WRESTLING WITH CRISIS COMMUNICATION: WWE’S SCANDALS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGIES IN 2015 BY REBECCA J. STEINER A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Communication May 2016 Winston-Salem, North Carolina Approved By: John Llewellyn, PhD, Advisor Mary M. Dalton, Ph.D, Chair Robert J. Atchison, Ph.D. Dedication To my dad, Tom Steiner, you are still the smartest man I know. This project takes me one step closer to becoming a real doctor like you. ii Acknowledgements Like a debate team, this thesis is not an individual effort. Many people were indispensable in my efforts over the past two years and, without whom this would not have been possible. I am deeply grateful to all of them, especially to… Dr. John Llewellyn for being my advisor along the way. His expertise on the subject of sports communication and organizational rhetoric is unparalleled. Dr. Llewellyn reminds me of my favorite basketball coach Gregg Popovich – brief, incredibly intelligent, serious, and has a very dry sense of humor. Dr. Jarrod Atchison for being my mentor and second reader. Jarrod strongly influenced the way I learned to debate as a fifteen year old at summer debate workshop and for the past two years he has strongly influenced how I think about judging, coaching, and directing college policy debate. I can’t say enough about Jarrod’s constant encouragement and advice. Dr. Mary Dalton, for being a committee member and one of my favorite professors. I have had so much fun developing a new research interest in Critical Media Studies after taking multiple courses with her. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to collaborate with her on two academic anthologies. Justin Green and Ken Strange for teaching me more than I have room to write about on how to be a great policy debate coach. Erik Beaston for being a long-time pro wrestling expert and fan. Thanks for helping me no matter how out-of-the-blue my question and for always replying promptly no matter what time of day. The Wake Forest Debate Team: Jack, Bobby, Brent, Thomas, Charles, Corinne, Rayvon, Varun, Connor M., Conner B., Vale, Kate, Lucy, Cameron, David, Jameson, Don, Adam, Alex, Char, Nolan, Kense, Ned, Mac, Andrew, Bennett, Jacob, Paige, Rakin, Luke, Daniel, Curtis, Jeffrey, Keenan, Katie, Meghan, Millicent, Maddie, Erica, Joe, Lee, Chloe, & Amanda. It has been incredibly fun. You are all champions and supermodels. My life is better because of you. iii Table of Contents Dedication ................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. v Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... vi Chapter I: Justification ............................................................................................................. 1 Statement of the problem area of inquiry ............................................................................ 1 Importance of Study .............................................................................................................. 4 Chapter II: Review of Past Literature ..................................................................................... 6 Apology, Apologia, and Image Repair ................................................................................. 6 Professional Wrestling ......................................................................................................... 13 Chapter III: Methodology ....................................................................................................... 16 Chapter IV: Image Repair, Instagram and the Rhetoric of Sport: How the WWE and Seth Rollins Managed the Message After a Cyber Hack ..................................................... 19 Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................ 41 Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................ 42 Chapter V: Motivator! or Sexual Predator? The Relentless Patterns of WWE’s Bill DeMott ...................................................................................................................................... 43 Chapter VI: WWE & Crisis Communication: Hulk Hogan takes on Gawker .................. 71 Chapter VII: Findings and Conclusions ................................................................................ 92 References ............................................................................................................................... 102 Curriculum Vitae ................................................................................................................... 112 iv List of Abbreviations ACL - Anterior cruciate ligament ECW – Extreme Championship Wrestling ESPN - Entertainment and Sports Programming Network DSW – Deep South Wrestling HH – Hulk Hogan HR – Human Resources MCL - Medial collateral ligament MLB – Major League Baseball NBA – National Basketball Association NFL – National Football League NHL – National Hockey League NWO - New World Order NXT – Next Generation Wrestling (WWE developmental training camp) PG – Parental Guidance PR – Public Relations PWI – Professional Wrestling Illustrated TNA – Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TV - Television WCW – World Championship Wrestling WWE – World Wrestling Entertainment WWF – World Wrestling Federation v Abstract This project examines an intersection of organizational rhetoric, professional wrestling and social media. Professional wrestling, like many other sports, is rich with scandal. Steiner makes a scholarly inquiry into how World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and in particular Seth Rollins, Bill DeMott, and Hulk Hogan handled their respective scandals. These scandals rocked the fans of this popular sport and challenged the popularity of some of the sport’s highest earning wrestlers. Computer mediated communication plays an important role in sports figure apologies and their aftermath. Steiner applies organizational rhetoric concepts such as apologia, image repair discourse, and corporate social responsibility to analyze the use of internet technology and social media by the WWE and individual wrestlers to restore their images. When Seth Rollins’ Instagram account was hacked and nude photos were released to all of his followers, the fallout demanded the use of image repair and rhetorical strategies. A coding scheme was developed to further analyze Rollins’ Twitter discourse. WWE’s and Rollins’ successful use of computer mediated communication effectively repaired any damage the scandal had caused and prevented any further fallout. When the hashtags “#FireDeMott” and “FireBillDeMott” started trending on Twitter, Bill DeMott felt a need to take his image repair campaign online. The WWE was able to successfully defend its image after DeMott’s scandal presented a major threat. DeMott’s image, however, remains tarnished. After Hulk Hogan’s sex tape and racist rant videos were leaked online, Hogan’s Twitter activity increased. Hogan saw Twitter as a venue to interact with fans and comment on his upcoming trial. WWE has been able to successfully distance itself from Hogan’s scandal, but it remains to be seen whether Hogan will ever repair his personal image. After analyzing the public relations strategies by the company and its individual wrestlers in three of the major WWE-related scandals of 2015, Steiner offers suggestions for how the image repair campaigns could be improved in each respective case. Steiner then offers a brief list of recommendations for the WWE broadly to improve their future scandal management. vi Chapter I: Justification Statement of the problem area of inquiry Professional wrestling, like many other sports, is rich with scandal. Although professional wrestling in some ways cannot be compared to “real” athletic competition, professional wrestling is one of the most successful sport franchises in history, garners millions of fans, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)’s characters are athletes, and WWE has to deal with scandal the same way other corporations and athletic teams do. This project is a scholarly inquiry into how WWE and three particular athletes wrestled with scandals that rocked the fans of this popular sport by challenging the image and popularity of some of the sport’s highest earning wrestlers and trainers. My thesis investigates whether wrestling superstars apologize in the same way other athletes, celebrities, or corporations do when faced with crisis. I argue the WWE should be studied the same way as other individuals and organizations that have dealt with scandal. What strategies has the WWE used to repair its image when its image is threatened? Likewise, how have individual wrestlers responded? My thesis is limited to three case studies in professional wrestling from 2015. Many other scandals could be addressed using the same methodology and more research is needed on WWE related scandals such as Vince McMahon’s trial for distributing