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I& #39;m in awe of the strength of @holliebarlow_. My experiences are in no way comparable. I was never sexually abused by Xander Cooper
However in retrospect there was a climate of fear, suspicion and uncertainty that Xander Cooper created. It was this climate that allowed him to abuse Hollie
I am writing this thread purely to illuminate the methods these people use. If you recognise any of this behaviour from your coaches or promoters, please know that it& #39;s not acceptable.
Cooper used secrecy and innuendo. Constantly dangling carrots in front of people, whether it be shows or promotions to the next class or whatever
He& #39;d often allude to & #39;conversations& #39; he was having with people. Making the outside wrestling world seem suspicious and dark Constantly alluding to customs and practices that we weren& #39;t to be aware of, or & #39;people& #39; talking about us
I got on with Xander for the most part until he and Stephen got together. That was when problems started. I& #39;d never really got on with Stephen. Not sure why. Things were always just a bit off
But after it came out that they were in a relationship things turned. After @TheBrookerMan arranged for me, @EthanAllen_YG and @Properdm to do Progress ring crew
We were the subject of not-so-cryptic tweets from steven accusing & #39;people& #39; of shying away from training, instead choosing to do & #39;Free labour and sucking arse& #39;
Pathetic right? But we didn& #39;t confront Cooper or Stephen. He held too much power over us. Sounds wild. 2 of us were fully grown men. The other was a child of 15
But he was the gatekeeper. We were all training 4 times a week for at least a year at this point. I& #39;d never worked so hard for anything in my life. He had that over us
I remember the incident Ethan refers to. Ethan had messaged a promoter to do crew and asked us to join. We thought nothing of it.
One day, a non-training day, Cooper called me and Danny into the school and travelled across Manchester to meet us. This meeting was only to & #39;investigate& #39; what had gone on
We were made to feel reduced to snivelling fucking school children. Soon after we were & #39;demoted& #39; to the next class down
I was made to feel inadequate and to doubt myself. I was a fully grown man in my mid 20s. I& #39;d lived in other cities, had many jobs and relationships I was in every sense, outside of wrestling, a fucking adult. But i was being manipulated and gaslit by my coach.
My behaviour was affected. I was nervous and terrified to put a foot wrong. At shows I struggled to converse with people outside of the bubble of the school
I witnessed this happening to others. When Ethan had his first ever match at Fighting Spirit Stephen was tweeting about how he was a & #39;little boy looking up to little men& #39;
Fucking robbing a child of the proudest moment of his life. It took the whole locker room to reassure Ethan
Thankfully i got injured and got some space from the school. I did go back but also started training with @AlsoSamBailey . I was menacingly told by Cooper that he & #39;knew id been training elsewhere& #39;
I was asked to debut at a carnival show by @BenchmarkBigJoe and after pictures went up, Cooper deleted me off Facebook so i assumed i wasn& #39;t welcome at the school again
It took months to rebuild my confidence, and i still struggle to this day. Sam Bailey stuck by me and created a fun and inclusive atmosphere. Im so grateful.
The friendships i formed through this experience, especially with Ethan, Danny and @JJ_Webb93 are invaluable. There are others, many of whom were very talented
Who quit the business and stopped pursuing their dreams because of Cooper making them feel inadequate. I send my love to them.
As I& #39;ve said earlier, we knew Cooper and Stephen were bullies. But while all this was happening he was sexually abusing and gaslighting our friend Hollie
I was shocked by this yesterday and still feel utterly sick. As i said i knew they were bullies but not predators.

If you recognise any of these behaviours from your coaches, question them. Talk to people outside of wrestling about them.
Wrestling isn& #39;t, or at least shouldn& #39;t be, a mythic society with secret codes and practices. Its a fun fucking hobby for most of us and a job for some

Nothing more. Value yourself as a person. #SpeakingOut https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Rotes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Herz">
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