WWE star Peyton Royce, one half of the "IIconics," has responded to body-shaming comments made by prominent professional wrestling journalist, Dave Meltzer, on a recent podcast. According to Cageside Seats, the conversation on the August 9th edition of Wrestling Observer Radio went like this:
Dave Meltzer: The IIconics got boring-ed out. They’re another one. I thought they had a cool act in NXT, and on the main roster? I don’t get a thing out of them. I don’t think their promos are particularly good, their wrestling isn’t good. I think they even like - I think Peyton Royce’s transformation to look more attractive. I don’t know, I don’t want to say. But I don’t think that...
Bryan Alvarez: She was more attractive in NXT?
Meltzer: I thought so, yes. To me, yes. I would say so. But that’s neither here nor there.
Alvarez: No one’s saying she’s unattractive, by the way, everybody.
Meltzer: I know, no $#!+. Yeah, I didn’t say it at all. But I don’t think, she doesn’t stand out to me - when she was in NXT she did...
Alvarez: You know, one thing I’ve noticed about NXT is...
Meltzer: She was... she was a lot lighter...
After audio of Meltzer's comments made the rounds on twitter, Royce quote-tweeted the audio, "So what would you have me do Dave... starve myself? This is how nightmares for young women start. The females in your life must be proud." Meltzer issued an apology to Royce that reads, "I'd like to apologize to you. You are an exceedingly attractive woman. I do realize the lengths and pressures on women in the entertainment world to maintain unnatural looks at times and am glad you pointed this out."
Royce's colleagues also came to her defense, and to show support, in wake of the rude comments. Check out what some other WWE superstars had to say about Meltzer's comments in the tweets embedded below.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1027624336499331074
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029775450044866566
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029837128186949632
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029823576311058432
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029847466655399937
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029853160821555200
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029815705846341640
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029788986036940802
https://twitter.com/_/status/1029827499415560192
