When the Harvey Weinstein allegations and accusations came out a few weeks ago and sent shockwaves throughout the Hollywood community and around the world, many in various fields of entertainment and business felt this was simply the first domino in a long line of serial sexual abusers in power positions. And while rumours have long dogged many a pro wrestling promoter, all the way back to it’s beginnings in the early days of the sport, today’s revelation was a surprise to many (but not apparently to some). At roughly 4pm EST today, Adam Blampied, formerly of WhatCulture and one of the creative minds behind WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) in the UK, confessed a series of sexual harassment incidents of his own doing and professed an apology.
The timing was strange, as Blampied and the other former WhatCulture creatives who departed last month –Adam Pacitti, “King Ross” Tweddell, video editor Sam Driver, and Jack “The Jobber” King – were days away from launching Cultaholic, their own brand of pop culture video akin to their work with WhatCulture, on November 1st. Moments after Blampied’s confession, Cultaholic posted the following statement:
A statement from Cultaholic: pic.twitter.com/F8kQIw5hGt
— Cultaholic Wrestling (@Cultaholic) October 25, 2017
It didn’t take long for one of the victims of Blampied’s sexual misconduct to come forward, with a highly detailed and scathing revelation of what Blampied allegedly put her through. “Ice Foreleg” (her Twitter handle) posted the following just 10 minutes after Adam Blampeid’s confession and apology.
Adam Blampied is a manipulative sexual predator pic.twitter.com/7YqNVz6OAF
— The Salamancer (@SRbackwards) October 25, 2017
Here’s her full statement:
He apologised to me personally for his actions multiple times. He continued to treat women awfully. I don't trust any apology he gives.
— The Salamancer (@SRbackwards) October 25, 2017
When pressed for evidence, Ice Foreleg presented screenshots of alleged DM conversations between herself and Blampied.
Since some people don't take Blampied's own admission of guilt as proof, here you guy you vultures pic.twitter.com/ex9o3IwAGK
— The Salamancer (@SRbackwards) October 25, 2017
Professional wrestling, like any entertainment industry, is full of people in positions of power who sometimes let this newfound glory and fame get to their heads, clouding their judgment and morals in exchange for flights of fancy and deceit. While it’s mildly admirable to confess and accept blame, the timing of the confession, mere minutes before this chilling accusation from one of his victims, would almost indicate he had foreboding that the confession was going to be made public and was trying to save as much face as possible. The fact remains that, by his own admission, Adam Blampied took advantage of his position of influence as a YouTube and indie wrestling personality and in doing so, damaged several women who had earned his trust.
We here at Last Word on Pro Wrestling applaud Ice Foreleg’s bravery in coming forth with this statement and hope that this will encourage other women who have been victimized in the past, at work, at play, or simply in conversation on-line, to speak up. There will always be “old boys mentality” within many circles, but it’s time for the era where sexually manipulating women and girls was seen as being as taboo as any other crime and not something that is simply something “boys do”. This is not how any man should be acting to any other human on this planet period.
With speculation that WCPW’s December re-branding to Defiant Wrestling was in part due to the wrestling company moving to Cultaholic’s YouTube channel, an incident such as this is bound to have huge ramifications with not only their debuting channel, but their wrestling endeavors as well.
