Mmouse Enterprises HQ2
Nashville, Tennessee
10/22/2019
Dearest fans and pundits of professional wrestling, I apologize for taking so long to respond, but after the turmoil at the HQ1 Headquarters in Memphis this past weekend I had to take a moment to rest. There was quite a bit of drama which unfolded that night and then my father decided to pile on when he hosted his late-night press conference the other day, which was entirely unprofessional. I have stated all along that I am not in this for the soap opera, but to ensure that our fans of the best possible experience that we can deliver. Unfortunately, this recent controversy requires my direct response, so please forgive me as I deviate from the original goal of avoiding the conflict with my family.
At the Board Meeting and then again at the Press Conference, my father attacked me and my business skills directly as he desperately clung to what remained of his power. The moment he realized that he had lost the battle for which he had mistakenly drawn his line in the sand he saw fit to lash out at my sanity and my credibility. Was he correct in saying that it was my idea that the men and the women be allowed to compete against each other? Yes, and no. While I suggested to my father that there should be more opportunities for the women to follow the footsteps of Amazon in the past and while I even supported the initial idea of an intergender battle royal for immunity, I was not a supporter of the idea that women could have their careers or lives endangered in the "Extreme" match he wound up booking.
There is some truth to the claim that I pushed for women to be treated equally in the way my father said I had advocated, and I will NEVER apologize for being the fiercest advocate for the best performers in this industry. My father may have liked women's wrestling and even pioneered the existence thereof in this industry, but he also never saw them as equals. It was only when I arrived that he was soon compelled to take all athletes seriously. While he did - in fact - step back from 2011 through to this year and allow me to run this company without his help, he had lost his faith in me just when he felt the heat rising this past May. He never trusted me to succeed on my own with genuine competition.
This lack of faith in my strengths is what led him to hijack the management of "From Dusk Til Dawn 3" and when it became clear that I was not going to cooperate like a "good little girl" he took it out on me with the booking decision that he green-lighted regarding that controversial match for Immunity. In other words, yes, I supported the intergender match in question, but he was the one who pushed for the "extreme" stipulations. It was my opinion at the time - an opinion I kept to myself until now - that my father added these stipulations to compel me to backtrack my advocacy for equality. His objective was pure backstage politics, and he was intent on achieving this administrative victory over me on the backs of our women stars. My selfishness was admittedly to blame for my refusal to back down, as I did not want to back down and let him win.
When my father realized I wasn't backing down he stormed into my office on the eve of "From Dusk Til Dawn" and threatened to make the match official if I didn't. I - blinded by my Mouse-family pride - told him right to his face that he should make it official and that I would even announce it for him. He cussed me out, called me a fool, and promised to make me regret that moment of defiance all before leaving my office in a rage. I later informed him that day that I was boycotting the event with this particular interaction being the final straw, and the rest of what happened that night is history.
When my uncle made it a point to capitalize on the justifiable public backlash about the match I was distraught. I was in tears in a conference call with the women on our roster, begging them not to go through with a planned strike which they were going to announce on the eve of "Greatness Reborn". They were enraged with me and the rest of the men and women at Headquarters 1 and 2, for they had come to believe that I stopped fighting for them. In a way, they were right. While I was trying to do right by all women, I let my ego overcome me...just like my father and my uncles before me.
I can't and won't speak to Benny's motives for speaking out against the match, because the only thing that matters is it helped to make mainstream an important discussion throughout the industry and specifically at Mmouse Enterprises. Yes, I was legitimately pushing for women to get treated better, to have the ability to be drafted for a safer and fairer schedule, for a women's tag division, and more. However, my spat with my father and the fear of the appearance of losing had crippled me so much that I forgot to stand up for the ten women booked for that dangerous match.
Ultimately, this pressure mounted so much from the outrage outside and the threats of strikes and company resignations inside that I had no choice but to publicly rescind my support for the match; admitting I was wrong and that my father was right. What happened next - with my father's petty refusal to cancel the match and the showdown which followed - took me by surprise. This war between my father and I was not one that I wanted, but his bitter actions derived from his desperate attempts to stay relevant have now driven me to fight back.
Our first shot in said war was in the Board Room when we - the side of justice - achieved a much needed victory over my father, his cronies, and the side of injustice. Now, seeing the wounded animal that Mickey has become in light of his humiliating defeat, I am calling for the Board of Directors to replace my father as the Chairman of the Board with a Chair who holds no significant shares in this company; a man or woman who will be justly compensated for their service, but whose service will not enrich them even further.
Demote my father to be a "Co-Vice Chair" like myself and the mystery shareholder and replace him with an objective third party, because that is the only way we can completely defang the monster he has become and make him a true equal amongst the rest of us.
The next time you all hear from me will be at my next press conference, which will be soon. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Catherine Louise Mouse
Chief Operations Officer and Co-Vice Chair of the Board
Mmouse Enterprises