Rohit Raju Says Impact Nearly Fired Him Over Twitter Exchanges With Scarlett Bordeaux
Promotions are always pushing for authenticity in this reality era of pro wrestling, but things got a little too real during a Twitter exchange between Rohit Raju and Scarlett Bordeaux.
The exchange was part of a work, but everyone within Impact wasn't filled in on those details. Raju spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast to talk about how Impact reacted to his tweets.
"[Impact] just told me to talk about Scarlett and then I put my own two cents in it as well. The best ones are always the ones that are blurred between the lines and I actually almost got fired," admitted Raju.
Impact Executive Vice President Ed Nordholm did not know Raju's social media attack on Bordeaux was all a work and a match was planned between the two.
"He was still upset about the stuff with Eli [Drake] so he gets ahold of Scott [D'Amore] and literally had my letter firing me written out," said Raju. "[Ed said] 'I can't believe he didn't learn his lesson from Eli. He's fired. You fire him and I've got the email written up.'"
Raju says Nordholm was going to pull him from the TV tapings until Don Callis told him it was a worked-shoot.
"'No, no, no,'" Raju said while impersonating Callis. "'We wanted him to talk about the match. But it's a little bit of half-shoot.'"
Raju used that storyline to increase some exposure for him as Desi Hit Squad is not currently booked as a threat.
"They book Desi Hit Squad how they book Desi Hit Squad. I do feel we don't come across as a threat. We did at one point, but we've kinda been booked into the ground a little bit," stated Raju.
Regarding his misogynistic comments on Twitter aimed at Scarlett Bordeaux, Raju was asked about his thoughts on the Women's Revolution.
"I'm all about it and I think it's awesome how far women have come in pro wrestling?The sky's the limit from here and I think what they're doing is groundbreaking. It's fantastic. It's good to see that," said Raju.
"They're making the guys work harder as well. People gotta step up their game and now it's finally a level playing field. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the ladies still think it's not. But they're doing a hell of a job and I think it's awesome?. or do I?"
Despite his comments on social media, Raju isn't a fan of social media platforms in general and he explained why.
"Social media in general gets on my nerves," admitted Raju. "I'm all about whatever you believe in?We can have a civil conversation about these things whether I believe in them or not. But once you start saying, 'Oh you suck because you don't believe in intergender wrestling or all this stuff'?then it becomes toxic.
"Whether it's religion, politics, entertainment or wrestling, the fan base is always toxic."
A big gripe from fans about Raju is his wrestling style and many feel it's outdated. Raju says he is purposely trying to wrestle a different style than what is currently out there.
"I may not wrestle the style of what's in right now as I'm trying to wrestle the style of 97-98," said Raju. "Steve Austin and all those guys because, those guys, you'll never ever forget."
As for the Bordeaux comments on social media, Raju says he was just being himself turned all the way up.
"It's just me being me but turned up to [a volume of] 10 with some nastiness in there. But I can't stand social media. People are toxic about 99 percent of the things on earth. It's ridiculous," said Raju.
Raju's full interview was released as part of Wednesday's episode of our WINCLY podcast, which can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.