10 Times Pro Wrestling Got Way Too Real

10. JBL Busts Open The Blue Meanie At One Night Stand

WWE’s original ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005 was a phenomenal success. The event did 325,000 buys on pay-per-view (surprisingly many WWE officials) and was a hit in the ring. Fans were buzzing after the event but that joy soon turned into indignation when they discovered that a very unpleasant incident had occurred at the end of the broadcast.

During the show-closing brawl between the ECW originals and the WWE wrestlers who had been watching the show from the arena balcony, a visibly drunk JBL targeted The Blue Meanie and started punching him full force in the face, for real. The blows opened up Meanie’s stitches from the previous night and he became very bloodied, his eye swelling shut.

So what brought on this attack? Well, JBL had a reputation for being a bit of a bully backstage and, according to Meanie, he had never liked him during his run with the company from 1998-99. JBL commented on WWE’s internet show Byte This that Blue Meanie had made comments about him on the internet and then poked fun at the fact that Meanie was married porn star Jasmine St. Claire who performed a record-breaking 300 sex acts with 300 men in 24 hours.

Meanie considered filing a lawsuit against JBL and WWE after the incident but reconsidered. Instead, he was brought in for a couple of WWE appearances and even got a victory over JBL (in a worked match this time), where Steven Richards got some measure of revenge for his friend by nailing JBL with an evil chair shot.

It was unprofessional behaviour by JBL. In wrestling, you look after your opponent’s health and safety, first and foremost. JBL was being a bully, again, picking on somebody he knew he could mess with without fear of reprisals.