Another former WWE NXT wrestler has come forward regarding Bill DeMott and his training methods in NXT. Former WWE developmental talent Kevin Matthews ( @2CockyKM ) was sent a copy of a letter written by former developmental talent Ryan Collins (f.k.a Brandon Traven) to WWE in 2013, which he forwarded to The Sports Courier.
Below is the full letter:
Subject: Letter
From: (REDACTED)
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:29:05 -0400
Mr. Canyon Ceman,I’m writing this letter today due to concerns I’ve had with the training. I’ve contemplated writing this for some time now. After seeing Harley Race this past week, and talking with him about my concerns for not only my training but my physical well being, he himself encouraged me to write a letter and not only that. He informed me to have anyone in the office to call him if they have any questions about any of the information I will be writing about.
My overall biggest concern is about my safety. Before we took off for Holiday break I suffered a minor head injury. The thing about head injuries is you can’t really tell how bad they are until you have proper time to rest. During the course of a practice, I got hit in the head during a drill. I felt very dizzy right away and stepped out of the ring. Practice was almost over that day and I told a few guys near me that I was dizzy. One suggested I might have just been dehydrated or in need of some food. I drank some water and ate a protein bar and I did feel a lot better as the day went. I decided to play the next day of training by ear and see how I felt. I stretched out and did a few rolls in the ring. After just a couple of rolls I felt very dizzy again and saw the trainer.
That day our usual trainer Brian Duncan was on the road. And a substitute trainer attended to me. As I was setting on the table, she examined my eyes and reaction time. Eventually Coach DeMott came in asking what happened. I told him the story of how everything happened, he then accused me of making things worse. Which is not uncommon as Coach DeMott gets angry and standoffish at any sign of injury. The main part of this story that angers me is that as he was leaving the trainers room, Coach DeMott slapped me on top of the head. This really angered me as I don’t believe he has right to put hands on anyone especially like that. I was lucky that my head injury wasn’t too serious. His negligence in this situation could have worsened my injury.
I have also grown very tired of how Coach DeMott has constantly bullied us. Whether by physically hitting us, or by calling us gay. He has on numerous occasions alluded to me being gay. His favorite phrase is “half a sissy” not to mention him calling me and others “f-ggots” Coach DeMott has also on several occasions grabbed the bottom rope while we are watching practice and pull it back to hit everyone in the face while they are paying attention to instruction. I personally don’t understand his destructive and bullying nature.
While talking with Harley this week about countless unproductive or straight up dangerous drills he encouraged this letter and told me to include that all parties who read it should call him to talk further. Harley agreed that we should not be subjective to physical, or verbal abuse. He was very angry about hearing the information I shared and more than anything didn’t understand why he has us doing unproductive drills to begin with, as opposed to having practice matches which we have only done on a few occasions.
In fact upon Harley hearing the story of Coach DeMott hitting me on the head after a head injury, Harley was very angered by this. In five years of training with Harley I never felt unsafe or in danger of suffering a career threatening injury much like I have here.
I have also witnessed Coach DeMott try to rip a t-shirt off Alexander Rusev, shortly after he had neck surgery.
He has on numerous occasions called Oliver Grey (Joel Pettyfer) Pedophile, smacked Enzo Amore (Eric Arndt) in the mouth. He has also told Enzo to kill himself on atleast one occassion that I heard with my own ears. Morale amongst us, is constantly low and is only getting worse. However on the flip side Steve Keirn, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Taylor and Billy Gunn have all been positive influences since joining this company.
The reason I haven’t said anything until now, is fear of either losing my job or how Coach DeMott will treat me moving forward. As he already treats me and some others very badly. I decided to go ahead and write as I feel now, nothing will change if I don’t speak up. And I hope I can count on your discretion on this matter.
Thank You,
Ryan Collins
As noted earlier, former developmental talent Austin Matelson (f.k.a. Judas Devlin) spoke out against the WWE developmental program and trainer Bill DeMott in an interview last week with Joseph Duncan and Billy Blade of Vendetta Pro Radio 2K15. Draven accused DeMott of bullying, physical abuse and using offensive terms against talents. He also took to Reddit to post a transcript of a memo he sent to WWE officials Canyon Ceman, Dorothy Brill and Jane Geddes on March 11, 2013 detailing his issues with DeMott.
WWE responded to the allegations and released the following statement:
“WWE took the accusations made two years ago by Austin Matelson very seriously, conducted a full investigation and was unable to validate the claims. Regardless, WWE continues to reinforce policies and procedures to ensure a positive training environment.”
