How To Avoid Showing Disrespect To Women In The Professional Wrestling Industry

How To Avoid Showing Disrespect To Women In The Professional Wrestling Industry

With advancements in technology, the increase of internet creepers continues. Women in the professional wrestling industry are often subjected to having to deal with these creepers who don’t understand how to be respectful when speaking to a woman, particularly a woman in the professional wrestling industry. Thus, here is the third installment of how fans can avoid disrespecting a woman in the professional wrestling industry.

First, please don't keep messaging her if she says she is currently at training, at work or in class. If she tells you that, she is clearly busy. Continuing to message her non-stop while she is training, working or studying is just inconsiderate and rude.

Next, don't keep messaging her if she says she is trying to get some sleep. Chances are you just woke her up by the notification sound she received from you contacting her via Facebook messenger or by the notification sound she received on her cell phone via text message (presuming she actually gave you her phone number). By choosing to continue messaging her just because you already woke her up is very inconsiderate as she is likely trying to get back to sleep so she can have enough energy for work, training or school the next day.

Additionally, please do not keep creating social media profiles just so you can continue messaging her over and over after she has already blocked you on previous accounts. Chances are if she blocked you, you said or did something to deserve it so please stop harassing her through other social media profiles. All that will do is make you look both annoying and like a stalker and if the harassment continues to persist, she can investigate into doing something more serious about the matter such as taking legal action.

Also, do not add her family or friends if you don't know them. That's beyond creepy, stalkerish and disrespectful towards both her and her family or friends. Many of her friends and family have absolutely nothing to do with the wrestling profession so adding them just because she knows them is very intrusive of not only her rights to a private life but also her friends and family’s private lives as well. Simply put, if you wouldn’t want someone you don’t know invading on your privacy like that, please don’t do it to anyone else.

Next, please don't ask her to create an account on another social media site just to talk to you. She may only use certain social media accounts for privacy reasons and have no desire or purpose to create another social media account on another website that she is not active on. If you ask her to create another account such as Snapchat, Hangout, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp etc. and she tells you no, don’t keep pestering her about it. if she said no, she has her reasons and you need to respect that plus chances are the more you bother her about it, the more she will be less likely to ever create a social media account for that site in the future. Not to mention, most people don't want to create a social media account they have no interest in having just to talk to one person they may not even know personally.

Additionally, if you ask a female in the wrestling profession what her relationship status is and she tells you that she has a significant other, do not add her significant other just to bully, threaten or harass them for being romantically involved with her. Women in the professional wrestling industry 100% know the only reason you would even consider threatening, harassing or bullying their significant other is because you are jealous that they have a romantic relationship with her whereas you don’t.  Also, threatening, bullying or harassing her significant other just because they are in a relationship with her is beyond disrespectful to both her and her significant other. If you threaten, bully or disrespect the person that she loves, she certainly won't want to chat with you due to you choosing to be rude to her significant other.

Next, please don't offer to pay her for sexual favors. She's a professional wrestler, not a prostitute. She wants to be respected for her work in the ring. If you offer to pay her for sexual favors, she’s going to get upset and more than likely block you immediately.

If a woman wrestler says she doesn't do session wrestling, please don't continue to ask her to do them and please respect her decision not to be interested in doing them. There is no reason to be rude to her for telling you she does not participate in session wrestling. Also, if she wasn't interested the first time you asked, she won't be interested a few days later when you ask again.

If you disagree on a woman wrestler's opinions that she has every right to express, it is not ok to go on her social media pages and bully or harass her for having a different opinion than you. That just makes you look rude and disrespectful. It will also likely result in you being blocked by her. 

If a woman wrestler tells you she isn't interested after you keep flirting with her or if she tells you that she is already in a relationship with someone, it is not ok to go on her social media pages and comment on her posts with mean, hurtful or harassing messages just because she turned you down. It just makes you look like a bitter, deranged stalker. It's a very quick way to get blocked and possibly even reported on the social media site, depending on how inappropriate your messages or comments were.

