and treated like kids? No but they do not need to be demeaned and driven to work when not able to. With all the deaths of former wrestlers from drugs, both recreational and prescription, these young athletes should not be pushed to their limit where they could turn to drugs to medicate as so many did before them. The Bill DeMott incident of the past week should be a cautionary tale to those trainers who still believe that tough love is the only way to train good wrestlers.

This ordeal should also be a wake-up call to young talents who are just getting into the pro wrestling industry. It does no one any good to remain quiet when your superiors are not doing their job correctly. Fear of your job and/or an opportunity should not be the reason for you not to report your trainer, especially to an entity like the WWE. At some point if you make enough noise, you will be heard and things will change. If things do not change, they will eventually as the organization and/or trainer will be brought to the forefront and things will change based on public opinion. There’s nothing wrong with having a thick skin and being called names because it happens in everyday life…that’s wrestling and that will never change. But when you are just being pushed for no reason, then things need to change. We will we see how this ordeal changes training but I believe that this will still continue and it will not change until something tragic happens…again.