WWE veterans are starting to speak out on the furore around Bill DeMott. The old school trainer has been accused of bullying students at NXT and the Performance Centre. One ex student, Judas Devlin, alleged that DeMott physically abused students in addition to using racist and homophobic language. Former WWE stars are now talking about DeMott as a coach. Notably, Lance Storm and Bob Holly have weighed in. What's interesting is that Storm is a trainer, so his opinion really counts for something in this area. Holly meanwhile has had somewhat of a reputation himself for being a little tough on newcomers to wrestling. However, Holly has been fairly critical of DeMott. "Not good for him if it's true," he states on Twitter, "I did a wrestling seminar a month ago and 2 former NXT students were there and said a few things that were the exact same claims that were said against Bill. Sounds like he has been doing it for a while." That's yet another voice backing up the allegations being made against DeMott. WWE had claimed that they had conducted a full investigation into the bullying accusations, but it sure sounds like there's a lot of people who the investigation perhaps overlooked. When someone like Hardcore Holly thinks you've gone too far, you've got to know that a line has been crossed. DeMott isn't being old school, he's being plain bully, if the allegations are true. In contrast, Lance Storm offered a more neutral perspective on Wrestling Observer Radio. If anything, you'd conclude that Lance was supportive of DeMott's position. He said that the old school mentality had its place of importance in toughening up students, noting that the pulling of the ropes was an old school rib that has been done for years. This relates to one of Devlin's accusations, that DeMott would ping the ropes in order to hurt the students. "There's a fine line and I don't know which happened in these cases," Storm stated, "I've never seen Bill DeMott cross the line when I've been there." DeMott is yet to offer any statement and there are no signs of WWE conducting a further investigation.
