BJ Whitmer has been sentenced on charges relating to his arrest last year.
Whitmer was arrested on June 4, 2023, and charged with second-degree burglary and first-degree strangulation. He is alleged to have entered a former girlfriend’s home, waited for her to return, and then assaulted her.
“Mr. Whitmer grabbed her by the throat and threw her down on the couch, where he began strangling her,” the police report reads. The victim would later tell media she was “fighting for her life” during the assault.
Whitmer took an Alford plea, meaning he acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him but he still maintains his innocence. It also means he can have the felony expunged from his record after five years. He has been sentenced to five years probation and 120 days of house arrest.
News of his sentence was posted to X by journalist B.J Bethel:
Former AEW producer, ROH wrestler B.J. Whitmer received five years probation and 120-day home incarceration in connection the strangulation and criminal trespass charge he faced involving his ex-girlfriend last summer.
Whitmer took an Alford plea, which means he maintains his innocence but acknowledges there’s enough evidence he could face a possible conviction in a jury trial. He can have the felony expunged from his record in 5 years.
The prosecution on why an Alford plea was offered to Whitmer. “During the pendency of this case the Commonwealth was provided with a significant amount of reciprocal discovery. Due to this discovery and other events the Commonwealth was required to reevaluate its position.”
Former AEW producer, ROH wrestler B.J. Whitmer received five years probation and 120-day home incarceration in connection the strangulation and criminal trespass charge he faced involving his ex-girlfriend last summer.
AEW released Whitmer after news of his arrest. They released the following statement to media on June 12, 2023:
B.J. Whitmer has been terminated following his arrest on domestic violence charges. While talent and staff are ultimately responsible for their own personal actions, this behavior is intolerable within AEW. AEW has reached out to offer support to those impacted by his behavior.
An update is available regarding the domestic violence charges facing BJ Whitmer.
The former AEW coach/producer was arrested on June 4 and charged with first-degree strangulation and second-degree burglary. The 45-year-old spent eight days in prison before making bail. He was released by AEW shortly after news of his arrest was made public.
Fightful is reporting that Whitmer was indicted on the above-mentioned charges at a hearing on Wednesday, September 6. He is set for a pretrial hearing on October 6.
“There is an EPO in place with the victim, and AEW has continued to work with her. There is a pretrial hearing set for October 4,” Sean Ross Sapp posted.
According to police reports, Whitmer and the victim dated briefly. Whitmer is alleged to have entered the victim’s home on June 4 and waited for her to come home.
“Mr. Whitmer grabbed her by the throat and threw her down on the couch, where he began strangling her,” the police report reads.
The alleged victim in the case opened up about what transpired in an interview with Fox 19 Cincinnati, saying she “was fighting for her life” during the ordeal.
“I was literally fighting for my life,” she said. “I came into my house, and he was standing at the top of my steps waiting for me.”
“And he squeezed tighter and said, ‘I’m going to f****** kill you. Do you hear me? I’m going to kill you!’” She continued. “And once we got to the point of where we stopped moving, and then he continued choking me, I absolutely knew.”
“Instead of coughing, I lied and said, ‘I already called the cops,’ and the second I said that he let go.”
AEW released the following statement to the media on June 12.
“B.J. Whitmer has been terminated following his arrest on domestic violence charges. While talent and staff are ultimately responsible for their own personal actions, this behavior is intolerable within AEW. AEW has reached out to offer support to those impacted by his behavior.”
New details have come out regarding the domestic violence charges against BJ Whitmer.
The alleged victim in the case spoke with Fox 19 Cincinnati under the condition of anonymity. She said that she and Whitmer dated for a period and the 45-year-old assaulted her after they broke up.
According to the police report, “Mr. Whitmer grabbed her by the throat and threw her down on the couch, where he began strangling her.”
“I was literally fighting for my life,” the woman said. “I came into my house, and he was standing at the top of my steps waiting for me.”
“And he squeezed tighter and said, ‘I’m going to f****** kill you. Do you hear me? I’m going to kill you!’” She continued. “And once we got to the point of where we stopped moving, and then he continued choking me, I absolutely knew.”