Additionally, if a woman tells you she is not interested or already in a relationship after you keep flirting with her, do not show up at a show she is booked on and harass her from the crowd solely because she turned you down. That is disrespectful and will easily make you look like a bully along with looking like a crazy stalker. It's a very quick way for you to even have a restraining order placed on you, should the female wrestler involved choose to file one. 

Keeping It Safe: Why Wrestling Promotions Need To Enforce Better Security

Keeping It Safe: Why Wrestling Promotions Need To Enforce Better Security

By Ashley Matthew

Wrestler and fan related incidents have been occurring at shows for quite a long time, particularly at independent promotions. However, these types of incidents between wrestlers and fans have recently increased with mainstream promotions. While some promotions mention to their fans that they cannot touch the wrestlers apart from a handshake or a high five, this policy is not always properly enforced, leading to potentially dangerous situations for the wrestlers when fans take things a bit too far.  So how can situations such as fans trying to pick fights with wrestlers, fans touching or grabbing the wrestlers inappropriately, fans jumping the barricades to attack wrestlers and fans throwing items such as chairs and water bottles to the wrestlers be better avoided?

While there is no particular “be all, end all” solution, better security measures can help to better prevent incidents from happening at wrestling shows. For example, had security personnel actually stepped in to intervene like they are supposed to do, Taya Valkyrie could have avoided being spat on by a fan, Scarlett Bordeaux could have avoided being grabbed and almost pulled over the barrier by a fan and The Allure could have avoided the harassment they all received from one fan in particular at a recent show they performed at. Security needs to be properly trained on how to handle situations where fans get out of control. It shouldn’t be a wrestler’s responsibility to step in and take on security’s job by intervening to help their fellow workers out when a fan decides to act inappropriately at a show. Much respect though to the wrestlers that have stepped in to help their fellow workers during any incident that security has failed to assist on!

Although every promotion really needs to have them, barricades are not sufficient enough to prevent incidents from happening as evident by situations such as Eddie Guerrero being pushed off a ladder by a fan and both Bret Hart and Randy Orton being attacked in the ring by fans that decided to jump barricades. While barricades are there to further protect fans and wrestlers, security needs to be trained to act quickly and professionally when an incident arises. With security not being properly prepared or trained for any incident that could arise, the wrestlers and fans are both being put in danger.

For example, Bret Hart being attacked at the Hall Of Fame Ceremony also put Natalya in danger of possibly getting hurt as she was right next to her uncle in the ring at the time of the attack. Additionally, a fan could try to do something foolish and irresponsible, leading them to potentially hurt other fans around them. Not to mention, the fans causing trouble could get hurt themselves if a wrestler has no choice but to defend themselves all because security isn’t doing anything to resolve the matter. Promotions need to be making sure their security is properly trained through certified courses, training seminars and classes on how to handle dangerous situations in a swift manner.

Often, wrestlers need to be in specific areas of the ring or arena at certain times during a match, in order for certain moves they planned out to be executed properly and safely. If a fan chooses to get involved where they aren’t supposed to by either grabbing or attacking a wrestler, that wrestler they grabbed or attacked cannot be in the proper area they need to be for certain spots, further potentially placing any wrestler involved in the match in danger or risk. Fans need to consistently be made aware to not physically interfere in a wrestler’s performance and security needs to step up their game by being alert at all times in case an incident may occur by a fan who chooses to conduct themselves in a disrespectful and misbehaving manner at a show.

In conclusion, fans, please act respectfully and responsibly at wrestling shows. Just like musicians at a concert, actors in a theater play and other entertainers out there in their respective career fields, the wrestlers booked for the show you attend are there to perform for you. They are not there to be harassed or assaulted by you. If you wouldn’t want someone grabbing or touching your child, significant other or a family member close to you in an inappropriate way, please don’t grab or touch wrestlers in that way.

If you want to interact with the wrestlers, it is ok to ask them politely for a photo, high five or autograph. If you are respectful about asking for a high five, autograph or photo, most will be happy to oblige so long as they have the time to do so, meaning they don’t have to rush to make it their job outside of wrestling or to another booked show in time or leave the building to take care of some other important commitment. It is not ok to do something ignorant, illegal and in poor taste towards a wrestler just because you feel you are entitled to do so, because you bought a ticket or to try and get a little bit of attention, popularity or fame. All it will do is make you look bad in the long run.

