IN the world of inflated egos, ramped up testosterone and pretend fighting, it’s inevitable that the action will spill from the ring to behind the scenes.
And WWE history is filled with legendary tales of storyline grudges turned real and wrestlers who just couldn’t get along.
Sun Sport takes a look back at seven of the most notorious real-life backstage fights.
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Batista v Booker T
Dave Batista has a rep as one of the nice guys in wrestling.
But that wasn’t always the case – back in 2006 there was a lot of heat on Big Dave.
His ego had run amok since winning the World Heavyweight Championship and ran his mouth about being SmackDown’s biggest draw.
It came to a head during the SummerSlam 2006 commercial shoot, when Booker T decided to teach him respect.
Booker – who served time for armed robbery before becoming a wrestler – got the better of Batista in WWE what reports was a bloody fistfight that lasted up to five minutes.
Others say it was more a shouting match followed by a few punches being thrown. But one thing that’s agreed on is Booker T won.
Chris Jericho v Sin Cara
This happened on the Raw tour bus during WWE’s visit to the UK last November.
Eyewitness accounts say that Sin Cara was irritating the wrestlers and crew purposely by making silly noises, with Jericho eventually confronting the masked superstar.
Sin Cara jumped at Y2J, who bit Cara’s hand before the fight was broken up.
It’s not the first backstage fight that’s involved Sin Cara – real name Jorge Arias – who’s had altercations with both Sheamus and former WWE talent Simon Gotch.
JBL v Joey Styles
As recently as this year there have accusations that JBL is a backstage bully – but it’s a rep that goes back years.
Former announcer Joey Styles had been a target of JBL’s relentless hazing, until Styles retaliated during WWE’s Tribute to the Troops tour in December 2008.
The two men were reportedly held apart, until JBL broke free and charged – but Styles caught him with a killer haymaker, putting JBL down and giving him a black eye.
The story of announcer Styles laying out supposed tough guy JBL quickly became the stuff of wrestling legend.
Who knows? There might be another announcer who feels like doing the same.
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Vader v Paul Orndorff
This one’s famous because the unlikely man won.
Vader was one of wrestling’s legit hard cases – a 400lb monster who could pummel the average man into oblivion.
Orndorff, on the other hand, was a veteran performer who was all but retired from the ring and working as a backstage agent in WCW.
The incident took place in August 1995. Vader showed up late for a TV taping, causing Orndorff to fire up and get in The Mastodon’s face.
Vader clocked Orndorff with a stiff hand, knocking the former “Mr Wonderful” to the floor.
But Orndorff jumped back and knocked Vader down before putting the boots to him (while wearing flip-flops instead of actual wrestling boots).
Vader has since said that he let Orndorff win for fear of losing his job. Hmmm…
Jacques Rougeau v Dynamite Kid
One half of the British Bulldogs tag team with Davey Boy Smith, the Dynamite Kid was a hugely influential talent.
He also had a rep for taking liberties in the ring and pranking wrestlers backstage.
It led to an infamous grudge with Jacques Rougeau – part of the Fabulous Rougeaus tag team and future IC Champion The Mountie.
In September 1988, Dynamite slapped Jacques backstage – retaliation for hearing Jacques had threatened to complain to WWE officials about the Bulldogs’ backstage pranks.
(The offending prank – cutting up the Rougeaus’ clothes and padlocking their gym bags – was actually the work of notorious ribber Mr Perfect.)
Jacques got revenge at a show the following month.
He loaded his fist with a roll of quarters and punched Dynamite square in the mouth – knocking out four of his teeth with one swift blow.
Jacques would later say he couldn’t believe how much blood gushed from Dynamite’s mouth.
WWE paid for the teeth to be fixed, while Vince McMahon forced the two into a “sit down” meeting to put their differences aside.
Bret Hart v Shawn Michaels
One of most legendary scraps in wrestling history, as the real-life tensions between Bret and Shawn had been building for well over a year.
What started as a storyline feud turned deeply personal.
The pair competed for WWE’s top spot, before Shawn made his infamous “Sunny days” comment during a Raw broadcast – hinting at an affair between Bret and top WWE Diva Sunny.
Bret confronted Shawn at a Raw taping on June 9, 1997 – which led to a tussle between the two, in which Bret landed a punch to the jaw and tore out a clump of HBK’s hair.
In his autobiography, Bret recalls that he tried to make amends and told Shawn that he would lose his WWE Championship to HBK when the time was right.
He claims that Shawn replied he wouldn’t do the same for Bret.
The fight and these comments were the key incidents that led to Bret refusing to drop the title to Shawn at Survivor Series 1997 and – ultimately – the “Montreal Screwjob”.
Sid v Arn Anderson
The most notorious backstage fight ever – a drunken argument that escalated into a grisly and near-fatal bloodbath.
Reports vary, depending on who’s version you believe, but the legend goes like this:
During WCW’s tour of the UK in October 1993, Sid and Anderson got into an argument in a hotel bar after Sid had bad mouthed Anderson’s friend Ric Flair.
Later that night, Sid went to Arn’s room and clobbered him with a broken chair leg.
Anderson fought back with a pair of scissors, but Sid would get the upper hand – and more importantly, the scissors – and stabbed Arn repeatedly.
At one point Anderson screamed: “You’re killing me!”
The fight – by now was a bloody mess – was broken up by fellow wrestler 2 Cold Scorpio.
Both men were admitted to hospital. Anderson had 20 stab wounds and Sid had four – and both men lost a serious amount of blood.
The incident would earn Sid his “Psycho” nickname when he returned to WWE in 1995.
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