“Instead of coughing, I lied and said, ‘I already called the cops,’ and the second I said that he let go,” she said.
The police report states that officers noted red marks and bruising around the woman’s neck. Whitmer was arrested on June 4 and spent eight days in prison before being released on a $25,000 bond. He has been charged with first-degree strangulation and second-degree burglary.
The woman has installed security cameras at her residence and Boone County sheriff’s deputies have been randomly patrolling her area. She told the media that she still does not feel safe.
Whitmer had been working as a coach for AEW dating back to the start of the company in 2019. The company fired him shortly after news of his arrest broke. AEW stated, “B.J. Whitmer has been terminated following his arrest on domestic violence charges. While talent and staff are ultimately responsible for their own personal actions, this behavior is intolerable within AEW. “
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including AEW firing BJ Whitmer, WWE TV negotiations expanding, Stardom, G-1 changes this year, ratings, Dave’s thoughts on All Together Again, RAW, NXT and AEW previews, Magnum TA Q&A and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Bryan and Dave are going to London
3:50: BJ Whitmer fired from AEW following domestic assault arrest
5:26: WWE TV deal exclusitivity window expires
19:56: Matt Morgan undergoes back surgery, updates on Adam Cole/MJF, Stardom, Sean Waltman, G1 blocks
AEW has fired producer BJ Whitmer after his early-June arrest on domestic violence charges.
Fightful reported Monday night that the 45-year-old was arrested on Sunday, June 4th by the Boone County (Kentucky) Sheriff’s Department on charges of first degree strangulation and second degree burglary.
Shortly after the report, AEW released the following statement to media members:
“B.J. Whitmer has been terminated following his arrest on domestic violence charges. While talent and staff are ultimately responsible for their own personal actions, this behavior is intolerable within AEW. AEW has reached out to offer support to those impacted by his behavior.”
Whitmer was released from custody today (Monday).
A bond of $25,000 was set with Whitmer bound to a grand jury. For a further definition in Kentucky, “the prosecutor must prove to the judge that there is enough evidence to show that a crime has been committed. This involves presenting a minimal amount of evidence which will justify further proceedings. If the prosecutor establishes sufficient evidence, the case will be bound to the grand jury.”
Whitmer, a former Ring of Honor Tag Team Champion, has been with AEW in a producing role since 2019.
Ring of Honor television from Stage AE in Pittsburgh featured a wild brawl and also a challenge that will assuredly lead to others brawling in the future.
War Machine battled the sinister BJ Whitmer and “Punishment” Martinez in a no disqualification match in the main event. Elsewhere on the show, Cody (Rhodes) issued a challenge to Jay Lethal using a classic prop from Dusty’s past.
In continuing the trend of rotating guest commentators, Alex Shelley joined the current lead voice of ROH, Ian Riccaboni, in calling most of the show.
Taped weeks before the 15th Anniversary pay-per-view and airing in syndication the weekend of the PPV, this episode was a lame duck of sorts with certain storyline advancements. It still looked towards the next major card, Supercard of Honor on April 1st in Lakeland, Florida.
While the show built towards the future card, the taping for this episode took place before recent developments that left this show with one glaring timeline issue related to the tag team titles.
The Young Bucks, in a showcase match on this episode, were still the ROH World Tag Team Champions despite them recently losing the titles to Matt and Jeff Hardy. Nonetheless, Nick and Matt Jackson’s storyline with the Hardys was a constant thread throughout the opening match on this show.
The Young Bucks defeated Coast to Coast
The Coast to Coast tag team is Leon St. Giovanni and Shaheem Ali, and they have previously appeared on ROH TV in other matches against established tag teams in the promotion. Riccaboni on commentary referred to this as a “proving ground match” for Coast to Coast.
In the match, The Young Bucks dispatched Coast to Coast to the outside leading to them teasing doing the Rise of the Terminator spot. However, Ali tripped the Jacksons as they ran the ropes. Giovanni then springboarded off the top rope into a tumbleweed onto the Jacksons at ringside.
Coast to Coast isolated Matt Jackson for a short time as the show went to commercial. After the break, The Young Bucks were making a comeback leading to a parade of moves until Coast to Coast cut them off.