Security, if you see an incident occurring, please don’t just stand there and do nothing but watch it happen or keep chatting with your friends. Please take your job seriously and be professional enough to actually do the job you are expected to do.  Promoters, please make sure the security at your promotion is doing their jobs properly and please keep your fans aware to act maturely, civilly and dignified at shows. By doing this, we can avoid any more serious incidents from happening because it shouldn’t have to take a more tragic event to happen for promotions to get more serious about enforcing proper safety and security measures at shows.

Finding Growth In The Struggle & Turning Negatives Into Positives

Finding Growth In The Struggle & Turning Negatives Into Positives

Sometimes in life we go through very tough and difficult times whether it be a family tragedy, a health issue, conflict with a co-worker or a friend, financial trouble, struggles finding a job etc. Often these times of trial can discourage, distress or even depress us. However, the difficulties we endure in life often make us stronger in the long run and help us find the courage we didn’t know we had, the courage to go on despite the difficulties, the courage to overcome these trials we are faced with.

The trick is finding the blessing in the difficulty. Sometimes that isn’t easy and sometimes we may not realize the blessing right away, sometimes not even until the problem has been resolved and we look back on everything we faced regarding it, learning from the experience. So how do we find the blessing? First, we can be grateful for the good things we still have in life while facing these trials and also remembering that things could be a lot worse and that others are facing bigger problems in the world than we are. Not only does that keep us humble and grateful but it often can even help us reflect to where we can possibly even find a solution to the current problem we face.

Of course, it is also perfectly ok to ask for help or advice from a trusted individual such as a friend or family member. If they are able to assist you with the problem, remember to thank them. If they aren’t able to assist you, do not hold a grudge against them for not helping especially if the matter regards financial trouble.

Translation: If you ask to borrow money from them and they tell you they can’t give you any, please try to be understanding. Perhaps they are not in a place where they can help financially for they may possibly be struggling with finances themselves and just not disclosing that information to anyone. Not everyone is comfortable with sharing their problems to the world after all and some people try to tackle on problems without other’s help or knowledge of the matter so if someone tells you the only way they can help is through prayer, please be appreciative of that because they are choosing to pray for you because they care for you and please don’t try to guilt trip them for not being able to do more than that for that may be the only way they can help right now.

Sometimes we go through things that really can’t be helped by anyone else but ourselves. In matters like these, we sometimes realize that if a situation cannot be controlled, there’s no point in exhausting ourselves and stressing ourselves out by fighting the situation. Sometimes it’s just something we have to embrace and by doing so, we can often turn a negative situation into a positive one by finding the way we ourselves can grow through our struggle.

A situation out of my control is something that has affected me in the past and continues to do so today. Through a lot of self-reflection, I came to realize that perhaps God had me go through what I went through in order to grow as a person in a variety of different ways through my life and career. I came to realize that perhaps these changes in my life are leading me to something bigger and greater in my life that I need to embrace rather than try to fight off and that it’s only a matter of time before I see the benefits from it. I have had to acknowledge that what I went though may be helping me to blossom into the person that God wants me to be and to develop my life and career into how he wants it to be. I had to find the positive in the negative by embracing it as an opportunity for growth and transformation in many areas of my life.

Therefore, I encourage you to do your best to find the silver lining in negative experiences and moments of hardship. Do what you have to in order to find a way to grow and become stronger from what you are enduring, even if it takes a while to do so. Keep a heart full of hope, a soul full of gratitude and a spirit of perseverance. I wish you all the best!

Sinful Storybooks: The Seven Deadly Sins In Fairy Tales

Sinful Storybooks: The Seven Deadly Sins In Fairy Tales

Fairy tales have been around for centuries. Often, they are some of the first stories we are introduced to during our childhood. While at the age of a child, we found these stories to be entertaining due to something magical being featured in them such as an enchanted castle, a mermaid or fairy godmothers that could make a person’s wishes come true, these stories actually contained very important morals and lessons such as being wary of talking to strangers or the importance of working hard and staying humble. However, did you ever realize that many old fairy tales contain themes of the seven deadly sins in them? While many fairy tales contain multiple sins, I am going to focus on seven fairy tales that focus on each of the seven deadly sins in a major way and the lessons it taught in the story through featuring those sins.

