Devlin wrote a letter to WWE Talent Relations in 2013, outlining his claims, but it wasn’t until recently that he released the full letter online. Allegedly, when he brought up the issue to officials, Devlin was ostracized by the trainers and the other wrestlers. WWE doctors even missed a hernia in his back and put him on the shelf for months, leading to his release.
“I would like to request that this remain in strict confidence as I am afraid that if Coach Demott were to know I spoke out he would find ways to punish me for it. In fact the entire process of writing a letter to human resources has been called a “faggots” way of dealing with problems by Coach Demott.”
“…after a 3 hour morning session had ‘ended’ at 11 AM, Demott put 280lbs Gary Jackson back in the ring at 11:30 and forced 8 of us to give him 10 takedowns each. After Gary had bumped 60 times in a matter of minutes, I entered the ring and was asked to give him 10 fireman takedowns. On the first one he collapsed from exhaustion while on my back, driving my knees into the mat where I sustained this injury.
The hit I took aggravated it and Coach Demott pulled trainer Brian Duncan and I into the training room and said without any knowledge of my actual injury, ‘This injury can’t keep flaring up. It doesn’t look good perception wise to us (the office) or for your career going forward.’ Based on Coach Demott’s statement I feel that I am in a position where I have to cover up any injuries I may have otherwise I will be punished or fired.”
“Coach Demott told student Enzo Amore that he hopes he dies. I have seen Enzo on several occasions be slapped in the face by Bill. During one practice he decided to show Enzo how doing a slam wrong could hurt someone, so he picked Enzo up and dropped him without warning directly on his head and neck.”
“Demott constantly refers to Oliver Gray as Joel Pedophile”
“Demott also told our entire morning class and Ricky Steamboat’s class to kill themselves just days after we tolled the ring bell 10 times for the late Mike Graham a former star FCW wrestler, who committed suicide.”
The letter goes on at length, describing numerous accounts of physical and verbal assault, racial and homophobic slurs.
WWE issued us the following response:
“WWE took the accusations made two years ago by Austin Matelson very seriously, conducted a full investigation and was unable to validate the claims. Regardless, WWE continues to reinforce policies and procedures to ensure a positive training environment.”
Multiple former WWE wrestlers backed up Devlin’s claims, including the younger brother of Dolph Ziggler and Trent Barreta.
This is sad but (extremely) true. Please share if you don’t want your heroes abused & mistreated. https://t.co/7g8n1DRRuI
— Ryan Nemeth (@HotYoungBriley) March 2, 2015
(In 2 years I have still not been questioned once about my part in that poor guy’s letter. That is the opposite of a “full investigation.”)
— Ryan Nemeth (@HotYoungBriley) March 3, 2015
