i can’t 😭😭😭
Elephant in the room.
The Self Made Discord was made to be the best community in the wrestling space, and we’ve been thrilled with the activity, engagement and enthusiasm to this point. Beyond any scoop given, the primary purpose of the Discord was for it to be a positive environment to enjoy professional wrestling as a shared experience.
At no point was it any of our intent to cause disorder or negativity for anybody. Two Sundays ago, we in the Discord congregated and among the things we did was share crazy, behind the scenes wrestling stories that were at least a year old. These stories weren’t shared to bury anybody but to give our community an insight into how crazy pro wrestling can be. The expectation was that these stories remain private but that was a foolish expectation and none of the stories should have been shared in the first place. We recognized immediately that we had to change course and in the days and weeks since, pivoted into harboring a space that didn’t contribute to drama for anybody. Even with that pivot, the damage had already been done and audio of this conversation has been circling and the affected parties were justifiably unhappy about this.
On my end, I reached out to as many people as I could, spending my entire day deservedly eating shit, and doling out apologies. I’ve made it clear to people that this isn’t what we’re about, and that we’ve generally been more responsible with information. The stories told weren’t crafted out of thin air, they come from people in wrestling, but gossip is inherently toxic, as is the game of he said, she said. We’re avoiding that going forward.
I have no personal issues with Tony Khan, he has been nothing but gracious to me. I shared a story of a time he yelled at me and was doing so not to make him look bad, but to share a time where wrestling conversation with the boss got heated, and I was able to laugh about it after. If it wasn’t clear, this conversation was via DM. Tony Khan vehemently denies that he was “yelling at me”, and denies the context with which the story was told and some of the language used.
One of the more defamatory things said in the discord that night was the anecdote that two people in wrestling describe Jose the Assistant as a racist. Jose was understandably very upset about this, and strongly denies this claim. We had no intention of attacking his character, which is why this was never a public report, and I personally apologized to him profusely for enabling this conversation. Once again, “he said she said” is toxic. He strongly denies this, we do not know Jose personally, we apologize and move on.
Speaking of moving on, the recent times in the Discord have been very fun. It’s been a lot of classic wrestling being played, and enlightening historical conversation. Beyond numbers or money, we’d prefer the peace of knowing we’re not a force for destruction within the wider wrestling community. OUR community is aware of this, but I wanted the public to know. I am not above criticism, and neither are my colleagues.
Our primary service is that of provided entertainment and wrestling insight. That has been our focus since that day, and will continue to be. Accountability is important and we take accountability for any negativity that came from us.
