Indie Wrestler Raychell Rose Responds To Booker T's Claims About ROW Safety Issues

Four days ago, Booker T and his Reality of Wrestling promotion came under fire after former ROW talent, Raychell Rose, accused Booker and the promotion of failing to properly handle a situation that saw Rose stalked by ROW trainee Shawn Reed. Among Rose's allegations were a December 2022 incident where Reed showed up at a ROW event Rose worked at, then stalked her to a bar following the show, leading to an altercation and the arrests of Reed and ROW talent.

After Rose's allegations became known, Booker addressed them on his "Hall of Fame" podcast, contradicting several of her claims. Today, Rose responded to Booker's statements, posting a 13-minute video on her YouTube channel. She began by addressing Booker's claims that she didn't properly address her stalking situation with Booker or other ROW higher-ups.

"As far as the way things are handled at Reality of Wrestling, with people saying I didn't go to Booker enough or I didn't call Booker directly, or I should've done more on my end to stop what happened from happening...that's just not the way things are handled at Reality of Wrestling, in my experience," Rose said. "In my experience, you went to Kevin with the day-to-day operations because he ran day-to-day operations, so you dealt with Kevin Bernhardt directly. And then if he told you that you needed to escalate things by talking with Booker or Sharmell, then that's when you would do that. 

"I was never told by Kevin that I needed to talk to Booker and Sharmell. I was also directly told not to do that because he informed me that he kept them informed throughout the entire situation. I, throughout the entire situation, was on the phone with police, lawyers, and district attorneys. After every single one of those phone calls or interactions, I called or talked to Kevin Bernhardt personally in person and he told me each time when I asked if I needed to go to Booker that he had already talked to Booker or that he was going to talk to Booker for me so that I didn't have to worry myself about it. I had no reason to believe otherwise after being told that by Kevin Bernhardt."

Booker had claimed that Reed had received a trespassing decree and produced a Criminal Trespass Warning regarding the December 2022 incident. However, Rose posted a phone conversation with someone from the Texas City Police Department earlier this week where she was told no documentation existed regarding Reed receiving such a decree, and that the warning Booker referred to was misleading.

"They said that they did see that he was handled at that premises [Mainland City Center] before, but there was no trespass warning requested or issued associated with that event or any other for Shawn Reed," Rose said. "Any claims that there is a trespass warning, it's not a legal trespass warning, whatever they are referring to as far as those claims, it's not something that can be upheld by the police and it's not something, unfortunately, that can aid me in getting any kind of legal aid for my situation."

In regards to other claims made by Booker, including that he told Rose not to visit a bar due to Reed being there in December, Rose denied that was the case, claiming she wasn't aware that Reed would be at the bar, or that he had been at the ROW show that evening. She also clarified that a conversation between and Booker outside the ROW venue, where Booker urged her to go home in an attempt to resolve the matter, was due to her attempting to call police regarding Reed's presence.

Rose also addressed Booker's comments regarding the length of time between the incident and her allegations surfaced, stating that while Booker and others from ROW may have moved on, she has continued to deal with everything "on a day-to-day basis." This has included Rose staying in touch with law enforcement and lawyers, as she attempts to resolve the situation and move on with her life.

"This situation did not go away for me, it's something I continue to deal with and this was part of the process of dealing with this situation," Rose said. "I can see how it might feel far removed for anyone involved at Reality of Wrestling or anyone running Reality of Wrestling because they have not made themselves available to me to aid in this situation or have anything to do with my legal matters one way or another. They probably have not put thought into this for that year and feel like this came out of the blue when it's not out of the blue for me. It's something I'm still currently dealing with."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Raychell Rose" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription