The Backstage wrestling fights blogs are the most popular blog series in the history of this website. Thanks to shoot interviews, newsletters, books, and podcasts there are a plethora more that haven’t been covered by the CCB, 10 of which I’ll cover today.

It is always fascinating to hear about fights between pro wrestlers outside the ring. Those fights have created legends over the years, crowning some as the toughest to ever lace up a pair of boots. Lucky shot, dirty tricks, or sheer skill have created some of the greatest tales outside of the ring in pro wrestling history.

Here is a look back today at 10 brand-new backstage fights between pro wrestlers that haven’t made the previous two lists. Many are told in the words of the wrestlers who were there fighting or observing. Enjoy!

Kamala vs. Andre the Giant – Kamala has told this story in several interviews lately. Kamala and the Giant had a big rivalry in the early 80s which started with them matching up in territories and ended in the WWE. They made a lot of money together and while that is generally something wrestlers bonded over, Andre was not a fan of Kamala. Andre was in a bad mood and in their first match used a derogatory racist remark towards Kamala. You can probably guess what it was. Kamala was not happy about it and let the Giant know about it.

“Andre wasn’t the friendly guy that he appeared to be. He was real temperamental and had a nasty attitude. When I first started working with him, he called me a (derogatory) name in the ring and I beat him up. After that, I never had another problem with him. A lot of (top guys had problems with Andre too). He would just go out and mop the floor with people. He treated (wrestlers) nasty, and the fans too. Andre would do it just about every night. Guys would watch through the curtain to see what he was going to do.”

Kamala expanded on it when he was interviewed by Steve Austin a few months ago. Kamala told Austin that he and Andre were fine after that and that it was Andre who was responsible for bringing him to the WWE.

Kevin Nash vs. Roddy Piper – This dandy happened back in WCW and recently reared its way back into the news when Piper and Nash argued the winner over Twitter. One thing that has remained consistent in the story is that Piper and Nash were not cooperating with each other in a tag team match in WCW. Piper and Ric Flair went to their dressing room upset after the match. Nash barged in the dressing room and from this point, the story is different whether you hear it from Piper or Nash. So let’s hear it from Sean Waltman instead. Waltman witnessed the whole thing and tweeted about it a few months ago on Twitter.

“On the life of my children Roddy is bold face lying & I hate to say that,because I love Roddy. you [Nash] kicked the door in and everyone s–t. Flair was more concerned about it not having to do with him.

“the Bodyguad tried to get between you. You said something to him and he stepped aside. Then you proceeded to open hand slap Roddy, because he was out of place and went into business for himself, causing you to re injure your knee. I remember one second you were in the locker room pissed. V-sit Wrestling Inc-The next sec me causing you to re injure your knee in all that cluster F–k. I’ll give him credit for a nice leg sweep that came up a it short. He called you a liar over your description of the incident. No one wanted a piece.

“way to back up your wing man Naitch;) there were only 3 of us. We were outnumbered if you count the bodyguard. I just heard the podcast and it was an out and out lie. Can’t believe from Roddy. Hopefully it’s a memory issue and not pride. I know Kev’s hot still, but let it go Big D. He knows what happened and that’s the real of it.

“…And Kev let that go yrs ago. Brought Roddy and his son to our tour of Aruba. We had a great time. Whatever need Roddy has to perpetuate his image as one though SOB is not going to be tarnished by that incident. Your still Rough Roddy.”

Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart – How is it that this dandy never made the previous lists? Well most of us know the story, yet some new fans may not have. This story goes back to 1997 and the night of the Montreal Screw Job. Vince McMahon just ordered a quick submission on Bret, swerving him on the finish. Bret lost the title to Shawn Michaels and he wasn’t happy about it. Here is how it went down according to the Hit Man.

“Somewhere in that conversation, Bret said, ‘If you’re still here after I get dressed, I’m going to punch you out.’”

“It was the most beautiful uppercut punch you could ever imagine,” said Hart. “I actually thought it would miss and go right up the side of his head, but I popped him right up like a cork was under his jaw and lifted him right off the hand. I broke my right hand just beneath the knuckle, and knocked Vince out cold.”

He recently said it was his proudest moment…“When I stood up for myself in Montreal, and knocked out Vince McMahon for cheating me in that match. I think it’s still defines me as a wrestler, and as an artist, and a talent, and somebody that was betrayed. I’ve always been really proud of how I reacted, and how I carried myself that day. And in the end, I think I proved I was right.”

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Sheamus – For some reason Sheamus has a reputation in the WWE for being a tough guy. I say for some reason because every story I have ever heard about Sheamus ends with Sheamus being knocked out. One of those stories involved Sheamus and a young Yoshi Tatsu Tatsu and Sheamus were both on their way to the main roster. According to a story told last year by former WCW star Konnan, it was all over money.

“Konnan then was asked about Sheamus’ fight with Yoshi Tatsu before they made it to the main roster, and the Cuban wrestler said Sheamus had asked him to borrow some money. Konnan said Tatsu kept asking him for the money back repeatedly, and kept getting an excuse. He didn’t know if they were roommates or if Tatsu showed up at his door, but Konnan said he “slapped the s–t out of him” after approaching him one last time. The co-host confirmed after hearing the story from Tatsu backstage, he ended up getting his money back.”

Evan Bourne also confirmed that Tatsu KO’d Sheamus in his shoot interview – “I guess everyone heard the story about how Sheamus got dropped by Yoshi Tatsu so I think that sort of makes him soft. I will say Sheamus is also tough. He literally broke his hand in a match ramming me into a pole and didn’t even miss a beat. He’s one of the toughest guys. Maybe he’s got a soft chin, I don’t know what happened.”

Bill Dundee vs. Randy Savage – Once upon a time pro wrestling was real, well to the Poffo family it was. Angelo Poffo’s outlaw ICW was involved in a very heated promotional war down south with Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett. The wrestlers between both promotions despised each other, especially Randy Savage who hated everyone involved with Lawler’s group. So when Savage’s legendary temper met Bill Dundee’s street smarts in a parking lot it was no surprise that things got very ugly in one of the wildest pro wrestler fighting stories you’ll ever hear. Dave Meltzer recapped the story in his Savage tribute in the Wrestling Observer.

“(Bill) Dundee (Bill Crookshanks), was Jarrett’s long-time No. 2 babyface behind Lawler. Savage was routinely making fun of him on television because he was about 5-foot-4 and would grandstand challenge him and make fun of the Jarrett guys for failing to show up with so much money at stake. It was the same gimmick Savage did in his 50s with Hogan. At one point, there was a confrontation, and Savage went after Dundee. Dundee ran back to his car and pulled out a gun. Savage then wrestled the gun away from Dundee and pistol-whipped him, breaking his jaw and putting him out of action. When Dundee finally returned, he did an interview and sort of acknowledged the rumors of what happened, just saying there was a story going around about him getting in a fight and breaking his jaw, but what really happened was he was thrown off a horse and broke his jaw.”

Check out Bill Dundee’s classic interview right here on YouTube.com. – http://youtu.be/8a21Lm3u0DQ

Bruiser Brody vs. Jose Gonzalez – Unfortunately this is the most tragic of all outside of the ring backstage pro wrestling fights. A legend, a father, and a husband lost his life in a fight that lives in infamy. The infamous Brody Murder remains a tale with little details and plenty of alleged cover-ups. Much has been written about the incident by reporters and former wrestlers. I have probably heard a dozen conspiracy theories and different stories from first and second-hand accounts. The basic gist of it is that Brody went into a shower to talk to Gonzalez and left with stabbed wounds that resulted in his fatality.

Dutch Mantell known today as Zeb Coulter in the WWE was in the locker room on the night of the murder. Mantell wrote a lengthy column about it a few years ago. Here is his take.

“Bayamon Stadium is a baseball stadium so I arose from my chair and headed through a tunnel to get to the field. It’s only about 100 feet through the tunnel, and I stood, watching the crowd file in for no more than than three minutes, and I had not been gone from the dressing room longer than 5 or 6 minutes, at the most. But when I returned, my eyes met horror. The whole dressing room was chaotic. The first person I saw was Chris Youngblood. I asked him what had happened. He was almost hysterical as he said, “Jose stabbed Brody.” I still did not know what he meant but as I looked deeper in the room, I saw Brody lying prone on the floor with several guys surrounding him. I thought that some guy named Jose had rushed into the room and attacked Brody. Everybody in PR is named Jose so I looked at Chris again and he said, “Invader, Invader stabbed Brody.” It was bedlam in the dressing room. Now, everything started to move in slow motion. I remember walking over to where Brody was laying and just staring in disbelief. A doctor is always present in San Juan and he was crying. Brody was conscious and as I looked closer, I could see a stab wound about an inch long and deep with air bubbles escaping from it. Much later, the doctor told me that meant that the blade had pierced the lung. Brody was telling promoter Carlos Colon to take care of his family. I didn’t see a lot of blood but, again, later I learned that he was hemorrhaging internally. I believe that Bruiser knew he was going to die. “This can’t be happening” I thought to myself. This can’t be real. But real it was. I am not a very religious person but I eased over in a corner out of everyones way and prayed for Bruiser. I then found myself looking through a plexiglass door which led into the shower. The door was kind of translucent plexiglass that distorted images somewhat, but I saw the Invader and Victor Jovica screaming at each other in the shower room. Noise was everywhere and I couldn’t make out what they were saying but even if I could’ve heard them, they were speaking in Spanish, (which they often do). But I could see that a struggle was in process.

Invader and Jovica were shoving each other. It seemed as though Invader was attempting to leave and Jovica was trying to stop him. Brody was still on the floor. The doctor was working furiously to do what he could to help him. A call went out for an ambulance. It seemed like an eternity before aid arrived. And they didn’t even get the call through official channels. Victor Quinones called a local radio station and told them to broadcast that an ambulance was needed immediately at the stadium. A paramedic crew was eating at a nearby McDonald’s and heard the request on the radio. Brody, by the time paramedics had arrived, had lain there for over 25 minutes. Atlas was in a state of shock as were the rest of us. While the paramedics were preparing Bruiser to take him to the emergency room, I witnessed Invader leave the shower, walk around the feet of Brody, grab his car keys and leave. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, Brody was loaded onto a gurney to be taken out. Brody, by this time, had been down at least 40 minutes. The paramedics couldn’t lift him. I saw Tony Atlas, almost by himself, carry Brody up four or five steps and transport him to the ambulance. Tony went with Brody to the hospital. At this point, nobody knew what to say or even what had happened. But I knew enough to stand back and observe the situation. Puerto Ricans basically didn’t like the American boys coming down there and taking their money that they felt was rightfully theirs. And since I was in the dark as to what happened, I was watching to see what would happen next.

Chris Youngblood told me that Invader had approached Brody and requested that he accompany him to the shower to talk business. He said that Invader’s hand was covered with a towel. Then he said he heard screaming and a commotion inside the shower and then seeing Brody stumble through the door holding his chest. Brody went down; he didn’t collapse but went down under his own control. That was just before I got back into the room.” –

Tony Atlas went to the hospital with Brody and had this to say in an interview – “Can you imagine? A guy gets stabbed and everyone’s putting on their wrestling boots. The wrestlers are like separate businesses. One is McDonald’s. One’s Burger King. They all sell hamburgers, but they’re more concerned about their business and once you’re gone, you’re gone. I’ve only had three wrestlers to call me since my contract ended with WWE. Of all the wrestlers I talked to and helped, only three called. That was Teddy Long, Mark Henry, and a guy from the office by the name of Howard Finkel. The only three guys to call since I left. The rest never called to see how I was doing. Nothing. It was like I was never there.”

Hulk Hogan vs. Verne Gagne – The Hulkster told this one during an interview with Chris Jericho. Verne started making Hogan t-shirts but wouldn’t cut Hogan in on the money. They had words and Verne said he wanted to see what they taught him down in Florida and Hogan said, “Enough to kick your ass.” Verne charged him and Hogan grabbed him in a front face lock “Belzer-style”. Verne left the room and said it wasn’t over and Greg started to take his stuff off like he was going to fight him but David Schultz backed Hulk up.

I have no reason not to believe this one. Everything I have heard about Verne is that he was pretty crazy and always challenging guys to fights.



Scott Hall vs. Marty Jannetty – I had never heard of this one until Hall told it directly to me during a shoot interview. I interviewed Hall for a shoot interview back in 2007 and Hall told me about a fight he got into with Marty when both worked the Kansas City territory early in their careers. Jannetty gave his version of the story in a later interview.

“At the time, Hall was teaming with Danny Spivey. Marty said that he would party hard with Shawn Michaels and DJ Peterson at the time. He also adds that some of his checks would be negative as a result of having to pay for hotel damages. One night, he rented a room with DJ and they brought in a lot of girls. The next day at the show, he was extremely hungover on the table in dressing room, which he points out was not uncommon for him. All of a sudden, he was on the ground and heard screaming and Hall was acting crazy before leaving. Marty ended up with a split lip because Hall punched him repeatedly while he was sleeping. Marty said he then took a pipe and went looking for Scott. Geigel and Bulldog Brown grabbed him and held back before taking him to the hospital. Next night in St. Louis, he sees Hall who asked if he wanted to go another round. Hall put arm around Marty and said he got worked over by DJ, as he signed in the hotel under Scotts name and got discount on the room because he was a wrestler and DJ was not well known, but someone told him that it was Marty who signed in under Scott’s name and destroyed room on purpose in an attempt to get him fired. Marty then asked who told him that and he said it was Bulldog Brown. Marty then said that he was kicking and slamming doors looking for Brown. Harley saw him and pulled him aside and asked him what was wrong. He told him the story and Harley said that he would take care of this but he never did. Marty said that he got along okay with Hall after that but the beating he took was hard to forget.”

Shane Hurricane Helms vs. Buff Bagwell – Hurricane Helms vs. Buff Bagwell – This story has become infamous over the years as have most Buff Bagwell stories. This dandy went down shortly after the WWE purchased WCW. Both were training in the developmental territory during the transition period. Buff still believed he was the stuff, and Helms had enough. Here is Buff’s version of the story.

“That day there, we were at the training school and just hanging out and everyone was getting along and I knew they were making me go to school to test me. “Oh let’s put Buff Bagwell at school”. Ok, that makes sense so automatically I said “Oh boy, here we go. They’re going to test me”. So I said, that’s cool and I went to school. I was the first one in the ring, first one with my boots on, hey let’s go, let’s go, you know. Well, one day Shane got hurt, his back was hurting him and the guys were being guys and everybody was kind of jabbing each other and of course it got heated like guys do and a little scuffle took place and he had a water bottle under his shirt and I didn’t know it. So, he kept running his mouth and I just give a little slap right across the face and I said “you’ve got something to say now?”. He said “No, I ain’t got nothing to say”. I said “then keep your mouth shut”. Well, I turned my back on him and when I did, he had a shirt on over the ice pack and the ice pack was a water a bottle that was frozen ice. So, when I turned my back he just reached under his shirt and grabbed the ice bottle and Boom right in the back of the head.”

And here is what really happened according to Helms…“I’m not sure why after 4 years that the Balding, Bloated, Buff Bagwell keeps telling that ridiculous lie about what happened in the little skirmish that we had. Maybe it’s his “demons” talking up again. Ain’t it funny how when people become total losers it’s always because of some “demons?” LOL Either way it comes off to me like a desperate attempt for attention. Maybe ole Judy ain’t patting him on the back as much anymore, whatever. I just want my friends and fans to know, although most already do, that his version of the story is very jaded much like his opinion of himself. There’s a reason he’s unemployed. Must suck not to have any coat tails to ride on anymore!”

Road Warrior Hawk vs. Eddie Guerrero -Both men have sadly passed, yet Eddie wrote about the details of this fight in his autobiography. Eddie said the fight went down in Japan and it ended with Hawk getting the better of him in a bar fight. Here is the excerpt from his book, Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story.

“I didn’t care who Hawk was – I was drunk and I was looking for a fight. I started in on Hawk and he flat out told me to stand down. “Get the f*ck away from me,” he said, “or I’ll do something about it.”

He gave me a chance to walk away, but I was stupid. I didn’t want anyone to think I was a pu**y, so I pushed himn.

But Hawk was a man of his word. When I turned away from him, he did exactaly what he said he’d do- he did something it. Boom! Right in the back of the head. He knocked me on my ass, then he hit me a few times for good measure.

Hawk was a big man, so a few shows from him knocked me out cold. Brad Armstrong got me in a cab and had the driver take me back to the hotel. I remember waking up and thinking, I f*cked up.”

WWE: Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes! Yes! Yes! on Amazon.com

WWE: Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe

Grab discounted WWE DVDs, merchandise, t -shirts, figures, and more from the WWE Shop on Amazon.com

(Visited 1,161 times, 1 visits today)

Eric G. Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business. More Posts - Website Follow Me:

