WWE right to fire wrestler after locker room privacy breach, Jim Ross says
Jim Ross was a WWE commentator and talent relations executive in the 1990s and 2000s. In a recent podcast episode, he recalled how the company had no choice but to fire Shawn Stasiak.
Stasiak performed for WWE under the name Meat in 1999. The former Hardcore Champion once pranked Davey Boy Smith and Steve Blackman by using a cassette tape to record their conversations. The joke was not well received and resulted in him being fired.
Ross said on Grilling JR that he and former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon took action when other wrestlers refused to work with Stasiak:
"What happens in the locker room should stay there. It doesn't need to be shared by Vince or JR or anybody else. It should stay there. I thought the 'breach of trust' term was spot on. The talent didn't wanna work with him after that. They thought it intruded on their privacy." [1:20:13 – 1:20:35]
Stasiak worked for WCW in 2000 and 2001 before returning to WWE. He left the company again in 2002 after struggling to receive regular television time.
Jim Ross on the consequences of the tape incident
According to Jim Ross, many wrestlers felt they could no longer trust Shawn Stasiak after finding out about the recording.
The AEW announcer added that everyone should feel safe in wrestling locker rooms. For that reason, he believes Stasiak deserved to lose his job:
"You don't know where these tapes are gonna end up, so bottom line is he shouldn't have done it," Ross continued. "It was infiltrating the locker room, which you don't do. You gotta give them a safe haven somewhere. I always thought it was the locker room. I always thought the locker room was a very important element of any pro wrestling company." [1:20:42 – 1:21:06]
Stasiak's final WWE match ended in defeat against D'Lo Brown on the September 29, 2002, episode of Sunday Night Heat.
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Please credit Grilling JR and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use Jim Ross' quotes from this article.