As mentioned in our latest Rumor Roundup, word broke this week that former WWE talent and producer Joey Mercury recently ended his time with Ring of Honor, where he was working in numerous backstage roles.
In a series of tweets today, Mercury confirmed his exit. He also documented numerous issues - some which have been apparent to fans & observers, others being aired for the first time. The communications shared and allegations made mostly deal with General Manager Greg Gilleland, but encompass overall management problems with the Sinclair Broadcasting owned corporation.
You can see all of Mercury’s tweets in his timeline here. Issues raised include:
- Lack of security at events. It’s implied the situation in California between Bully Ray, Velvet Sky and a fan developed the way it did because there was no ROH-provided security at the show.
- Lack of medical staff at shows. Mercury discusses the recent issue where Jay Lethal broke his arm in England, saying Gilleland wasn’t present and there was no priority placed on getting Lethal taken care of, noting that Marty Scurll had to order an uber to get talent to their hotel.
- In another incident, Mercury, Brody King & Bandido reset Flip Gordon’s dislocated elbow in lieu of trained medical professionals. He also says Alex Shelley (who was contracted as a performer only but who is a certified trainer) helped wrestlers with physical issues.
- Having no concussion protocol, which may have led to the company allowing Kelly Klein to work in South Africa with a brain injury.
- Poor communication and shady dealings with talent around contracts, with not telling Shane Taylor he might soon be unemployed and undervaluing Bandido being discussed.
An overarching theme to Mercury’s tweets is that he’s not only coming forward to defend himself against Gilleland’s accusations he’s been let go for drug use (Mercury has a history of addiction and mental illness, both of which he acknowledges and discusses in the thread), but to protect his “family” of fellow wrestlers.
I chose UNemployment over doing the only thing I’ve ever done or loved doing & I have zero bridges or offers. I just can’t work for someone who knows naught of the matter at hand but makes decisions but isn’t vigilant enough to NOT be there when one of ours is hurt.
— mercury in retrograde (@JOEYnRetrograde) November 1, 2019
Ring of Honor has declined to comment, but Klein and former ROH talent/backstage employee BJ Whitmer have tweeted support and/or confirmation of Mercury’s statements.
I’m scared I will get in trouble for saying something in public about it.
— Kelly Klein (@RealKellyKlein) November 1, 2019
But the reports I’ve seen are wrong.
He is the best coach I ever had. I partly stayed there so I could keep learning from him. He looked out for us and he tried to make it better.
From someone that actually worked in that office with Greg Gilleland, everything Joey is saying is 100% true. https://t.co/hw97IQKph9
— BJ Whitmer (@BJ_Whitmer) November 1, 2019
Tough to see a company with such an important place in history struggle like this, but hopefully this will lead to better days for ROH. Or at least for the talented people who are currently signed there.