World Wrestling Entertainment suspended former cruiserweight champion Rich Swann for fighting with his wrestler wife, Vannarah Riggs.
According to a police report, the couple, who live in Orlando, Florida, was on the road after Riggs finished a wrestling show in Gainesville, Florida. Swann criticized Riggs about her performance. Riggs felt that the argument was getting tense, and decided to exit the moving vehicle.
Swann chased Riggs and grabbed her by the arm and head. The car was not put in park and crashed into a telephone pole. Swann caught up with Riggs and led her back to the car in a headlock. He forced her into the car as she was screaming. Witnesses said Riggs was still screaming for help and beating on the window as the couple drove away.
Swann told police that he didn’t touch Riggs, and that she voluntarily sat back in the car. He said he needed her to go back with him since her phone had the GPS he was using to drive.
The police report also states that the couple have been in a relationship for five years and married for nine months. According to wrestling news site PWInsider, Swann was released from prison Dec. 10 and the case has been assigned to a judge.
BREAKING NEWS: WWE has zero tolerance for matters involving domestic violence, and per our policy, Rich Swann has been suspended indefinitely following his arrest. https://t.co/7GBJIu3Tyu
— WWE (@WWE) December 10, 2017
The WWE issued a statement via its website Dec. 10 that Rich Swann is indefinitely suspended because of the organization’s zero-tolerance domestic violence policy. Swann was a part of the WWE cruiserweight division and held the championship from the end of 2016 to the beginning of 2017, according to the WWE’s website.
The WWE has been making a big push for lighter weight wrestlers like Swann since last year’s Cruiserweight Classic tournament, Deadspin reported. Cruiserweight wrestlers need to weigh 205 pounds or less. The company also added a show focusing on cruiserweight wrestlers to its television channel called 205 Live. Swann won his championship title on the show’s first episode, according to his WWE profile.
Riggs wrestles on the independent scene. She currently wrestles under the name Su Yung. From 2010 to 2011 she wrestled in Florida Championship Wrestling, which was then the WWE’s developmental operation. She was released but continued to wrestle for independent companies in various locations, according to her Facebook page.
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