David Starr Takes WWE to Task for Taking Money for Saudi Arabia, Claims WWE Doesn’t ‘Care About Women’s Rights Issues’

– WrestlingInc.com recently interviewed the politically outspoken and controversial independent wrestler David Starr for its WINCLY podcast. During the interview, Lethal addressed his issue with ROH and parent company Sinclair Broadcasting over a previous match booking earlier this year with Jay Lethal in IPWA. Starr also shared his thoughts on his problems with WWE for working with Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority. Below are some highlights from WrestlingInc.com.

Starr on loving wrestling and wearing his politics on his sleeve: “There are so many different directions I could go. Could I go with the standard millennial that hates myself or the standard pro wrestler that loves myself. I’m just a guy who loves pro wrestling. I’m very political; I wear my emotions on my sleeve and I wear my politics on my sleeve. I guess the best way to describe myself – and this is such a disingenuous thing to say – but I feel like I’m a genuine person. I say what I think and believe and I allow people to judge me for it.”

Starr on ROH parent company Sinclair Broadcasting’s handling of his match booking against Jay Lethal in Israel: “They didn’t communicate with me. I was booked through an indie promotion and first I was supposed to wrestle Ilja Dragonov, but he wasn’t able to do it because WWE doesn’t allow anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport to really be on their roster because Saudi Arabia doesn’t like that. Then they said they could get Lethal and they got him by going through ROH because he has an exclusive contract with them. Then ROH decided they were going to put the world title on the line and I was like, ‘Okay. This is a big opportunity for me to speak about these issues that I think are important.’ They didn’t like me doing that and had me pull the promo. They insinuated that they would pull Jay Lethal from the show if the promo wasn’t pulled.”

Starr on his main issue with what happened: “My main issue after that was that ROH decided to take the title off Jay before the match happened and they went on their website, had not spoken to me, and attributed a quote from me which is ridiculous. Then after saying on their website that the title would be defended whether Jay was champion or not, then they decided to change the title and not get their champion on the show. So they lied. They lied to the Israeli fans that are there and they lied to the world. Anyone who has some sort of a connection to Sinclair Broadcasting is morally reprehensible.”

David Starr on if his comments have closed the door for him with WWE and ROH: “Yeah, absolutely I do. I’ve heard from some people that things have been said directly and I know that. I’m not afraid and don’t have much to lose. I’m very fortunate that I have been saving money my whole life and I do have a supportive family if need be. I’m fortunate to have systems in place where I know that I’m gonna be okay no matter what.”

Starr on why he’s not concerned about the door being closed to him with WWE: “And I’m fairly certain that the WWE door is closed and I’m not concerned about that because if I was there, I would have to sit down and shut up and just take the money. I don’t think I could actually do that as I would feel like I’m betraying myself.”

Starr on his issue with WWE: “We have to keep speaking truth to power. That’s such a cliché at this point but it’s the truth. We have to come together and acknowledge these shortcomings from these major corporate entities and show where they are anti-labor. Someone has become a billionaire [Vince McMahon] off the backs of laborers who are currently broken and have no financial recourse and that’s egregious.”

David Starr on WWE being hypocritical for taking money from Saudi Arabia: “It’s a mask. They don’t care about the women’s rights issues. Stephanie said that philanthropy is gonna be the No. 1 business motivator or something like that. They are using that to try and say they’re not so bad. But they take money from an oppressive regime that executes homosexuals or anyone that’s not heterosexual.”