The art of pro-wrestling basically boils down to two men trying to beat the snot out of each other and achieve physical domination in order to prove their superiority. Sure, there's a modicum of storytelling involved with it, but that's the basic gist of it.
In this world of physical domination, things can get a little heated between members of the locker room who all consider themselves to be alpha males and alpha females and have egos the size of Jupiter. Not a great combination when you consider how much some of these guys rub each other the wrong way.
With all this testosterone and need to sate one's ego in the same room, there are always going to be instances where relationships get strained and the only way to resolve these issues is a good old-fashioned backstage brawl. But, that doesn't mean these fights are always close.
Sometimes one person wins without a shadow of a doubt and gains bragging rights forever. So, without any further ado, here are five WWE backstage fights which were huge mismatches:
#1 Chris Jericho and Goldberg
Back before everyone's favourite grandfather came back to squash Brock Lesnar, Goldberg was a huge name in the old WCW. Another great star from the now-defunct wrestling promotion was Chris Jericho. The two apparently never got along due to Goldberg's refusal to work with the smaller Jericho.
When Goldberg made his much-awaited WWE debut, "The Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla" was already an established star. Thus, when Goldberg started running his mouth about how Jericho couldn't sell any moves, Y2J and old man Bill came to blows.
Various reports state that Jericho immediately clamped Goldberg in a front face lock and took him down with a body scissors. When the bigger man managed to escape, Y2J took him down yet again leaving Goldberg a fuming mess.
Not how you would expect a real fight between these two to pan out at all. On the other hand, don't piss off Chris Jericho or you're in big trouble. Both men would go on to work with each other and Jericho has stated that there is no bad blood between them.
#2 Booker T vs. Batista
When Batista was in the midst of the biggest push of his career, he was a bit of a jerk. And by that I mean he was a giant jerk. Apparently, his ego had been inflated due to his status as World Champion and he was rubbing everyone backstage the wrong way, especially veterans such as Booker T.
When things finally came to a head, Booker and Batista decided to settle their differences in a good ol’ fashioned one-on-one brawl for all. From all accounts, Booker absolutely laid into the younger man and dominated Batista thoroughly.
While he might've been the smaller man, Booker T comes from an extremely rough background and it is absolutely no surprise that he took the fight to the younger Batista and put him in his place.
The incident helped Batista to better manage his ego and The Animal would go on to have a successful run with the company. Booker T is, of course, a Hall of Famer and does broadcast work for the company these days.
#3 Yoshi Tatsu vs. Sheamus
Yoshi Tatsu is a slightly built pro-wrestler from Japan. Sheamus is a massive monster from Ireland. What do the two have in common? Well, they were housemates during their time in developmental, along with Ted DiBiase Jr.
During this time, story has it that Sheamus never did his share of work around the house believing himself to be the biggest man in the apartment. An argument over Sheamus not washing protein shakers led to the Irishman throwing said shaker at Tatsu. Not a good decision.
The Japanese wrestler – who has a background in kickboxing – knocked the living daylights out of Sheamus. There have been contrasting stories to the end of this fight. One, which says the two made up short after. And the second, which says Sheamus was crying and begged for mercy after which the two made up.
Either way, it doesn't do much for Sheamus' tough guy image, does it, Fella?
#4 Shane Helms vs. Buff Bagwell
With a name like Buff Bagwell, you know the guy is an idiot. To add to the idiocy, Bagwell also had a huge mouth. It was this huge mouth which got Bagwell into trouble with Shane Helms – the man who would come to be known as The Hurricane – back in 2001 when WWE had just bought out rivals WCW.
The two WCW men weren't on the best terms and when Bagwell started running his mouth about how Helms would not be able to cut it in the WWE because he was a smaller guy, the future superhero decided enough was enough.
Grabbing a frozen bottle, Helms beat the ever-loving heck out of Bagwell and had to be pulled off the bigger man. Ironically, Helms would go on to have a decent career as part of the WWE while Bagwell would be released shortly after this.
#5 Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar
This one isn't really a one-sided matchup but anybody beating Brock Lesnar deserves to be on this list, and that's exactly why Kurt Angle makes it here. Despite Angle's pedigree as an Olympic gold medalist, Lesnar was adamant he could beat the veteran in a freestyle amateur wrestling contest due to his superior weight advantage.
Keeping in mind that Lesnar was himself a NCAA Champion, this was always going to be a tight affair. According to all sources who were present for this fight as well as Angle himself, the fight went on for nearly 15 minutes with Angle scoring the only takedown of the bout before Vince McMahon caught wind of what was happening and put a stop to it.
Lesnar, of course, never one to admit defeat – and especially not during a UFC interview – stated that he tapped Angle out in 10 seconds even though there are no submissions in freestyle wrestling. Nice try, Brock.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