Little Red Riding Hood (Lust):

Little Red Riding Hood is a story that contains undertones of lust, especially through the symbolism of what the red hooded cape is meant to represent in regards to Red’s maturity as a young woman and what the wolf is supposed to represent symbolically as the predator in this tale. When Red is told by her mother to go visit her ill grandmother and bring her food to help ail her, she is informed to stay on the path. On her way to her grandmother’s home in the forest, she is approached by a wolf, who inquires to where she is headed. Innocently assuming that the wolf means no harm, she tells him she is headed to her grandmother’s home in the forest. The wolf, who lusts after Red as a meal tells her she should pick some flowers for her grandmother, which causes Red to stray from the path her mother urged her to stay on.

While Red picks flowers, the wolf rushes to Red’s grandmother’s home and gobbles the grandmother up. He then puts on Red’s grandmother’s clothing and gets into the grandmother’s bed in order to trick Red into thinking he is her grandmother upon Red’s arrival to the home. Once Red arrives, the wolf lures Red into the bed with him. Red notices how strange her “grandmother” looks citing how deep the wolf’s voice is and how big the wolf’s ears, eyes, hands and mouth are.  The wolf then eats Red.

Eventually, a huntsman comes along and cuts the wolf open with an axe, saving Red and her grandmother who are miraculously still alive and unharmed inside of the wolf. They then fill the wolf’s stomach with heavy stones. When the wolf awakens and attempts to escape, he falls over from the heavy stones inside his body and perishes.

Cinderella (Envy):

Envy is featured in the tale of Cinderella. Cinderella is a kind and hardworking girl who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters. Jealous of Cinderella’s natural beauty, good heart and charm, the stepmother and stepsisters are often very cruel and mean to Cinderella, treating her as a servant than as a family member. Cinderella is forced to do all of the housework and sleep by the fireplace. Her stepmother and stepsisters even make Cinderella dress in rags to try and diminish some of her natural beauty from shining through.

Despite the way her stepfamily tortures her, Cinderella remains kindhearted and even goes to her mother’s grave daily to pray that her life would improve. One day, the king decides to host a royal ball in honor of his son. Cinderella wants to attend but her stepmother forbids her, out of fear that Cinderella will ruin her daughter’s prospects of ending up married to the prince who is looking for a bride. On the night of the ball, she goes to her mother’s grave and prays she could still go to the ball. Her prayers are answered when she is granted with a beautiful dress and shoes.

Cinderella goes to the ball and wins the prince’s heart but leaves her shoe behind at the ball before leaving. The prince becomes determined to find the maiden who fits the slipper. He searches throughout the kingdom and eventually arrives at Cinderella’s home. Determined to fit into the slipper, Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off part of the heels of their foot but it is to no avail as the blood on their feet gives away their wicked scheme.

Cinderella asks to try the slipper on but is ridiculed by her stepfamily for asking. Nonetheless, she tries the shoe on and it fits her perfectly and she ends up marrying the prince. As for Cinderella’s stepsisters, they try to win over Cinderella’s favor but as punishment for how they have mistreated and abused Cinderella over the years, they become blind when their eyes are pecked at by birds.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (Vanity):

While envy could be featured in this fairy tale to an extent, this story focuses also a lot on vanity. The Evil Queen is the stepmother of Snow White. The Evil Queen is known for being very superficial particularly regarding her physical appearance as she desires to be the most beautiful woman, or as it is worded in the story, “The Fairest Of Them All.” The Evil Queen constantly is gazing into her magic mirror asking it if she is indeed “ The Fairest Of Them All”. Usually, she gets just the reply she typically wants, confirming her outer beauty.

However, when the magic mirror tells the Evil Queen that Snow White has surpassed her in beauty and fairness, the Evil Queen lets her vanity get to her head and becomes jealous of Snow White, ordering the Huntsman to kill the young  and innocent princess. The huntsman cannot bring himself to kill Snow White and tells her to run away. Snow White runs away to a cottage in the forest where seven dwarfs live. Eventually, the Evil Queen discovers through her magic mirror that Snow White is still alive, meaning the Evil Queen is still not “The Fairest Of Them All”. Desperate to be the most beautiful in all of the land, the Evil Queen attempts to kill Snow White herself three times by the use of a very tightly laced bodice, a poisoned comb and a poisoned apple.

