Taking Swift And Decisive Action
Synergy Pro Wrestling acts quickly when performers are accused of sexual misconduct.
In Synergy Pro Wrestling’s less than three-year history, the New Jersey-based promotion has dealt with two performers accused of sexual misconduct with minors.
In November of 2018, Northeast-based independent wrestler Stevie Shields was outed for preying on a 14-year-old girl and sending nude photos to her. When her father found out, he confronted Shields via instant messages. Shields admitted to sending the photos and claimed it was all a mistake. Her father posted screenshots of the conversation and Shields was instantly blackballed by the wrestling community. Synergy, which Shields had been a rising star in, took swift and decisive action, canceling his future obligations.
In June of 2020, well-known ring announcer Mark Adam Haggerty was accused of having inappropriate conversations with a 15 year old. As part of the #SpeakingOut movement, wrestler Sully Banger tweeted screenshots of the messages between Haggerty and the child. MLW and other promotions, such as Synergy, announced that they were cutting ties with Haggerty, who instantly deleted all of his social media accounts.
Effective immediately, Synergy Pro Wrestling has severed all current and future relationships with Mark Adam Haggerty.
— Synergy Pro Wrestling (@synergywrestle) June 21, 2020
Nothing takes precedence over the safety of our fans and supporters – physical safety, emotional safety, mental safety, and sexual safety.
When the Shields incident happened, Synergy founders Dan and Heather Funkenstein, owners of Funkenstein Wrestling Superstore, took swift and decisive action. Current Synergy owner Colin West followed their playbook when handling the Haggerty incident. “If we were a different kind of company, I wouldn’t make such swift decisions,” West told The Wrestling Estate. “Based on what Synergy has always been, based on the core values that the original owners and I have agreed to for doing business, I have no choice.
It’s just a matter of if Synergy is going to be a family-friendly promotion, if all ages are going to be welcome, all genders and races and sexuality, then we have to be a little more hard-lined than some people. No wait and see here. This is a place where we want people to feel safe.”
Obviously, this is one part of the job that nobody thinks of when dreaming of running their own pro wrestling company. At least future promoters have a blueprint for how to take swift and decisive action in the wake of the #SpeakingOut movement. According to West, he found out about Shields (West was creative director at the time) and Haggerty the same way – he got a text with a link to the accusation. The only word in the text was “ugh.”
“It always happens the same way, which is indicative of a larger problem,” West says. “It proves to me that there isn’t a type of person who’s capable of doing something like this. I don’t think either of these individuals is a monster. These are two human beings, who through a series of their own bad choices, have really hurt some people. I’m just as capable of making bad decisions, but I would like to think I wouldn’t make the same bad decisions.”
When Jack Goodwillie wrote about the #SpeakingOut movement, The Wrestling Estate received a message from a wrestler who claims to be wrongly accused. The wrestler stressed that while believing victims is important, those wrongly accused are instantly deemed guilty in the eyes of the wrestling community and their career suffers.
According to West, if either Shields, Haggerty or anybody else are ever fully exonerated, then Synergy can re-evaluate their dismissal. “I’ve been diagnosed with panic disorder, so if I was accused and I knew I hadn’t done it, I don’t know how I would react,” West says. “I’d like to think if I had not done those things, I would vigorously defend myself. I’m not sitting in judgment here, but it looks really bad when there’s no defense.”
The second Garden State Invitational takes place July 25 at the Polish Falcons Nest in Hillsborough, NJ.
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