The WWE Roster Once Had A Hotel Brawl With A Group Of Real Life Kickboxers
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Professional wrestling is a scripted entertainment spectacle. The results are pre-determined and the athletes take care not to injure each other, but make no mistake, professional wrestlers are some of the toughest folks around. According to numerous combat sports athletes who have dabbled in the sport, professional wrestling is much more taxing on the body than MMA or boxing. Some people, however, learn this the hard way.
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Once upon a time, a group of WWE wrestlers got into a bar brawl with a number of legitimate kickboxers and contrary to popular prediction, the wrestlers emerged victorious. The year was 2005 and WWE was on a successful UK tour. After a show in Birmingham, about 20 or so superstars went back to the hotel but unfortunately, the hotel also housed a number of kickboxers, with most of them being drunk.
WWE Superstars And Kickboxers Were Sharing The Same Hotel
Reportedly, the kickboxers started mouthing off to the wrestlers, including world champion Batista. The insults were predictable, with the combat sports athletes claiming that professional wrestlers were not real athletes, what they did was fake, and they would never be able to do what “real athletes” did. Eventually, the continued insults led to a legitimate battle royal, and according to the reports, both sides had 20 men and this brawl took place in the lobby.
According to former WWE referee, Mike Chioda, Batista was involved in the brawl, and it was a pretty chaotic scene overall, with about 40 grown-up men fighting at the same time. He recalled the incident as a “good time” and further added that WWE executive John Laurinatis started screaming at his employees to stop, but they didn’t. The fighting lasted quite a while and by the end of it, the WWE wrestlers did more damage.
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Long-time WWE employee Bruce Prichard gave more details about the incident on his podcast. There was a combat sports event going on in the same area and when the wrestlers came back to the hotel, the kickboxers started throwing around the usual insults. One of them actually threw the first punch, and as per Prichard, in the subsequent brawl, WWE wrestlers “manhandled and restrained” the kickboxers without much issue, taking them down and dominating them.
Every Report Indicated That The WWE Wrestlers Got The Best Of The Kickboxers
Batista, manhandled a former kickboxing world champion by the name of Kash Gill. It is interesting to note that Prichard mentioned the group as MMA guys, while other reports indicated that they were kickboxers. Kash Gill was a kickboxer and never competed in MMA but then again, Prichard doesn’t always have the best memory.
Chioda stated that the fighting boiled over eventually but according to Prichard, the police got involved, and the two groups were separated. No charges were filed, and no arrests were made. WWE itself did not fine or suspend any of the participating wrestlers and the incident was quickly forgotten. Not a single athlete that took part in the brawl has publicly commented on the fight, but it happened, as confirmed by various witnesses over the years, and by all accounts, it was a victory for professional wrestling.
Why would you want to anger a guy like Batista, anyway? That day, a group of drunk kickboxers made this mistake and found out: Professional wrestlers are a tough bunch of people.
