Speaking Out ended the career of Marty Scurll, one of the UK’s most promising young wrestlers, in 2020.
The Villain of Bullet Club was one of the biggest and most promising up-and-coming stars in wrestling around the time The Elite were becoming the biggest thing in wrestling since the NWO. The English star was one of the premier talents of the group.
Ranked up there alongside WWE’s Cody Rhodes and former AEW Champion Adam Page, Marty Scurll seemed destined for greatness. Many people saw him as the biggest talent in the group, and alongside Zack Sabre Jr and Will Ospreay heralded a new era in British wrestling.
His rivalry with Will Ospreay was legendary and spanned multiple promotions. Scurll constantly got the upper hand over his younger opponent, and the pair were on the way to having a generational feud that rivalled any and all in wrestling history.
The English wrestler is married to AEW star Serena Deeb and was best friends with the Young Bucks. He was even a key part of The Elite and seen as a bigger star than Adam Page during his time in NJPW. However, it all came crashing down on one day in June 2020.
Marty Scurll Was Fired After “Speaking Out” Allegations
Marty Scurll was fired from his role as ROH booker and kicked out of The Elite after being accused of sexual assault during the Speaking Out movement in wrestling in 2020.
He was accused by a former pupil of his, a 16-year-old aspiring wrestler who went by @mystickttn on Twitter.
The British woman wrote on her Twitter account on June 22nd, 2020 that she was fed drinks by IPW’s Dan Elder all night, getting her drunk despite being under the drinking age in public.
This took place at an IPW after-party, the victim claims. She went on to write that she met Marty Scurll outside the party venue, where he tried to convince her to have sex with him back at her hotel. saying “We should go back together, let’s go back to the hotel, let’s f**k.”.
She claimed she tried to politely exit the conversation by claiming her friend had the key to her hotel room.However, she later went to retrieve the room key from said friend, despite being warned that going back with Scurll was a bad idea. She was refused the key and set off with Marty Scurll anyway “without the key”.
He walked her back to her hotel room, despite neither having access to the room. They made their way to the “independent, small hotel” and sat outside her room, unable to gain entry. Here she claims Marty Scurll “sat on a chair and got his penis out and told me to suck it. So I did.”.
Given the fact that she was only 16 and Scurll was in his early thirties, and she had been plied with drinks all night, this encounter was as disturbing as it was shocking. He then propositioned her to have unprotected sex and reportedly tried “to stick his unprotected penis inside me”, despite the victim’s repeated claims of “I’m so sorry, I’m still a virgin”.
However, Scurll seemed determined and would not take no for an answer, despite his 16-year-old victim not wanting to and being in no frame of mind to consent to the awful act he was about to commit.
Luckily, her friend showed up soon after and told Marty Scurll to leave.
Luckily she avoided even more trauma, although in the same breath she did reveal she had previously been raped by Dan Edler, the man who had been fed her drinks all night before the encounter with Marty Scurll.
The Villain (the apt nickname Scurll chose for himself inside the Bullet Club) did issue a statement revealing his side of the events, but it was too little too late. He had become a pariah in wrestling.
The top promotions wouldn’t touch him for fear of backlash (and moral fortitude), and his once-promising career was now in tatters. He lost his reported $700k a year job as the head booker for Ring of Honor, as well as any hope of signing for WWE or AEW in the future.
He was also not booked again by Ring of Honor, with his sole appearance on New Japan Strong never aired after the allegations became public.
Marty Scurll Responded Very, Very Poorly
After being accused by his alleged victim, Marty Scurll’s
The former ROH Booker responded to the accusations levied at him by the alleged victim. Speaking on social media following his being accused of sexual assault, Marty Scurll said;
“I am aware that a young woman has bravely come forward with her account of sexual abuse by some members of the wrestling community in the UK 5 years ago, a community I was a part of.
Although I truly believe that our encounter that evening was consensual, and the fact that the encounter was legal; is almost not the point. I understand that she now views our encounter as part of a bigger problem within the wrestling community.
What concerns me at this moment is that from what I have been reading, she is a fan of wrestling and was made to feel unsafe within that community. This is not acceptable. I also understand that people have been attacking her on social media, and I implore you to please stop. She has a right to her voice and it is our responsibility to listen.”
Marty Scurll Kept Wrestling Abroad After The Allegations
Marty Scurll has returned to wrestling since being fired by Ring of Honor. However, he has only found success on small, regional shows and some of them have received backlash for booking The Villain to wrestle in their promotions. This led to him making Puerto Rico a “home from home” and wrestling regularly for the local promotions in the area.
He was recently booked to appear at former WWE Superstar Santino Marella’s promotion Battle Arts. He was announced by Marella on Twitter, but the announcement has received much backlash from fans who remember the allegations against Marty Scurll in 2020.
Marty Scurll also has his own Vlog on YouTube, attempting to mirror the success he once had as part of the Being the Elite web series. His channel currently has over 20,000 subscribers and chronicles his journey in wrestling since being fired for sexual assault allegations.
New Japan Pro Wrestling Tried To Bring Marty Scurll Back In 2021
The year after his career was seemingly ended due to allegations of sexual assault, Marty Scurll was given a lifeline by the Japanese giants New Japan Pro Wrestling.
He had wrestled extensively for the company in the years prior and was a key member of Bullet Club. With the company more lax on people accused of crimes and with sexual assault taken less seriously in Japan, this looked like his chance to make a comeback in wrestling.
Fightful Select reported that the Englishman was backstage at a New Japan Strong taping on January 22nd 2021 where he took part in a post-match angle with Rocky Romero, seemingly to set up his return match in the company.
They also reported that multiple talents were unhappy with this decision from NJPW. They told Fightful that they wouldn’t have worked the show had they known he was there, while fans online also gave the company their opinion on the matter.
That was Marty Scurll’s last appearance in New Japan as the company decided the best thing was to no longer try and bring him back to the company.