Juventud Guerrera vs Jack Evans

The brutal fight between Juventud Guerrera and Jack Evans reached epic proportions in Mexico, being all over the media and even forcing action from one of the commissions. As usual when this happens, the real culprit to blame was someone from the outside (X-Pac) who somehow suffered the least consequences of anyone.

Date: March 20, 2009
Location: Ciudad Madero, Mexico
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, In Your Head Radio with Juventud Guerrera

Background

Juventud Guerrera was a very young, extremely talented wrestler who made his name in AAA in the early 1990s. At the time, AAA was on fire and guys like Juventud, Rey Mysterio Jr, Psicosis, Heavy Metal, and La Parka were among the best new workers in the world. I attended an AAA live event in San Jose in 1993 and can personally attest as to how hot that promotion was.

In the United States, most people came to know Juventud Guerrera and Rey Mysterio Jr when WCW hired them as Monday Nitro got off the ground. It was Paul Heyman, however, who gave both guys their first big break in America when he brought them to ECW. Juventud and Rey Mysterio tore down the house at several ECW shows, and for all the knocks on ECW as the hardcore promotion with backyard brawlers in gimmick matches, they actually featured plenty of skilled wrestling from Juventud, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and several others. Heyman saw their potential and gave them career breaks long before anyone else did.

Juventud Guerrera didn’t work for the WWF after they purchased WCW, but he did end up working for them years later as part of the Mexicools stable on SmackDown. Despite his immense talent, it was said his backstage attitude hurt his career in WWE, where he had developed a reputation as someone who was only interested in making himself look good in matches.

In 2009, Juventud made his return to AAA, which by this point was booked by Konnan. Konnan had also worked for ECW before making his name in the US with WCW as part of the nWo. Konnan had issues with Juventud for years, as he personally was never fond of pretty boys and professionally didn’t like him for the same reasons mentioned above. Juventud claimed Konnan had attempted to block him from returning to AAA long before he finally did, and also claimed Konnan was the one who laced the marijuana with PCP that Juventud smoked in Australia that led to a very embarrassing incident for him down under.

While Konnan was the booker and had power in AAA, the owner and main man in charge was Joaquin Roldan. Antonio Pena was the man in charge who led AAA to prominence in the early 1990s, and he passed away in 2006. After his death, Pena’s sister Marisela got involved, and her husband (Joaquin) and son (Dorian) took on prominent roles in taking over the promotion.

They agreed to bring in Juventud Guerrera for the Rey de Reyes tournament, along with Juventud’s girlfriend at the time, Lizzy Valentine. Valentine, a beautiful blond woman who has also done some wrestling, also worked as his valet. She was in her mid 20s at the time.

Return to AAA

Juventud’s first show back with AAA, on March 15, was uneventful. While he already had heat backstage before he even arrived, most of the wrestlers were cordial with him. Among those who shook his hand were Jack Evans, who was tight with Konnan and didn’t like Juventud, and X-Pac, who absolutely hated him.

Konnan, however, is not the kind of guy who will be phony to your face. He arrived to the show late and blew Juventud off, refusing to even shake his hand.

Juventud’s second show, on March 20, was the cruiserweight tournament in Ciudad Madero known as Rey de Reyes. Backstage, the attitude towards Juventud was completely different this time. Word had gotten around that Juventud was only out for himself, protested spots by younger wrestlers that would make them look good, no-showed a previous TripleMania show, and complained he should be in main events due to his prior success in the US.

During Juventud’s match that night, the spot was that he’d be the last one to get to the ring, and then everyone would gang up on him. He said Jack Evans was overly stiff with him, not holding back on kicks to his face. Psicosis did the same.

Still, backstage Juventud said he thanked everyone for the match and that Jack Evans even apologized for being too stiff with him. All was good… for now.

X-Pac

Much like Curt Hennig’s rib in 1988 started a huge legit war between Dynamite Kid and Jacques Rougeau that reached very dangerous proportions backstage, X-Pac decided to rib Juventud in a manner in which he couldn’t possibly have thought the repercussions would be as huge as they ended up being.

X-Pac hated Juventud, plain and simple. Both had a similar look and style, and both were very talented. X-Pac was physically larger, although X-Pac was still considered far more undersized for American pro wrestling than Juventud was for Mexican pro wrestling. We’re not sure if the two had heat in WCW, although it didn’t matter because WCW had little to do with the heat they had in 2009.

The back story between X-Pac and Juventud Guerrera is deeply personal. In 2008, X-Pac (Sean Waltman) was living in Mexico with his then-girlfriend Alicia Webb. Webb is no stranger to wrestling fans, as she was known as the gorgeous Ryan Shamrock in the WWF, playing the sister of Ken Shamrock (and later, the two actually dated). She was also known in WCW as Symphony, the valet for a wrestler known as the Maestro.

X-Pac has been open about his past substance abuse issues, which in 2008 led to him attempting suicide by hanging himself. At the time, he was living with Webb, and Webb had a son from a previous relationship. X-Pac’s suicide attempt was not widely known, even among hardcore wrestling fans at the time, until Juventud Guerrera told the story in a radio interview he gave in the United States with In Your Head Radio. Juventud was not even prompted about the subject, and volunteered the story on his own accord.

Around the same time, the father of Webb’s son was attempting to get a hold of him. He had even reached out to Konnan, asking for his own son’s contact information. When the father found out about X-Pac’s suicide attempt, he got a recording of Juventud’s interview and brought it to a judge. Once the courts realized X-Pac may not be fit to help raise Webb’s son, the father was able to get custody of his son back.

X-Pac was furious, as he had developed a close relationship with the boy. Webb was of course heartbroken as well, and X-Pac never forgave Juventud for spilling the beans. So when Juventud returned to AAA over a year later, X-Pac wanted to get back at him.

The Poop

Taking a sh*t in someone’s bag is nothing new in pro wrestling. Madusa, for example, had it happen to her during her time in the WWF as Alundra Blayze. The unwritten rule in wrestling is that if it happens to you, you’re supposed to act like it doesn’t bother you. By no-selling the rib, the idea is you rob the ribber of any pleasure.

X-Pac thought that sh*tting in Juventud’s bag would be a good receipt for what he had done to him and Alicia Webb. He didn’t actually poop in his bag, but rather pooped in the toilet and then used a cup to scoop it out and put at the bottom of Juventud’s bag.

Juventud was in the ring at the time, and when X-Pac placed the excrement in Juventud’s bag, he said everyone in the locker room “Popped like it was Steve Austin in 1998.” While what X-Pac did was wrong (and today he’d probably say he regrets doing that), the fact everyone cheered him on proves the point of just how unpopular Juventud was backstage.

Juventud returned from his match, which is when Jack Evans apologized to him for kicking him too stiff in the face. Juventud then opened his bag. Unlike Madusa some 15 years earlier, Juventud totally freaked out and threw a massive hissy fit.

Juventud’s anger was justified. What wasn’t justified is that he immediately assumed it was Konnan who pooped in his bag when he had no proof of that. He assumed it was Konnan because of how Konnan had been blowing him off the past two shows, and because of prior heat between the two.

Juventud yelled and screamed, to the point some of the younger wrestlers wanted to pummel him right then and there (they were talked out of it by the veterans, who said it was better to just ignore him and thus piss him off even more). He then went to where AAA has their version of the ‘gorilla position,’ where Marisela Pena and Joaquin Roldan were. He really wanted to talk to Dorian Roldan, but he wasn’t there.

He showed Marisela and Joaquin what happened, and they told him they would handle it. Lizzy Valentine, who was still new to the business, was appalled and disgusted.

Juventud was steaming hot, and wasn’t satisfied by the reaction of management and that Dorian wasn’t there yet. He continued to scream and whine, furious about what happened and blaming Konnan for it all. While Konnan was innocent of the crime, he surely knew at this point who had done it (X-Pac) and didn’t say so. As a wrestler, he would’ve lost credibility in the locker room if he had ratted out X-Pac. As the booker, however, he should’ve come clean, and if he was there when X-Pac did it, he should’ve stopped him. He did neither.

The Confrontation

Juventud made his way into where the American wrestlers were, which was a converted mini theater with chairs and a stage (the kind of room you may remember from grade school). The Wrestling Observer reported that Konnan was sitting there with X-Pac, Teddy Hart, and Jack Evans. In a later interview, Konnan didn’t mention Hart or X-Pac, but did mention Evans, Mark Jindrak (who wrestles as Marco Corleone in Mexico) and Alex Koslov.

Juventud continued to cuss Konnan out, and rather than do it in Spanish, he did it in broken English because of all the Americans in the room. Konnan said to be careful about blaming him without proof, and it got very heated. Juventud screamed that he was the one who even convinced Antonio Pena to bring Konnan back to AAA in the first place, claiming no one else in Mexico wanted him back.

Words were exchanged to the point Konnan got up, took money out of his pocket, and was preparing to knock him out. Juventud later claimed Konnan went between the other wrestlers like a coward, which sounds hard to believe given the size difference between the two and Konnan’s experience as a street fighter dating back to his youth.

As Konnan got up, Juventud grabbed a chair and held it up, prepared to swing. Other witnesses said Juventud picked up the chair first. The exact blow by blow account varies depending on who tells the story, although all accounts say Jack Evans, who was on the stage, jumped off and either grabbed or kicked the chair away. Juventud claims Evans began to choke him at that point, and that Konnan punched him. Konnan claims Evans punched Juventud three or four times, and that Juventud tried to fight back but was loopy from Evans’ punches that came out of nowhere.

Whatever strikes or chokes took place by Evans, they came from behind.

Konnan claims he tried to separate them at that point, while Juventud phrased it as Konnan holding him down. It probably would’ve been broken up at this point, but Juventud made the mistake of biting Evans’ arm. Evans remarked, “I hope you’re not biting me on the arm, you b*tch,” and all rules were thrown out the window once the bite took place.

With Konnan between them (or holding him, depending on whom you believe), Evans nailed Juventud with a series of knees to the face in a Muay Thai clinch. Such knees are always devastating, and even in a UFC fight, they usually spell the end of a fight if they can be delivered without blocking. I once witnessed a locker room fight in the 9th grade that quickly ended when one of them delivered knees in a similar fashion.

Juventud’s nose exploded and was broken. He received a gash that required eight stitches to close. His face was getting marked up with bruises badly. He was bleeding from the nose, mouth, and eyes. He was said to look like hamburger meat.

Konnan admitted to throwing a punch during all this, although he didn’t say when, and said it was only because he felt Juventud hit him first.

None of the Americans watching did anything to stop the fight, with the general belief that they thought Juventud deserved it. It was similar to when New Jack was getting beaten by Pitbull #2, in which people were slow to stop it because New Jack was so unpopular in the locker room. Finally Joaquin Roldan heard the commotion and came in to break it up.

Dorian showed up an hour later, and Juventud immediately told him he needed his help and that this was no way to run a company. In the meantime he headed to the hospital, as he was heavily bleeding and needed to get stitched up.

More Drama

The days that followed were tense. Juventud continued complaining to Dorian, saying two wrestlers had beaten him up. He also complained to the guys in Los Perros del Mal, and by that point his story had changed to where it was now four guys who had beaten him up. After a few days of inaction by the Roldans, Juventud quit the promotion. But not before appearing on a house show the next night in Manzanillo, all bandaged up, and cutting a promo on Konnan and Jack Evans that babyfaced himself. This promo was not part of the “script,” and said he has to watch his back and that Konnan, who was jealous he returned to AAA, took things too far.

Lizzy Valentine went on her MySpace (this was before Twitter was the social media outlet of choice for pro wrestlers) page and posted that she was quitting AAA, but didn’t give details. She wrote: “Tonight was my second show for AAA in Mexico. To say I am disappointed with the company is an understatement. I am not normally the one that goes posting stuff like this on the Internet, but what I saw tonight in the locker room absolutely disgusted me, and I’m not just talking about the incident, but management as well. There is no way I can continue to work for a company like this. It would take a lot to convince me to change my mind. I had to quit.”

Juventud also took to the press, blaming Konnan for stooping so low, and expressing disappointment with AAA management. He opened up regarding his past problems with Konnan, saying he laced his marijuana with PCP in Australia, broke his ribs on purpose in WCW, and messed with him in WWE too. Despite all that, he said he worked hard to convince Antonio Pena to bring Konnan back to AAA.

The original plan was for Juventud and Lizzy to feud with Teddy Hart and Nikki (Hart’s girlfriend, Nicole Wilcox), which sounds like a disaster in hindsight given the respective reputations of the two men. With Juventud having just quit AAA, and Nikki having left as well for family reasons, that didn’t happen. The original plan of Juventud joining DeGeneration Mex also didn’t happen, because D-Mex didn’t want him in the group.

Juventud’s father, the wrestler Fuerza Guerrera, took his son’s side. He also went to the press and called for Konnan and Jack Evans to be deported. He also criticized AAA for tolerating that kind of behavior in the locker room. A couple other luchadors, notably Santo and Mascara Ano 2000, also came out in defense of Juventud, though they received heat for doing so.

As each week went on, the story got more media attention. Juventud joined his father’s sentiments about having Konnan and Jack Evans deported, while Fuerza claimed his own independent investigation revealed it was X-Pac who placed the feces in Juventud’s bag (which was true, although X-Pac escaped all the heat during all this, somehow). Joaquin gave the unbelievably stupid response that it was just a locker room rib, and that it should’ve stayed in the locker room. In other words, he all but proved Juventud’s claims that AAA wasn’t going to punish anyone for anything. The responsible thing to do would’ve been to fire X-Pac, Konnan, and Jack Evans. While Juventud had heat and picked up a chair, he never struck anyone first.

It Gets Worse

Juventud drew more fire when he accused Konnan of beating women. In response to that, one of Juventud’s ex-girlfriends told the Mexican press that regardless of what Konnan may have done, that Juventud had beaten her up. She also accused him of having gotten liposuction surgery.

The lucha libre commission in Distrito Federal then suspended Konnan, although that isn’t as bad as it sounds since the incident happened in a completely different part of Mexico. Konnan continued working shows there after the announced suspension, since it took them awhile to actually send word to Konnan himself. While Konnan was not innocent in all this, it’s notable that the guy who did all the damage (Jack Evans) and the guy who sh*t in his bag and started all this (X-Pac) received no punishment from anyone. All the negative press on Konnan actually helped him get over more as a heel, and some of the AAA shows saw an increase in attendance.

Juventud, meanwhile, was having problems breathing and sleeping. He ended up having nasal surgery on March 31, which gave him a black eye. Juventud continued going to the press, including some TV shows, and acted like the black eye was from the fight instead of the surgery. This bothered the Roldans, who wanted Juventud to come back and turn the shoot into a work and make an angle out of all the publicity. For his part, Juventud was asking AAA to pay his medical bills, and was planning a press conference in mid April.

AAA made an angle out of the situation anyway, just not with Juventud. They had Jack Evans pretend to be Lizzy Valentine, wearing a blond wig, and Joe Lider pretended to be Juventud and cried about getting beaten. Konnan was in the skit too, as himself. This didn’t go over well with Juventud, who refused to come back and work with Jack Evans like AAA wanted him to.

At Juventud’s press conference, he said he was going to sue both Konnan and Jack Evans, but not AAA (so as not to burn that bridge). Fuerza was also at the press conference, continuing to blame AAA and continuing to call for Konnan’s deportation. Not long after, the suspension of Konnan by the commission in Distrito Federal was made official, and Evans was suspended by the commission as well.

As the weeks went on, the story remained in the media, but got less and less attention. Juventud got in touch with an ex-girlfriend of Konnan from his early 90s heyday, who was now a dancer on a popular morning news television show in Mexico. Her name was Vicky Palacios, and she claimed to the press that Konnan used to beat her. Rather than deny the claims, Konnan blew her off as a washed up minor celebrity in her 40s who was desperate for any spotlight. He asked the obvious question of why she was saying this now instead of back then, and her response was that she didn’t want to disappoint Konnan’s fans back then or ruin his image (Konnan was a huge mainstream celebrity in the early 90s).

Juventud also did press in the United States, telling stories like the time Konnan never paid him for the money he was due from a tour of Australia. He claimed when he confronted Konnan about it, Konnan tried to wrestle and submit him, but couldn’t do anything. Given the misleading account Juventud gave of the fight with Jack Evans, it’s likely that story was exaggerated as well.

Juventud also claimed he had no problems with Jack Evans before this, and that he enjoyed working with him in TNA. He said Evans changed his attitude in Mexico, thanks to Konnan telling him that Juventud was trying to take his place in AAA. He accused Konnan and Evans of being tight with Dave Meltzer in particular, which caused Meltzer to report the story with the idea that Juventud had a bad attitude. It is true that Konnan is tight with Meltzer, and the story did paint Juventud in a bad light. It is not true that Konnan and Evans were the only ones saying Juventud had a bad attitude, as that reputation of his goes back several years.

He continued ripping Konnan in the press any chance he got, saying Konnan runs AAA like a mob boss because of the power he wields as booker. He also called Konnan an egomaniac who was jealous of both himself and El Hijo del Santo, and that he wanted no competition and wanted total control of everything.

Our Take

The whole story makes Juventud look bad, however the truth is that he is not to blame here. In the illogical world of pro wrestling, where the boys think it’s perfectly okay to get physically harmed if you deserve it, X-Pac, Konnan, and Jack Evans became heroes. In reality, the rest of the normal world thinks they’re exactly what they really were: thugs who should’ve been fired.

If we’re being completely fair and honest, nobody was in the right (except for Lizzy Valentine, who had the most rational reaction of anyone). Each person in the story did something wrong. Some were more wrong than others.

Juventud: It’s not illegal to be difficult to work with. If Juventud had an attitude problem, then AAA should not have brought him back. Still, Juventud’s complete ignorance of all the heat he had was stunning. Unlike most in wrestling, I found Juventud’s reaction to the feces to be completely normal and justified. In what other walk of life or industry would such a practical joke be tolerated? In my job, or in yours, such a rib would be grounds for immediate termination. Just because ‘it’s wrestling’ doesn’t make it acceptable.

Where Juventud went wrong was blaming Konnan without having proof. His anger is understandable, however you must be careful when accusing someone without proof. Konnan was guilty of plenty of things; placing the feces in his bag was not one of them.

Also, if Juventud was first to grab a chair, that wasn’t smart. If he grabbed the chair to defend himself from Konnan, who admitted he got up like he was going to knock him out, that’s a different story. Still, right or wrong, Juventud going into a private area and cussing out Konnan among a crowd of guys who were all against him, was not the smartest idea.

Juventud should’ve also left the ex-girlfriends out of this, especially if he had his own violent past like his ex-girlfriend claimed. When you bring in outside parties like that, you unfortunately affect their families and friends too. It also makes what’s a very serious situation come across like a Jerry Springer-like circus.

Konnan: We’ve never been fans of Konnan, mainly for his racist promos in TNA against white people that went unpunished by management (and unnoticed by the supposed journalists in wrestling who are quick to point out racism when it involves non-white people). He deserves a lot of blame in this situation, however he got blamed for things he shouldn’t have gotten blamed for, and didn’t get blamed for things he should’ve gotten blamed for.

When you’re a booker, you hold an office position and need to conduct yourself backstage like a professional. You’re no longer one of the boys; you’re part of management. Blowing off Juventud and refusing to shake his hand is immature and not becoming of someone in a management position.

If Konnan saw X-Pac about to toss feces in Juventud’s bag, his job was to stop it from happening. If he was too late to stop it, he should’ve reprimanded X-Pac and demanded he clean the bag or go buy a new one immediately. And when Juventud came back, Konnan should’ve immediately told him what happened, and told him who did it. That’s what a professional person in charge does.

Instead, Konnan acted like one of the boys. He never told Juventud who did it, because deep down he got a kick out of the rib. He protected X-Pac, and never once in the press lay any blame on either X-Pac or Jack Evans. What a lack of leadership and professionalism he displayed, and it’s a miracle he wasn’t immediately fired. He should not have been deported, but he should’ve been fired and blackballed from the entire business.

The decision to mock Juventud in an angle reeks of poor taste and bad judgment. Konnan and AAA should have been apologetic for what happened, and instead they mocked the victim. They took absolutely no responsibility for what happened, and neither did Konnan. It’s really despicable. Can you seriously imagine any of this happening in any other industry? Sure, maybe a TV show will throw in a line mocking a certain actor who’s being difficult in business negotiations. If that same actor was badly beaten to a pulp, at the hands of another actor on staff, do you really think the recipient of the beating would be mocked?

Konnan, however, took a lot of unfair heat for being the guy who sh*t in the bag. Of course, Konnan could’ve easily quelled that talk by simply saying who the real perpetrator was (X-Pac). Instead he chose to protect X-Pac because he wanted to be one of the boys, instead of being the booker and management official he was supposed to be. Absolutely pathetic.

X-Pac: None of this would’ve happened without the immature, disgusting, indefensible behavior of X-Pac. The X-Pac of today is a good human being and I’m a big fan of his work, his podcast, and he himself. The X-Pac on display in this incident was no better than the piece of feces he threw in the bag.