Ali and Giovanni executed their namesake double coast-to-coast finisher on Matt. Nick broke up the pin, and, shortly thereafter, he and Matt were running wild and cleaning house.
Giovanni went for a last ditch springboard off the middle rope and got superkicked to set up him being draped on the rope. Matt held him in place so Nick could jump off the top rope with a 450 splash. Matt then hooked a leg and covered Giovanni for the pinfall.
Afterwards, the then-champions sent a message to the Hardys by mocking them. Matt gave Ali the twist of fate and Nick did a swanton bomb. As he stood on the top rope, Nick encouraged dueling chants of “delete/suck it” before jumping into the swanton.
Though that is very much out of place in the current climate amid the tension and legal wrangling over ownership of the Broken Hardy gimmick (as detailed in the lead story of the newest Observer), this episode was taped before the Hardys left Impact Wrestling and the legal issues began.
At this point in the timeline, the Hardys were only advertised as appearing on the Supercard of Honor card in Florida during WrestleMania weekend. The Hardys subsequently departed the Impact promotion and signed on for a more enhanced run in ROH.
Moving on, a video package chronicled Lio Rush and his issues with The Rebellion, leading to Riccaboni interviewing Rush. He likened The Rebellion to children playing games, so he played games on the last episode. He is “sick” of dealing with The Rebellion.
Kenny King of The Rebellion interrupted the interview, asking if Rush just called him a clown. He actually had not for the record. Nevertheless, King called Rush an “ungrateful piece of garbage” before saying they were no longer playing games with Rush.
King then continued cutting a promo on Rush. He hyped a match between the two for next week’s episode. He concluded with a declaration, “Everybody’s going to know it was Kenny King that put the hush on Lio Rush.”
Curt Stallion defeated Preston Quinn (w/ Andy Vineberg) to advance in the Top Prospect Tournament
The story was the wily veteran facing a young up-and-comer. Brutal Bob Evans joined commentary alongside Shelley and Riccaboni.
On commentary, they noted the tournament was not so much about finding young talent, but also giving other talented, yet possibly overlooked, names an opportunity. Preston Quinn fit the latter as a 43-year-old veteran with many years of experience.
His manager, Andy Vineberg, looked to have transported through time from a territory long ago with his antics and monogrammed powder blue sports coat.
At the outset during the Code of Honor handshake, Vineberg also wanted to shake hands with Stallion. The gesture was a ploy for Quinn to suckerpunch Stallion before the bell.
Later in the match, Vineberg caused another distraction when he tripped Stallion. Quinn thus underhandedly gained the advantage until Stallion made a comeback for a near fall. Quinn cut him off and delivered a piledriver.
With Stallion prone and close to defeat, Quinn jumped off a middle rope only to miss a flying elbow drop. Stallion capitalized by using a flying headbutt before covering Quinn for a three count and the upset victory. Stallion advances to the second round of the tournament.
In the next segment, “The American Nightmare” Cody cut a promo in the ring issuing a challenge to Jay Lethal for a Texas bull rope match.
Cody first asked the crowd in Pittsburgh if they knew the whereabouts of Jay Lethal, insinuating cowardice. He asked someone in the first row of ringside about Lethal, and the fan hurled an insult about Cody’s wife. Cody called him a liar, regrouped, and used the word “extrapolating” in transitioning into him introducing Hangman Page.
With a noose hanging around his neck, Page joined Cody in the ring. Page untied the noose, leaving just a long length of rope he presented to Cody.
By attaching the cowbell, Cody declared it would be a “Texas bull rope” as he went on to challenge Lethal for a match at Supercard of Honor.
The Texas bull rope match is scheduled for April 1st at Supercard of Honor, though Lethal has not yet accepted the challenge in the storyline narrative on TV.
In a pre-taped segment, Jay Briscoe cut a promo ahead of a return match against Jay White in the main event on the next episode of ROH TV. The two previously met in a match on TV that went to a time limit draw.
Dalton Castle (w/ The Boys) defeated Jonathan Gresham
They had a babyface match with them doing chain wrestling sequences that usually ended in stalemates. Neither had the upper hand with it being nip-and-tuck throughout.
