Down for the Count: CTAM Whacks Wrestlers at Summit

Professional wrestlers are thrown out of the ring all the time, now they’ve get a taste of what it feels like to be thrown out of CTAM Summit. As we reported Mon, WWE planned to send 2 retired wrestlers and 1 current grappler to this month’s confab in Philly, but CTAM had different ideas. "After discussions with CTAM, WWE realizes that the presence of WWE stars could disrupt the educational nature of the program and has canceled its plans to register them for The Summit," CTAM said Tues. "Like many sports organizations, WWE uses its former performers in business capacities outside the ring. We applaud WWE’s creative thinking and we’re pleased that WWE views the Summit as an important venue in which people can learn about the industry. However, we feel that having these WWE stars at The Summit will be disruptive, and appreciate WWE’s commitment to maintain the educational focus of the conference." WWE was disappointed the wrestlers wouldn’t be able to attend, but it understands CTAM’s concerns. "The article [in Mon’s Cfax] got their attention in a way that nothing else had before," including the registration of attendees named Hillbilly Jim and Sgt Slaughter, WWE’s Gary Davis said. "We’ve been as straight forward as possible. We didn’t want people to think it was a stunt. … [The wrestlers] would’ve benefited from that type of boot camp, so to speak. But we’re part of the industry and we recognize that from CTAM’s perspective trying to immerse them might distract from others at the conference." CTAM’s Seth Morrison said it wasn’t surprising that the registering of wrestlers was flagged since most registrations are done online and not seen by humans. "Summit is not a trade show," he said, explaining CTAM’s concerns. "We don’t want it to be a trade show. Our staff’s role is to be cognizant of and looking for anything that might interfere with our educational mission." WWE will continue to use retired wrestlers known as ‘Legends’ to promote VOD service WWE 24/7 and other offerings, Davis said. Their cable training will have to come internally, he added. Davis says wrestlers might attend Summit one day or NCTA’s National Show. "We’re slowly building a small, decent group of legends who grasp what’s going on with the industry," he said.