The Night Abraham Washington Crossed The Line in 2012

[The Rick Jericho]

During the live broadcast of Monday Night Raw on July 30, 2012, Jossie made a joke referencing NBA player Kobe Bryant's sexual assault back in 2003. As client Titus O'Neil tangled with Kofi Kingston in a singles match, Jossie, who was wearing a headset microphone yelled from ringside, "Titus O'Neil is like Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado - HE'S UNSTOPPABLE!". When Raw returned from commercial break following the match, the WWE apologized on-air through announcer Michael Cole and Jossie later issued an apology that evening via Twitter and noted that "there was no malicious intent behind the joke". After Raw, WWE issued an official apology via TMZ reading, "A. W. made an inappropriate comment and WWE immediately apologized. WWE has taken appropriate action in the matter". The representative, however, did not specify what "action" was taken against Jossie.[18] The incident would later be a subject for discussion on the August 1, 2012 broadcast of ESPN's Around the Horn with ESPN analyst and Miami Herald columnist Israel Gutierrez using his "facetime" (for winning the day's show) to criticize the WWE for the incident, despite Jossie's joke being an off-the-cuff moment.[19] Jossie was released by WWE on August 10.[13] After his release from WWE, he went on a rant on his WWE verified Twitter account, @awpromotions, about his former employer. Eventually, WWE suspended his account indefinitely.

What a mess this turned out to be. Now this is something that felt like it was at least 10-15 years ago, but it was only 7 years ago. I haven't heard ANYTHING about this guy since. Is he officially blacklisted from WWE or something?

[This Player Hating Mothman]

I mean with his post-firing response he's not doing himself any favours, but he's not a dude WWE was ever going to do anything with again; he had a three year non-wrestler stint that's only memorable because he said something really stupid. He got chewed out, and then dropped after that over bad press, and I'm going to wager they gave him the 'just lie low until the heat is off' treatment they've given plenty of people before and he pulled an Enzo about it, so now he's just not going anywhere.

As for the 'since', I mean he was someone who in developmental got looked at and told "We think you're an interviewer", which says a lot about his ring skills, he was never breaking out onto the indie scene. To my knowledge he's working like one small scale Florida indie and that's the extent of it.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

He now wrestles as The G.O.A.T. 

[CeilingFan]

Dec 29, 2019 14:41:54 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

He now wrestles as The G.O.A.T. 

he looks.....different.

[msc]

At any point between that RAW and his release, a simple "yeah my bad" humble pie would have saved his entire career. So its hard to feel much sympathy for him.

[Deleted]

It's his own stupid fault. If he'd just kept his head down they'd have brought him back once it blew over but he had to throw a fit over it.

[Deleted]

I was just thinking about this. I was not sure how to mention this in other threads.

"He's like Samoa Joe (Tommy Dreamer) at a hotel catering! ... he's unstoppable!"

[Deleted]

I thought he was brilliant to be honest.

Loved the Abraham Washington Show and AW Promotions had a ton of potential.

[Topher is Human]

*insert Tony Atlas chuckling*

[XIII]

Dec 29, 2019 14:41:54 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

He now wrestles as The G.O.A.T. 

Greatest of all testosterone

[chazraps]

Dude made a rape joke on a PG Family show.

[nm]

I was a big fan of Abraham Washington, shouldn't have given him a live mic with no script though.

[111111]

I prefer George Lincoln myself.....

[chazraps]

Dec 29, 2019 16:49:13 GMT -5 nm said:

I was a big fan of Abraham Washington, shouldn't have given him a live mic with no script though.

On one hand, yes. On the other, I think it's a reasonable expectation that a trusted talent wouldn't make a rape joke on a family television show.

[XIII]

Dec 29, 2019 16:55:38 GMT -5 111111 said:

I prefer George Lincoln myself.....

Was that the dude that beat up Rosa Mendes? I know he was some sort of presidential goof name.

[Sponsored by Groose Wipes]

I really enjoyed Abraham Washington too, then he did... THAT.

[67 more]

Dec 29, 2019 17:26:49 GMT -5 XIII said:

Dec 29, 2019 16:55:38 GMT -5 111111 said:

I prefer George Lincoln myself.....

Was that the dude that beat up Rosa Mendes? I know he was some sort of presidential goof name.

Jackson Andrews

[nm]

Dec 29, 2019 17:25:18 GMT -5 chazraps said:

Dec 29, 2019 16:49:13 GMT -5 nm said:

I was a big fan of Abraham Washington, shouldn't have given him a live mic with no script though.

On one hand, yes. On the other, I think it's a reasonable expectation that a trusted talent wouldn't make a rape joke on a family television show.

I agree with you on that. At the time I didn't think the line was too bad because in 2012 I still had a long way to go learning about social issues, but then like the next week or so he was still on the live mic and made a joke about Rosa's domestic violence thing and I was like "Oh boy this dude is an idiot"

[Deleted]

Man, I did not remember him being on tv after the whole unstoppable situation. ^ Is there clear quotes about the Rosa thing? Interesting.

[Sam Punk]

No sympy!