Over the years, fans may have heard about a backstage event called Wrestler’s Court. Wrestler’s Court is a story that is made of legend, it is that secretive. However, Wrestler’s Court has been talked about in interviews and books over time. There’s ones where it is a “he said, she said” situation. Unless you take the time to listen or to read, you may be unfamiliar with the event.
A little history on Wrestler’s Court – it was created by Dutch Mantell (Zeb Colter for the younger folk) years ago after the murder of Bruiser Brody. Mantell was at the stadium the night it happened. The murder came from a disagreement he had with wrestler Jose Gonzalez. For Mantell, Wrestler’s Court was good way for talent to hash things out with one another so it doesn’t get to that point. The downside to that was usually it wasn’t just the quarreling parties and a middle person to sort it out. Usually the entire locker room was there for the sessions. Talk about awkward and embarrassing, though it was a light way of squashing beef, if you will. Many times the punishment was light; the guilty party usually bought free alcohol and food. Others didn’t get so lucky in their sentence, so to speak.
Keep in mind this is more of a hearsay gossip topic, being many of these stories have been either unconfirmed or glossed over. There aren’t any fairly recent stories either, so whether Wrestler’s Court has been discontinued or kept quiet, we don’t know. While there aren’t many cases that have went public, here are some cases that you should definitely know about.
10. Not down with the Spirit Squad
Spirit Squad member Johnny Jeter found himself in Wrestler’s Court after complaining of his position in the company. Jeter had been placed in a tag team, which he didn’t receive very well. Once the word got around, he was summoned to the Court as veteran wrestlers believed his view on tag team wrestling was disrespectful. His verdict was buying beers for JBL and to study tapes of tag team wrestling.
9. Divas get their feelings hurt during a game of dodgeball
SummerSlam 2004 brought about a head shaking concept for the Divas at that time. The Divas Search was in full swing, bringing in several new faces vying for a contract to be a part of WWE. The game lasted under five minutes and the WWE Divas were showed up by the bikini clad rookies.
The entire team was brought into Wrestler’s Court for this, and the Divas listed Ivory as their defense attorney. According to Ivory, Triple H ended up being the judge for this session and Val Venis was the prosecutor.
She went on to say that their defense was the dodgeball game was a work – they let the Divas search contestants win. The guys weren’t having it, and didn’t back down from the Divas. The Divas decided to give Triple H hotel gift certificates in exchange for a lighter sentence.
8. When social awkwardness goes wrong
Matt Striker was new to the scene when he put SmackDown in a negative light, comparing it to Raw. Then, when he was called into Wrestler’s Court (it was never specified if it was because of that incident or he came across as obnoxious) he was advised to bribe the judges Undertaker, JBL and Booker T with various purchases of alcohol.
Striker failed to do so and was called out by JBL one night. It was said that JBL challenged Striker to a fight and Striker accepted on the grounds he was going to get served, literally.
With that, JBL realized that Striker stood up for himself and backed off. Striker said later that when he’s nervous he becomes a chatterbox and that could have been the reason as to why he rubbed people the wrong way.
7. JTG broke the bro code
It is very well known that the wrestlers have casual hook ups and that sometimes they are on call from city to city. In this particular instance, JTG noticed that he caught the eye of a young lady while hanging out at a bar in Europe.
He decided to walk away and turn in for the night, only to end up with the lady later. After all was said and done, he found out that she originally was someone else’s hook up. He would be taken to Wrestler’s Court, but it was the same day the Chris Benoit tragedy came about. The session never happened, and was never rescheduled.
6. The Miz doesn’t clean up behind himself
Speaking of Benoit, The Miz ended up in Wrestler’s Court after eating a piece of fried chicken over Benoit’s duffel bag and leaving crumbs in the process. The Miz already caught flack for making it into WWE without paying many dues beforehand.
So, this situation made things worse. After being found guilty, he was prohibited from changing in the locker room for six months. Later, the Miz would use the incident to enhance his character (talking about being bullied backstage), but understandably had to change his story after the Benoit tragedy.
5. Heat in all directions – Muhammad Hassan
Muhammad Hassan was a very controversial character in WWE when he was brought in the company in 2003. The anti-American character was much unliked and that transferred over backstage too.
Whether it was the way he carried himself or just a coincidence of incidents made him out to be the bad guy is unclear, he was in Court twice during his short tenure. First showing was due to no-selling his match with veteran, WWE Legend Sgt. Slaughter. Hassan argued that he was told to no sell in the match by a producer.
The second one came about with Eddie Guerrero, who didn’t take too kindly that Hassan complained about Guerrero using the Camel Clutch when he used it as his finisher. Hassan used it because of the Iron Sheik, but Guerrero schooled Hassan on the fact that his father Gory Guerrero was the one who originated it.
While it may have been meant as a light conversation, the other wrestlers felt Hassan insulted the late Guerrero and took him back into court. It was literally the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the animosity for Hassan never went away. He lasted seven months with WWE.
4. First Class isn’t always a nice perk
When the Hardy Boyz won the Tag Team Championships for the first time, their manager at the time Michael Hayes had an idea. He thought that since they won the Championships, that they should all sit in first class when it was time to board a plane for the next show. Here was the thing – they all had coach seats. However, the seat Jeff Hardy sat in belonged to Kane.
Even though Kane didn’t make a big deal about it, the others did once they heard about it. They were found guilty, and were sentenced to playing pranks on a veteran that wasn’t too well liked.
3. Diva attitudes don’t go far backstage
One of the most famous Wrestler’s Court cases belongs to former WWE Diva Melina. She was very well known for her attitude backstage, and didn’t get along well with others. While the reason for her appearance in Court isn’t clear, one can assume it was due to the reputation she carried along with her.
Out of the various stories, the common denominator for her was that the locker room felt the need to bring her back down to earth so to speak. Maybe serve a slice of humble pie. Also there were stories about bets being placed to see how long it would take for Melina to cry.
2. Left out in the cold, high and dry
Wrestlers travel together often to cut down on the high costs of traveling. Hotel rooms get expensive quick and gas isn’t cheap like it used to be. Mick Foley and Al Snow convinced Hardcore Holly to travel with them to share the rental car expense.
However, Foley had wanted to attend a carnival as well. Holly had dropped his car off at the rental place and waited hours for the two men to pick him up. Holly eventually re rented his car and traveled to Houston, which is where they were heading.
Wrestler’s Court was called and Snow managed to convince Foley to settle with him before the session took place. Foley claimed it was a misunderstanding, and paid for Holly’s rental car expense plus other expenses for the mishap.
1. Chris Jericho makes a stupid idiot out of Goldberg
This one was perhaps one of the most shocking stories to come out of Wrestler’s Court. According to Jericho, he stated in his second autobiography that he already had an issue with Goldberg before leaving WCW. Jericho had tried to work with him on a storyline, and Goldberg more or less refused to go along with it. He only agreed to work Jericho if he squashed him in a matter of seconds.
Fast forward to WWE; Jericho was on a roll and doing much better than he had in WCW. Goldberg eventually came to WWE, and the two would finally come to blows. Goldberg made several smart comments about Jericho’s match to Kevin Nash, which it made its way back to Jericho.
The two had a physical altercation, where Jericho put Goldberg in a front facelock (it’s called a shoot move) and held the move for some time before being broken up. Jericho took Goldberg to court, where it was ruled that Goldberg had no respect. He was also ordered to apologize to Jericho and admit to everyone Jericho was the better wrestler. Good riddance.
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