UPDATE: In an interview with Fighting Spirit
Magazine, Alberto Del Rio spoke about racism in WWE and the incident
that led to him getting fired. Here are highlights:
– Del Rio said that
racist comments were made constantly in WWE, usually at the Latinos or
African-Americans. He never said anything because it was made by the people
higher up in the company. He would only say something if someone lower, like
Cody Barbierri, made the comment.
– At first Del Rio was told he would be
suspended for slapping Barbierri. However, WWE figured out that there was a
lawsuit involving an incident with the Big Show years ago. They decided to
release Del Rio in case Barbierri sued. He was led to believe that he would be
back in a few months. He told WWE if he wasn’t hired back by the time he hung
up, he wasn’t coming back. He added he already decided to leave when his
contract expired.
– He didn’t reveal who made the call to him but added
it was someone who made several racist jokes. He said because he does it, others
think it’s okay.
– He said that the former Sin Cara is making $5,000 per
match in Mexico with two to three matches per week. He said that the new talents
in WWE are making $500 per match. A superstar who wasn’t named (but has a
brother in the company) reportedly told Del Rio that he worked a Superstars
match, a long RAW match, a promo on RAW and then a dark match at the end of Raw
and only got $500 for it. He said other wrestlers got $2,000 for a four show
tour of Mexico. Young talent aren’t unhappy but aren’t completely happy. They
feel like they have no other choice.
– He said that WWE only wants you to
use their style and won’t allow you to “think outside of the box”. He doesn’t
blame WWE for that but said he will now mix American, European, Japanese and
Mexican styles.
– He said that Dos Caras (his father) will have a
retirement event in 2015 with Del Rio, his brother Guillermo Rodriguez, Mil
Mascaras and stars from Japan. Rey Mysterio wants to be there.
ORIGINAL: Thea Vidale, the Thea star who portrayed Shelton
Benjamin’s mom in a 2006 storyline, recently conducted an interview with Neal
Morgan in which she claimed she was sexually harassed in WWE on a daily basis.
Vidale called her WWE time as the low point in her career, noting, “I
genuinely hated that place. While I was there I was sexually harassed everyday
by a perverted middle aged man that didn’t understand what no
meant.”
While she didn’t name any names, she did recount one specific incident:
“It was disgusting, I’ll never forget the day he came into my changing
area with his private parts hanging out of his pants. I made up my mind at that
point I was done with that company.”
