If the allegations of hazing via rope-snapping, sexual orientation-ribbing and verbal/physical assault are true, then Bill DeMott is the first pro wrestler to ever be fired from a pro wrestling company for merely being an "old school" pro wrestler. "Milennial Era" wrestling is more the "wrestling friends" than the cut-throat "wrestling business." The fans know that this is all a work at the end of the day, so it's okay for nobody to really get their feelings or their bodies unnecessarily hurt, and that legitimately beating people up without them defending themselves is okay because it makes them mentally strong enough to handle the rigors of the industry. To someone like Bill DeMott, an industry that didn't involve calling a homosexual wrestler "half a sissy" or a Middle Eastern wrestler a "terrorist" isn't the wrestling business. Bill DeMott broke in the business in 1990, arguably the worst part of the tail end of the territory era. Vince had purchased every territory in America save Memphis and World Class, plus the places where DeMott broke in, the startup AWF and ECW. As well, he wrestled in Puerto Rico and Japan, too. Thus, DeMott was hard on his trainees likely because he remembered what his time breaking into a major TV role was like, so he likely wanted to make it twice as hard. In a milennial era where technology and a revolutionary desire to be different makes things appear twice as easy, DeMott's antiquated ways earned him the axe.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
