The outcome of matches and the action we see in the ring in the WWE is scripted and pre-determined, which is a known fact. But all wrestlers don’t get along with each other. Fights sometimes spill outside of the ring and get a little too real.
What do you get when you pit two big wrestlers with even bigger egos against each other? Well, the answer is certainly not a Christmas Party.
There are have seen several backstage issues in the past, some serious, some were just altercations and some even led to blows being exchanged between the wrestlers who decided that scripted and on-screen wrestling is too mainstream.
Here are 8 backstage brawls that stand apart from the others.
Chris Jericho and Bill Goldberg – 2003
Chris Jericho and Bill Goldberg were known figures from their WCW days. They’ve had issues since then. Apparently, when suggested that Bill should feud with Chris Jericho, he laughed it off by saying that feuding with a smaller wrestler would make him look bad.
While Goldberg was “built” he hardly had any background in pro-wrestling, this irked Y2J. Since then, they haven’t really been buddies.
Cut to 2003, Goldberg said some not so pleasant stuff about Lionheart to Kevin Nash and when The Ayatollah of Rock n Rolla heard of this, he confronted him and the next thing you know, the two were on the ground trying to clutch at each other.
Jericho apparently had him in a front face lock. Submission specialist indeed. Confronting someone Goldberg’s size takes guts too, they don’t call him Lionheart for nothing.
Mick Foley and Ric Flair
Surprised to see Mick Foley’s name here? Contrary to his on-screen persona, Mick Foley is known to be quite an amicable person. However, even the sweetest of people react when pushed.
In his autobiography, Ric Flair made some distasteful remarks about the hardcore legend, calling him a “stuntman.” Mick Foley obviously took offence to this but offered a handshake when Flair met him later. Foley, however, refused to shake Flair's hand.
Ric Flair didn’t like it and struck at him. Officials had to intervene before it could escalate any further.
Vader and Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock was a known Mixed Martial Arts specialist. Vader decided to comment on his skills by saying that there’s nothing special about his mixed martial arts skills and it was all bologna.
When you make fun of an MMA expert, you will face the consequences. Needless to say, Vader got the daylight beaten out of him and Shamrock even stuck his head in the toilet.
John Bradshaw Layfield and Steve Blackman
The two were waiting for their luggage at an airport, when JBL started riling up Steve Blackman, calling him all sorts of names whilst standing right behind him (not a very good idea).
Steve turned around and struck JBL with a few blows to the body and face, he was going to give a finishing blow to the face with his foot when his leg got caught somewhere amongst the luggage, thus allowing onlookers to intervene and stop him. JBL made the right choice and apologised quickly.
Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle – 2004
This happened on SmackDown during the final segment of the show. The two wrestlers exchanged words as they exited via the curtains and it quickly got physical. Kurt Angle caught him in a face lock and took him down to the ground, incapacitating him. He had to be separated by onlookers.
Later it was learned that Eddie Guerrero did something to make Angle’s character look weak and this angered the Olympic gold medalist.
Rob Van Dam and Taz
After a match involving Rob Van Dam and Sabu wound up Taz, the Tazmaniac went around saying he could easily kick both Rob Van Dam and Taz’s behinds.
When Rob Van Dam heard of this, he approached Taz and said “choose the hand” to which Taz replied “what?” RVD then punched him the face but Taz said he didn’t want things to escalate any further and RVD left him alone.
Bubba Ray Dudley and Sylvain Grenier – 2003
This happened when the Dudley Boyz and La Resistance were feuding. Renee Dupree, his tag team member took a 3-D and was being pinned. Grenier was outside and he had to break the count.
He missed his cue and Renee Dupree had to kick out as the match was not supposed to end there. The fact that Dupree kicked out after receiving their finisher and it was all Grenier’s fault, Bubba Ray lashed out him backstage. There was a scuffle and a few blows exchanged, but it didn’t escalate more than that.
Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff – 2003
To say that Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair have had a rough history would be an understatement. Eric Bischoff’s treatment of Ric Flair in WCW and WWE wasn’t too nice and for that, The Nature Boy has always resented him. This is Flair’s side of the story and can be summarised as thus – Flair had decided to confront Eric as he believed he’d had enough.
When he entered Bischoff’s room, he asked Arn Anderson to “watch the door.” Anderson was naturally clueless as to what was happening.
Eric was talking to someone about the Girls Gone Wild pay-per-view on his cell phone. Ric said he wanted to speak to Bischoff who held up a hand, asking him to wait. But Ric felt he’d waited enough and struck him across the face, sending his phone flying.
He then swung three times, but missed, pushed him onto a couch, leapt onto him, and threatened to take his eye out. Fortunately, before he could do that, or do any more damage, Flair was made to leave the room.
