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A. W. Apologizes For His Remarks On This Week’s Raw; WWE Claims That “Appropriate Action” Has Been Taken

Brooks Oglesby July 31, 2012 WWE News 21 Comments

TMZ has picked up on the situation involving the sexual assault joke made by A. W. during last night’s Raw. In the excerpt below, the article explains that, along with the apology from Michael Cole, further action has been taken:

A rep for the WWE has issued a statement to TMZ … telling us, “A.W. made an inappropriate comment and WWE immediately apologized.”

The rep adds, “WWE has taken appropriate action in the matter.” It’s unclear what kind of “action” the org. has decided to take.

Sources tell us A.W. “felt horrible” after he made the comment … claimed he simply “got caught up in the moment” … and realizes the comment could be hurtful to rape victims and their families.

A.W. immediately apologized to WWE honchos, including the McMahon family, and several wrestlers … and has also vowed to refrain from making similar comments in the future.

Click here for more from TMZ.

In addition, A. W. had the following to say on his official Twitter account:

I would like to apologize to all the #WWEUniverse for my inappropriate and insensitive remark. I went too far with that joke. #NotFunny!!

— A W (@AWPromotions) July 31, 2012

There was no malicious intent behind the joke. It was either a Kobe or Lebron joke. Lebron jus won the Finals so there you have it..Myself!

— A W (@AWPromotions) July 31, 2012

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About The Author

Brooks Oglesby

Brooks Oglesby is a mild-mannered assistant for WrestlingNewsWorld.com. He spends his days playing ukulele, trying this at home, and scouring the universe to report the best wrestling news available. He enjoys folk punk music, video games, and sleeping. He is an English major at the University of South Florida.

RK Brock

I missed it. What did he say?
- Davidh
  
  He said "That's what I'm talking about. Did you see that? (O'Neil barks in the ring) Titus O'Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado. He's unstoppable!"
Nostaljack

It wasn't that bad, really. Hopefully, he won't be made to pay for that and hypersensitivity won't rule the day. It's been a while since we had an actual male manager and his character could go interesting places…if WWE lets that happen. Hopefully, they'll just let this go and move on. It just wasn't that big of a deal.
Chowder

*Everything* is a big deal in the WWE… But I agree. Unless it breaks Young away, and he builds a nice solo career… Lol, right.
jdl

I don't understand the response, it wasn't offensive at all. Referencing something that happened eight years ago and is no longer news is nothing to get in a kerfuffle about. Sometimes the WWE's obsession with political correctness is, at best, insane.
Mylo

Vince should publicize the backstage heat on Riley as a result of Cena and expose the hypocrisy rampant in the WWE. On the one hand you have John Cena, the savior face of the WWE, granting wishes to dying kids in an immaculate light, and endorsing the Be A STAR campaign. Yet on the other hand, they take a shit and essentially bully anyone who disagrees with the flow of the machine, no matter in what capacity.

What was the nature of this "rib"? Would it be alright for Riley to get heat over a "rib", had that rib involved he literally kissing Cena's ass?

This is hypothetical, but from the looks of things, you may very well have to do such an act if it ever presented itself, or risk losing favorable standing.

Maybe TMZ would like to hear about that.
- William Shatner
  
  What happened between Cena and Riley?
  - Wainwright
    
    Yea, I would like to know what Riley did too.
- Jack
  
  What happened with Riley and Cena?
  - Brandon
    
    The story is speculation. There's probably some truth to the story, but neither Riley or Cena have commented on it.
  - jdl
    
    Apparently Cena was ribbing Riley, and by ribbing I mean picking on him like a bully would do, and Riley decided he didn't have to take it anymore, so he told Cena off. Which got heat on him backstage because in the backwards world of the WWE, if you don't let the more important wrestlers push you around backstage, you're apparently being disrespectful.
    - Kevin
      
      So what the WWE is saying is, "Hazing is ok, but bullying is not."? Hazing is a form of bullying, so if they're going to push the Be a STAR program and advertise anti-bullying promos, then they shouldn't tolerate hazing backstage. Instead of burying Riley for standing up for himself, they should have punished Cena (face of WWE or not) for hazing him. Sounds like double standards apply at the WWE.
BigMike

WWE has been trying to find an outlet for this idiot for years now and he is just not good
Richard

That’s what he gets for his shortening his name to “A.W” What a moron.
Yanman

WWE better hope Kobe doesn’t lawyer up on this one. These days any little thing can catch a lawsuit especially that defamation type stuff. And AW being mic’d up is the silliest idea yet, what heel manger has ever needed to be mic’d up? Just annoying to me.
- Chris
  
  There’s no defamation there at all towards Kobe. But well done for trying to sound like you know what you’re talking about.
- Kevin
  
  I think they're trying to harken back to the days of Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart. He used to use that megaphone all the time. In these days, it makes more sense to use a mic pack. After what A.W. said, though, he may no longer be allowed to have a mic at ringside.
Basima

I think that was funny! Attitude era time, I believe AW would have been granted a bonus for coming up with such a line! Sad that in todays world people tend to pretend to be shocked with things like that!
- Mav
  
  Ha yeah it was pretty funny, ecspecially the (Titus barking in the ring part)! Rofl
Dre

Milo you are an idiot you hear a rumor and just cause its against Cena you eat it up. Cena is a talented man and a great performer and taking time to grant wishes is great he made some mistakes so what. I happen to like Cena and people refer to the 5 moves a doom yet almost every wrestler does the same thin g to finish their matches Orton: power slam, legs on the ropes DDT RKO Punk: knee to the face in the corner buldog GTS Christian second rope spinning elbow second rope pin attempt spear over the top rope land on floor punch etc so clap clap to the Cena hating idiot that reads a rumor you friends with Kenny?
- Kevin
  
  The next time you decide to comment on something, SLOW DOWN and think it through before you post it. What you wrote up there barely makes any sense, has a lot of missing punctuation, and has sentence after sentence running on and on.