- Michael Elgin is in the process of selling Glory Pro Wrestling and has gotten off Twitter after a series of incidents involving a fan of the promotion and one of his wrestlers. Elgin wrote from Japan: “I recently took a break from twitter because things were quickly getting out of hand and I thought it would be a good idea to step back and try to organize my thoughts rather than say something reactionary that would come across wrong. First, let me say that at no point have I been accused of any sort of assault. If you have interpreted anything that has been said up to this point that way, it is incorrect. I absolutely have not been accused of doing anything illegal. Second, yes, before it became public I was informed of a situation involving one of my wrestlers that I trained and used on my shows. I’m not mentioning any names because I do not believe it is my place to do so. If they want to do that, that’s their business. I spoke with both parties separately. Each has their own version of the story. The wrestler in question was considering possible legal action regarding the claims being made. I encouraged the person making the claims several times to go to the police and that I would act immediately. This individual wanted the wrestler to no longer be hired by my company and for me to make public statements against them. She did not want to go to the police, which I can understand. He also had evidence that they had some sort of a prior relationship and it indicated that she had other motives for making these claims and that she was possibly lying about it. During some of these private conversations with both of them, I was frustrated and short tempered. I used language I should not have with either. I felt like I was put in the middle of something that wasn’t my place, but I admit that my attitude and how I spoke to both of them in that situation was wrong. I used language that I should not have, accused them both of things out of frustration. I apologize for that. Maybe I should have stopped interacting with both of them entirely, but one was a huge fan of Glory Pro and fans were worried about her, and another was someone that I had closely worked with for a long time. So now I’m stuck in the middle of a situation that has nothing to do with me. I’m not the police. I’m not a counselor. I’m not even his real employer. I’m just a wrestler wanting to put on a wrestling show. So now I am put into the situation of deciding, should I go against the wrestler who is alleged to have done something terrible, which would without a doubt be the end of his career in this business and ruin his reputation, or should I stand by the wrestler who is claiming that what she says isn’t true and has some things that back that up, but at the same time risk making her situation worse? So, I decided to do nothing and hope that it resolved itself. When she would contact me about it, I would tell her to involve the police. When he would bring it up, I would tell him to get a lawyer. He said he’s got one and that the process was underway. So I’m stuck. I never wanted to be involved in this and assumed by staying out of it that it would not affect me or my students. That’s why when this situation started being made public on twitter, I had to cut ties with the wrestler. Was this the right way to handle the situation? I don’t know. I’ve never been in this position before. I’m just a guy, not a big business. It obviously didn’t work out because now I’m accused of turning a blind eye to a sexual assault and helping to cover things up. This has affected my students. It has affected my job and my family. For everyone saying I’m somehow guilty because I went off twitter and sold Glory Pro, let me set the record straight. I wanted to clear my thoughts. I was being attacked on all sides with nonstop questions. I wake up in Japan and this thing is going full force without me. I’m not guilty of doing anything legally wrong. Was I frustrated with the situation and said some things that I shouldn’t have? Absolutely. I apologize for that. My frustration is no excuse for talking that way, even though the statements have absolutely been taken out of context. Regardless, I shouldn’t have used the words that I did, even though I was frustrated. I haven’t yet completely sold Glory Pro. What I meant was I have begun the process to transition the company to others because I don’t want my involvement to be detrimental to the company. I love the company that I’ve helped build, the wrestlers that have worked for it and I love that the fans enjoy the product. If me being involved harms that, I wanted to be away from Glory.” The wrestler in question was no longer being used by Glory Pro as of 11/16. The fan, who used a fake name on twitter, made the accusation public, claimed she was sexually assaulted in March, told Elgin at that time, the story broke in mid-November and the wrestler stopped being used. Evidently Elgin made comments to another fan who was friends with the wrestler, who also goes by a fake name on twitter, and in doing so, said some things negative about the woman, which led to him being attacked on twitter. Elgin later said that his reaction to what happened was abhorrent, and what he said in the conversation and language he used was a big mistake. Elgin has been pulled off at least a few independent dates by promoters due to this controversy. There’s a lot of questions going on regarding New Japan as well, which has been his main job for the last few years