Their reversals and counters were really good. Gresham even countered Castle’s finisher at one point before sending him to regroup outside the ring.
Gresham followed with a flying knee off the apron, and he appeared to have Castle reeling. Or did he? Gresham jumped off the top rope into the waiting arms of Castle, who delivered a Bang-a-Rang.
Castle then pinned Gresham to end a good match where Gresham shined despite losing. Castle himself also remained strong as the number one contender ahead of his upcoming challenge for the ROH World Championship.
In a pre-taped promo, ROH World TV Champion Marty Scurll plugged Supercard of Honor and encouraged the buying of tickets to see him.
For the TV main event, Mark Briscoe provided guest commentary for a wild brawl. Fittingly, Briscoe himself is very familiar with wild brawls so he was right at home and gleeful at times when calling the melee.
The back story was that the two teams met in a previous bout at the TV tapings in Atlanta, and the match was thrown out after an uncontrollable brawl erupted. This episode featured the return match with a no disqualification stipulation to settle the score.
BJ Whitmer & Damien “Punishment” Martinez defeated War Machine in a no DQ match
In a sneak attack during the spooky entrance of Whitmer and Martinez, War Machine entered the scene like Vikings on a raid. War Machine attacked them unmercifully.
Hanson did a cannonball splash off the theater stage and Rowe threw superman punches. War Machine pummeled Whitmer and Martinez around ringside, throwing them into guardrails as they brawled on the floor.
In the ring, Hanson took an unprotected chair shot to the head thrown by Whitmer. Hanson gave him his back for another shot. Whitmer and Martinez had Rowe isolated before a commercial break.
Upon the show returning from break, War Machine were already making a comeback with Hanson throwing clotheslines. He also did a cartwheel for good measure.
Martinez stopped the flurry of offense when he jumped off the ropes with a flying spin heel kick. A moment later, Rowe superman punched Martinez only to get folded up with a nasty German suplex from Whitmer.
Everybody was down selling when Whitmer and Rowe got to their feet to slug it out. Martinez jumped in to allow Whitmer to execute an exploder suplex for a near fall. Whitmer and Martinez tried to single out Hanson, but Rowe made the save.
War Machine did a double team move on Martinez where Rowe launched Martinez in the air, and Hanson caught him on his shoulder for a running powerslam. Martinez kicked out at two for a near fall.
War Machine set up a table in the ring. Whitmer fought back against Rowe and Hanson before all three spilled to the outside. As the three brawled at ringside, Martinez ran corner-to-corner across the ring and did a flip dive over the ropes to the floor.
For the finish, Hanson and Martinez were perched on the ropes fighting when Martinez chokeslammed Hanson off the ropes through a table. With Hanson laying in the debris of the demolished table, Martinez pinned him.
On the next episode of ROH TV, Jay Briscoe and Jay White collide in a return match after they previously wrestled to a draw in their last encounter.
The newest episode begins airing this weekend in syndication so check local listings. The show is then available Monday evening via the FITE TV app before airing Wednesday at midnight ET on Comet TV, including that channel’s free online live stream. The episode is then available to watch on Thursday via the official ROH website.
Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa return to talk Dean Ambrose, the Cruiserweight Classic & ROH’s Best in the World PPV w/special guest BJ Whitmer!
We’ll start with Ohio becoming the state of champions between LeBron & and Cavs along with Dean Ambrose. Les shares some of his history with Dean (5:45), which dates back to the beginning of Dean’s career.
We talk about the WWE CWC Opening Ceremonies (10:32) and segue into talking about some guys Les has worked with who are in the tournament. Note, there are tournament spoilers from the 13:46 mark to the 19:12 mark, so if you don’t want to know who won their 1st round matches, you’ve been warned!
After that, there’s a run-in from ROH’s BJ Whitmer (23:52) at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to talk about his Fight Without Honor with Steve Corino taking place tonight at ROH’s Best in the World PPV. We’ll also discuss Roderick Strong finishing up with ROH (41:12), memories of the soon to be torn down Cincinnati Gardens (46:38) and Roman Reigns suspension (54:29); specifically, whether or not he should return in the exact same spot on the card from which he left.
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