By Sammy Sheeran
It certainly isn’t easy being a professional wrestler. On top of putting their bodies on the line each and every week, it seems like everyday people are constantly trying to provoke them into a fight to prove whether they can go toe to toe with a pro fighter (or maybe they just don’t like the guy).
The sport is filled with stories of wrestlers getting into brawls with average joes. Whether it’s the wrestler who’s at fault or a crazy fan, the outcome isn’t always what you’d expect.
Here are 5 WWE Superstars who were assaulted outside of the ring
#5 Ole Anderson
Being a professional wrestler in the 1970s was a difficult job as any veteran will tell you, especially when it came to dealing with deranged fans and this one was far from what you’d call a fair fight.
After a match in 1976, Anderson was stabbed in the chest and arm by a 79-year-old wrestling fan. Thankfully, he survived.
Anderson was back in the ring 48 hours later, proving how tough the man was and how much of a professional he really was.
#4 Rowdy Roddy Piper
Anderson isn’t the only one who’s been stabbed by deranged fans.
Piper has stated that he was stabbed on three separate occasions. The most famous case being in North Carolina where Piper took his eye off his attacker out of concern for the safety of a young girl nearby.
That young girl turned out to be his attacker’s daughter and Piper was stabbed in the chest.
He was lucky that the police were nearby and were able to help and get him to medical attention and his attacker was swiftly arrested.
#3 Perry Saturn
Perry Saturn is without a doubt one of the most underrated professional wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling. In 2004 he was still wrestling after being released from WWE in 2002.
Saturn would show true toughness and heroism outside of the ring. While driving his girlfriend to work, he saw two guys on top of a woman abusing her.
Saturn bravely ran over to come to the woman’s rescue. Although he fought with the men and saved the girl it wasn’t all good news for the heroic Saturn. In the struggle, Saturn was shot twice.
On a lighter note when the police arrived and tried to get Saturn to go into the ambulance he claimed he had no idea that he had been shot, he had just thought he had been punched.
This just goes to show how tough Perry Saturn really was.
#2 Ric Flair
Flair’s most famous saying is “to be the man, you have to beat the man.”
His second wife, Elizabeth Harrell thought she would chance her arm at beating the man. Allegedly she had assaulted Flair trying to provoke him into a physical altercation.
In another case, Flair filed a criminal complaint on Tiffany Vandemark, his third wife, because she decked him with a phone charger.
It doesn’t end there for Flair either; in 2010, current wife Jacqueline Beams punched him in the face repeatedly.
There are rumours about Flair not being able to stay faithful to her – well, either that or Flair is a glutton for punishment.
#1 Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels was known for having a big mouth and that has come from many sources within the business. As we all know, when wrestlers go to public places they almost always get recognized by people.
Shawn was the Intercontinental Champion around 1995-96 and was on his way to becoming the WWE Champion. One night as the story goes, he went to a bar with the British Bulldog and the 1-2-3 Kid.
While at the bar, apparently Shawn was running his mouth at a bunch of marines. It's not known exactly what was said, but apparently Shawn was hitting on a girl that was with one of the guys. There are so many versions of the story so it's hard to know what one is true.
Shawn ended up getting beat up by the marines and couldn't do anything about it. It's definitely true that Michaels got his butt kicked to some degree.
