Controversial WWE figure: Pro-Linda Tweet got me fired

The Twitter feed of former WWE personality Brian Jossie, who went by the stage name, A.W. Jossie's Twitter account was suspended shortly after he was terminated by the company last Friday.

Brian Jossie won’t be stumping for Linda McMahon.

The McMahon family-run WWE terminated its contract Friday with Jossie, a wrestler-manager who goes by the stage name A.W.

Jossie wound up in the WWE’s doghouse after making an ill-advised Kobe Bryant rape joke during a live broadcast of “Monday Night Raw” on July 30.

The 34-year-old from Tampa, Fla., told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers in a telephone interview this afternoon said that it was a post from his Twitter account last Thursday telling his social media followers to support McMahon for Senate that ultimately led to his dismissal, however.

“#AWPromotion$ says vote for Linda McMahon!!! The PTP’z support Linda and so should you!”

Jossie ended his Tweet with the hashtag, #voteordie4Linda

“That’s how they show support for their employees who wants to support Linda. They fire them. That’s complete bull (expletive)” Jossie said.

WWE, which is based in Stamford, rejected Jossie’s claims in a statement from company spokesman Brian Flinn to the newspaper.

“WWE is a non-partisan organization. Superstars as well as employees are free to support any political party or candidate they choose, “Flinn wrote.  “Unfortunately, Brian Jossie, playing the character of A.W., was terminated because he continued to exhibit poor judgment by making offensive and inappropriate comments on live television and on social media.”

Jossie said he received a phone call Friday afternoon from Jane Geddes, a former LPGA golfer and vice president of talent relations of the WWE, telling him he committed a major faux pas with his Tweet.

“For some reason they don’t want to associate her with anything to do with wrestling because it’s past,” Jossie said of McMahon, the company’s former chief executive.

“Vince (McMahon) doesn’t want any association with her campaign. They told me it’s two totally different entities, which I didn’t know. I thought I was doing a good thing.”

A spokesman for Linda McMahon, who is favored to prevail in Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary, had no comment.

Jossie expressed regret for  likening wrestler Titus O’Neil to “Kobe Bryant at a hotel in Colorado” and calling  him “unstoppable.”

In 2003, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar was arrested and accused of sexual assault by a 19-year-old hotel employee in Eagle, Colo. The charges were later dropped after Bryant’s accuser refused to testify.

“If I had made a Jerry Sandusky or a Colorado shooting joke, OK, fire me right there,” Jossie said.

Jossie complained that he was never suspended or put on probation by the WWE, which he accused of pandering to voters and consumers out of political correctness.

He also accused the WWE of applying a double standard between him and Mike Tyson, who the conglomerate honored earlier this year.

“The WWE put a convicted rapist in the hall of fame,” Jossie said.

Several hours after he was warned to cease his Twitter activity, Jossie said he was informed he was being released from his three-year contract with the WWE.

Jossie’s Tweets didn’t end there, however.

A.W., short for Abraham Obama Washington in a play on the names of the presidents, had a Twitter rant for McMahon and her campaign narrative as a job creator.

“Creates jobs my ass! I’m fired thanks to you and your campaign.”

Shortly thereafter, Jossie’s Twitter privileges were suspended.

Jossie acknowledged that he has never met Linda McMahon and started with the company around the same time as she turned over the CEO’s reins to her husband.

“I don’t hate the WWE. I love the company,” Jossie said. “But the way the politics are with her campaign, it screwed me.”

Neil Vigdor