Back in 2001, when Buff Bagwell and Shane “Hurricane” Helms were new to the big leagues, just joining the WWE from the WCW, Buff Bagwell was arrogant and rude, and garnered little respect in the wrestling community. One day, ridiculing Hurricane Helms for his smaller physique, and derisively chiding his chances of making it in pro wrestling, Hurricane Helms fired back with something about Buff Bagwell’s steroid habit. This earned him a powerful smack from behind. In retaliation, Hurricane Helms flung a filled water bottle and clocked Buff Bagwell in the head.
The impact caused profuse bleeding. A locker room rumbled commenced. Because Hurricane Helms stood up to Buff the bad-mouthing bully and defended himself, he gained respect in the league and went on to become a WWE great. Meanwhile, arguably, Buff Bagwell’s bad attitude lost him his career. He was let go, officially, for taking the first swing at a wrestler 50 pounds his junior.
Joey Styles vs. JBL
In the wrestling world, Justin Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) is an infamous coward and bully. However, his Texan persona went over well with audiences, especially during this particular tour – based in Iraq, to entertain the servicemen and women. One evening, in full bully mode, JBL, 6’6” and massive, after verbally assaulting a man all week, poured a drink on him. He topped the act by adding rude comments about his family. The recipient, Joey Styles was obviously furious. They attacked each other.
Fists were swinging. Others in the room tried to pull them apart, but not before Styles landed a knock down punch. JBL was humiliated. His choice to pick on someone a full foot shorter than he, plus 100 pounds lighter, and mere a television announcer, put him in his place. Joey Styles became a locker room hero of sorts. Someone finally stood up to the big Texas bully.
Andre the Giant vs. Akira Maeda
In the 1980s, Andre the Giant was a formidable champion for the WWF. He was undefeated from 1973-1987. At 7’4” and 520 pounds, he was a certifiable giant. This show went down in Japan in 1986. Billed overseas, there would be no American audience. Andre the Giant’s heart was not into this match, and he showed up drunk and bored. As he wasn’t taking it seriously, Akira Maeda got angry and began to turn it into a shoot match, going completely off script and repetitively kicking the giant in the legs to little avail.
The matched ended with Andre the Giant laying himself flat on his back and taunting Akira Maeda to pin him. It was a rather anticlimactic ending until Akira Maeda called other wrestlers to the ring for a raucous melee.
Sid Vicious vs. Arn Anderson
This insult-slinging match started in the bar room and nearly ended with a CSI team cordoning off a bloody hallway with yellow tape. The brutal fight, live and unscripted, was one of the worst displays of wrestler animosity, and a humiliation to the business. In the heat of the melee, Sid Vicious grabbed a pair of scissors and Arn Anderson defended himself with a chair leg.
By the end of it, both stabbed each other with the scissors, and the blood-strewn hallway corridor walls and floor attested to their ruthlessness. Luckily a couple other wrestlers heard the commotion in the hallway and broke up the fight until ambulances could take them away. The reason for the fight? Stress of being on the road, drunkenness and disputes about who’s the best wrestler, apparently. Two bloated alpha-male egos and one small space.
Scott Hall and Kevin Nash vs. The Nasty Boys
This story goes back to 1996. In the ring during that televised event, a particularly hard hit to Nasty Boy Jerry Sags with a steel folding chair, all according to script, accidentally caused a lot of pain on the receiving end. The Nasty Boys threw the script out the window and started an all-out brawl.
Pre-existing tensions about pay discrepancies between the duo teams didn’t help – Nasty Boys had to take a pay cut, their adversaries didn’t. Nasty Boy Sags unleashed on Scott Hall, knocking out a few of his teeth. And it didn’t end there. In the locker room, Kevin Nash came in swinging, not fists, but a baseball bat. The off-script incident got the Nasty Boys fired.