Snow White miraculously survives all of these attempts on her life and ends up marrying a prince. When The Evil Queen asks her mirror who the fairest of the land is again, the mirror tells her the prince’s bride to be. The Evil Queen investigates and discovers Snow White is alive and engaged to the prince. The Evil Queen lets her vanity overpower her again as she attempts to sabotage the prince and Snow White’s wedding. However, as punishment, the Evil Queen is forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes until she dies.

Hansel And Gretel (Gluttony):

The sin of gluttony can be found in the tale of Hansel and Gretel. When Hansel and Gretel end up abandoned by their stepmother and become lost in the woods, they come across a sugary sweet cottage made of gingerbread, cakes and candy. Starving, the two children begin to eat away at the cottage until an old hag opens the door and invites them in, promising them comfort and warmth. The children are unaware that the hag is actually a cannabilistic witch with a desire to cook the children and eat them. The witch throws Hansel into a cage and makes Gretel her servant, ordering her to fatten her brother up with sweets.

Hansel tricks the blind witch by using a stick to make her think he is not gaining any weight. Eventually, the witch grows restless and overwhelmed with hunger and decides she is going to eat Hansel and Gretel regardless if they had become fatter. In an effort to save her brother, Gretel tricks the gluttonous witch and ends up pushing her into the oven. She unlocks Hansel from his cage, take treasures from the witch’s cottage and return home to their father who is rejoiced to see them.

The Tortoise And The Hare (Sloth):

You might be wondering exactly how sloth is featured in this fairy tale. Sloth is featured when the very egotistical hare challenges the tortoise to a race. Thinking he is the fastest and that the tortoise will never catch up to him, the hare decides to get a bit lazy, hence where the sloth comes into play.

 The hare lets his conceitedness get to his head as he chooses to take a nap. However, when he awakens, he discovers the tortoise has already passed by him. As he struggles to catch up to the tortoise, it is far too late as the tortoise ultimately wins the race, proving hard work and dedication pays off as opposed to sloth and egotism, which does not.

King Midas And The Golden Touch (Greed):

King Midas shows how greed gets the better of him when he is granted with the power to have anything he touches be transformed into gold. This new ability begins to make him power-hungry, even to the point where he makes all of the furniture in his palace and all of the roses in his garden turn into gold. However, this power soon becomes a curse when he is unable to eat or drink anything without it turning into gold and when he ends up turning his own daughter into gold when he goes to hug her. Remorseful and regretful of his wish, he prays to be rid of his golden power, realizing there are things far more important than gold.

King Midas is commanded to go to a river to wash his hands. Once doing so, he is rid of his power and upon returning home, discovers everything that was once gold is back to normal, including his daughter who he is overjoyed to see. Having learned that riches are not everything, King Midas, now humbled generously shares his fortunes with the people of his kingdom.

Bluebeard (Wrath):

This fairy tale tells the story of a wealthy yet violent man who becomes a serial killer after murdering every woman he chooses to wed. However, when he chooses to marry once more, he fails to murder his new bride, who was ultimately forced to marry him. When Bluebeard has to depart from their home, he gives his wife a key to all of the doors in the house except for an underground chamber he forbids her from entering unless she wants to suffer his wrath. During a party with her family at the house, she sneaks into the chamber, curious as to why she was forbidden from entering it. Horrifed, she discovers the corpses of Bluebeard’s former wives.

She drops the key and unfortunately is unable to wash the blood off of it due to the key being magical.  When Bluebeard returns and discovers she went into the chamber, he has a fit of anger and attempts to kill his wife. However, before Bluebeard can kill her, the wife’s family save her, killing Bluebeard in the process. The wife inherits the castle and all of Bluebeard’s fortunes. She has all of Bluebeard’s former wives buried, ends up getting remarried herself and helps her family with the fortunes she has acquired.