Count boxing promoted Lou DiBella among those who didn't enjoy the Nia Jax spot in the Men's Royal Rumble.
The famed boxing promoter took to Twitter on Sunday night shortly after WWE's major pay-per-view to criticize the man-on-woman violence involved in the match. Former WWE Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax stole an entry and joined the contest, before being attacked by Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton and subsequently eliminated.
Hey @WWE, ok you’re “sports entertainment”, but with the legion of kids watching and way too much domestic violence, having a women enter a men’s #RoyalRumble and get pummeled by MEN is bad messaging, out of line and was a really bad idea. Smh!!! #WWE #WWENetwork #WWERoyalRumble
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) January 28, 2019
I know that the @WWE has given great opportunities to women in recent years, done an all women’s PPV, has an accomplished female executive at the top of the company, etc etc. Still this comment, and many that have been made to my last tweet, help to explain my position. #WWE https://t.co/NvbzsxHjKY
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) January 28, 2019
Because I respect sensible viewpoints. And I don’t think there were bad intentions. For every sensible argument there was a friggin crazy tweet. It’s the crazy reactions that trouble me and why I think the @WWE has to be careful. I’m not a hater; I was watching.
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) January 28, 2019
I was watching, bro. I subscribe to the channel. I’m not “anti-wrestling”. I don’t have that agenda. I don’t like to see multiple finishing moves put on a woman by men. Period. And I don’t care if it’s @NiaJaxWWE, or @itsBayleyWWE or any other female wrestler.
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) January 28, 2019
Of course WWE is scripted entertainment, and no one was actually domestically abused. Joey Ryan has made quite a career off of intergender wrestling, and offered up his thoughts in response to DiBella.
Who are you to tell women that they can’t even pretend to be equals to men in a make believe environment?
— Joey Ryan (@JoeyRyanOnline) January 28, 2019
Independent wrestler David Starr was far less kind in his assessment of the comments.
Oh for ffs. You make the domestic violence argument yet you don’t talk about same sex DV or woman on man DV when you see same sex violence or woman on man violence in pro wrestling. But you probably don’t really care about that. Stay in your lane you twat.
— David Starr (@TheProductDS) January 28, 2019
Former WWE, Impact, ROH and NJPW wrestler Matt Sydal called DiBella's statement "irresponsible" in a follow up.
You couldn’t be more off about this statement. You misunderstand pro-wrestling in totality. It’s irresponsible to relate domestic violence to the Royal Rumble.
— Matt Sydal (@findevan) January 28, 2019
DiBella promotes several top boxers, including Deontay Wilder, in addition to serving as producing television content.
