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After 10 years of stories of how much of a dick this guy is, they can't all be untrue.
The continuation of former WWE developmental talent to not be members of the Bill DeMott
Fan Club continued this past week. I’ve actually talked or corresponded with quite a few
people on this subject and it’s not unanimous, but I’d say 80% are negative on DeMott. Some
were also proponents of Tom Prichard and it was not very popular overall when he was
replaced. One person, not a fan of DeMott, noted that Derek Foore and Drew Donaldson
(who wrestled as Chad Baxter and Chase Donovan) have spoken out with another former
developmental wrestler, Kevin Matthews, regarding DeMott. Foore, a former NCAA
Division II champion who was released in November, said the talent risks their lives for low
pay and that when he was recruited, they painted a picture of what it would be like, and once
he got there, it was nothing like that. He claimed they treated him great at his tryout but he
became a black sheep once he came in full-time. One of the problems with Foore is that
before going to Florida, he contacted Teddy Hart to learn some wrestling moves, and WWE
and Teddy Hart’s thinking on wrestling is very different, so he had to unlearn the very little
bit he knew. On DeMott, he said, “If you messed up on a spot, he could break a yardstick
over your back.” He said Rob MacIntyre (the trainer at Cena’s Hard Knocks South gym
where a lot of the guys trained), who got heat because there were so many injuries, was
unfairly blamed and replaced. He said the high number of injuries was due to DeMott’s
training and said DeMott talked about his drug use during his days as a wrestler and felt he
shouldn’t be in that position.
WWE likes to bring in guys who had drug issues, such as Perry
Saturn and Lex Luger, to talk with talent, to hopefully steer them away from that aspect. As
Baxter & Donovan, Foore said they came up with 13 different ideas and vignettes but none of
them were used. He said a few weeks later he saw the Prime Time Players on Raw using an
idea they suggested (the whistle) and claimed the Dr. Shelby psychiatrist idea that they did
last year for Bryan & Kane was one of the ideas they used, as was the hugging it out after
teasing breaking up (although that spot had been used in wrestling for years–the Midnight
Express used to tease breaking up and end up hugging at the end as heels in the 80s). He also
claimed DeMott had a gun in his office and used homophobic slurs daily, and was a bully.
One wrestler who was there and heard part of the podcast said about Foore and Donaldson:
“They’re idiots. Foore just didn’t get it and rubbed everyone wrong immediately. Over time
he started to figure things out and became fun to be around. Still, he seemed to be a bit
delusional about the wrestling world. Drew is a good guy but didn’t really have much to help
him stand out. I always felt he was intelligent, but after hearing him give credence to certain
rumors on that podcast, I don’t feel he has any credibility. There are genuine issues here but
what they are touching on is either false or skewed. It’s disappointing.” Another person very
familiar with the situation said Foore was a nice guy, but a meathead, but a lovable meathead.
Apparently, when it came time to come up with a name, Foore brought up that Kurt Angle
and Brock Lesnar didn’t use fake names. He was told not to say things like that to anyone in
power as the new company policy is while they recruit athletes, once they are there, those
backgrounds mean little, aren’t really promoted and everyone is given a new name, whether
you were a college football player, an NCAA Division I wrestler, or the son of a famous
celebrity or a wrestling legend. Foore and Donaldson and Nick Rogers were said to be a very
funny act on promos and at one time there was at least talk to maybe put them on Saturday
Morning Slam as a goofy trio. But while one set of decision makers liked them, another set
thought their ring work was lacking, so they went from being teased of being on TV, to being
let go when cuts were made. They were all shocked and upset about being fired by Canyon
Ceman, particularly since they saw him as not knowing wrestling and being an ex-volleyball
star (I suspect Ceman was just the bad guy who made the phone call, not the guy who made
the call, but I could be wrong).
Foore after being fired, came back to the school and wanted to
talk with DeMott, who very politely asked him to leave and said they could talk later, and
Foore then screamed “Fuck you” at DeMott and made a scene. This all happened at the end
of last year. Regarding the charges, one person said he never heard DeMott use any hate
speech, “Not saying it didn’t happen, but I never heard it.” The person said DeMott did use a
small stick for about a week, not a 2x4, but a stick that would hurt less than a kendo stick.
He’d smack a guy in the boot or the back as they hit the ropes on occasion. But it wasn’t like
he was beating people with the stick. Then the stick was gone. “I like to think I could gauge a
problem when I see it and I’d not consider that a big issue. It was more isolated clowning
around that nobody really seemed to take issue with till now. And again, it happened like one
week and that was it.” DeMott was loved by those in charge because he’s very organized,
with charts, bulletins, notes e-mails, every day, all day. “ He’s a yes man, and that’s what
they love,” noted one person. It was also noted when Ceman brought in Ryan Katz to take
Rob Naylor’s spot, that even though DeMott and Naylor were said to be close, DeMott didn’t
argue it and accepted it, which is the smart political move for his job. Still, there was a
feeling that instead of going on the Internet and praising him publicly, he should have stood
up for his friend or at least tried to fight for him to keep his job. Then again, it was unlikely to
make any difference, and DeMott was hardly the only one praising Naylor last week on
Twitter from management even though he was let go, right up to HHH, who runs the
division. And there is a good chance they’ll find a way to bring him back, but that whole
situation last week was so weird with everyone talking about how great he was at his job,
how much he knew, all the talent getting him to trend, etc., and yet, the company still let him
go.
Without mentioning DeMott’s name, Ivelisse Velez, who had a lot of potential because she
had in-ring instincts that the other women didn’t have, plus looked the way they want their
women to look, talked about her run there. Her release surprised me because people were
always praising her and Paige, who were better than several of the women on the roster and
had the right look. But she did get a reputation for having an attitude problem. Whether that’s
why TNA hasn’t hired her after she got that huge reaction for her Gut Check match and the
crowd hated that she was cut, don’t know. In Mexico, the same things were said about how
she was pretty and could work but her attitude was an issue. “As soon as Dr. Tom was not
there anymore, I saw something lurking,” she told Ringbelles. “I knew my days were limited.
If you notice specifically in Tough Enough, there’s a certain person that didn’t really like me
very much. So I knew I had to really get to the main roster as soon as I possibly can, because
otherwise, I’d probably be out of there.” She said what bothered her the most in
developmental, and this is also where the “attitude problem” issue came from in the sense
they would tell her this and it got her mad. “I hated to hear, `Don’t wrestle like a guy. We
want you to wrestle like women.’ My entire career, I focused on wrestling like I was just as
good as the guys, and I’m told now that I finally make it, that I have to switch it up and be
girly. It was a little frustrating.”
Another charge made was that one of the trainers sexually harassed one of the younger
women performers in developmental. There was definitely a rumor going around, because
Ryan Nemeth, immediately after he got cut, tweeted that same thing. The story was that
someone harassed the woman, and DeMott then told her not to complain to human resources
about it. Nemeth took down his tweets very quickly. It would have put heat on his brother
(Ziggler) not to do so. One person there said that there were things wrong and to complain
about, but that story was not the way it happened and not one of the real issues. The WWE
issued a statement on the latter charge by saying, “There have been no sexual harassment
complaints filed against any employee at the WWE’s training facility in Orlando. Instead,
there have been baseless allegations, made by disgruntled talent recently released by WWE.
Regardless, WWE takes these issues seriously and investigated this matter, concluding there
was no wrongdoing.”
_________________ Drop In wrote: I'm picturing a 12 year old Bob Loblaw bitching out a Randy Savage Wrestling Buddy for botching his finisher. Also envisioning Bob Loblaw getting bitched at for lighting the living room table on fire for said finisher.
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