If X-Pac had a personal problem with Juventud, that’s up to him to address it with him on his own time. Bringing fecal matter into the equation is both disgusting, illegal, unsanitary, and uncalled for. But it was condoned simply because it’s pro wrestling and it’s a rib that has been done before. That excuse is as lame as it gets. And anyone who defends it has no credibility.

X-Pac, of course, was silent during Juventud’s meltdown and didn’t man up and raise his hand and say he did it. It couldn’t possibly be because he was afraid of Juventud. Not only is X-Pac considerably larger than Juventud, he’d have had the entire locker room on his side to defend him if anything happened. He stayed quiet because he got pleasure out of Juventud’s tirade.

As for the reason he was mad at Juventud, it goes both ways. Juventud absolutely shouldn’t have gone public with the suicide attempt story. No question. However, there would be no story to tell if X-Pac didn’t have substance abuse problems. This is not to point the finger at X-Pac for being messed up, because that’s not what we’re saying.

What we’re saying is, put yourself in the place of the boy’s father. If you were the father of Alicia Webb’s son, would you want him around someone who has admitted to having a drug problem and attempted suicide? If her son was that close to X-Pac, he was in a dangerous living situation. We don’t know the boy’s father either, so we can’t say for sure he’d be any better off with his father. What we do know is that if X-Pac wanted to throw excrement around, he should’ve thrown it at himself for causing all this heat in the first place.

All I can say is that I hope the X-Pac of today is regretful of the situation and has apologized to Juventud. I’d like to think he has, because X-Pac is in such a better place today and is a good human being deep down.

Jack Evans: Evans deserves the most blame of anyone. Whether or not Juventud did or did not start the fight (he didn’t, by the way), he had no business getting involved other than to break up the fight between Konnan and Juventud if they had come to blows (which they hadn’t yet). Rather than play the peacemaker, he put his nose where it didn’t belong. He’s the one who did the damage. And if Konnan tried to break it up like he claims, he should’ve stopped. Instead he went ahead with the knees to the face, which he knew would really hurt Juventud.

“But Juventud bit him!” you might say. Juventud did bite him, because he was assaulted! Juventud did not throw the first punch or swing the chair. The worst he may have done is pick up the chair, but he did not swing it. True, he was screaming nasty things at Konnan. That isn’t illegal unless he was threatening him, which he wasn’t. Hitting someone is illegal.

Jack Evans received no reprimand for his despicable actions. He was suspended by a commission on the other side of the country, which was a minor slap on the wrist. He should’ve been both fired and deported, whereas Konnan should’ve just been fired and not deported.

The Roldans: Pathetic excuses of management. They took no leadership, they took no actions, and all they wanted to do was make money off the deal. They punished no one and made no attempt to even find out who placed the crap in Juventud’s bag. An example of extreme corruption and backroom dealings that are sleazy even by pro wrestling standards.

Konnan, Jack Evans, and X-Pac should have been fired, suspended without pay, or whatever you want to call it. All but Konnan should have been deported as well.

The other wrestlers: I always hate it when people say “He should’ve stopped the fight!” A citizen is under no obligation to stop anything, and I say that because in some cases, whoever stops it can be placed in harm’s way. If I saw Haku and Brock Lesnar fighting, for example, do you really think I’m going to break it up? Of course not, because I’d lose a chunk of flesh in the process.

In this case, however, Jack Evans and Juventud Guerrera are small men compared to the guys in that theater who watched all this go down. Mark Jindrak is a huge beast. Konnan is a big, tough, dude. Even X-Pac, Alex Koslov, and Teddy Hart are big and strong enough to have stopped it, although less so than the others. One of them, some of them, or all of them should have stopped it. They didn’t, because a) they wanted to see Juventud get destroyed, and b) they feared crossing Konnan since he was the booker.

The other wrestlers do not deserve blame for not telling Juventud it was X-Pac who sh*t in the bag. That’s not their business. Breaking up a fight in which someone is clearly being damaged significantly, and in which both men were quite smaller than they were, IS their business.

This whole story is an ugly display of the pro wrestling business at its worst. None of this should have ever happened, and much like the Jacques Rougeau vs Dynamite Kd disaster, real people’s real lives were affected in a major way, and it all could’ve been avoided. There should be zero tolerance for ribbing, hazing, and bullying. Instead, all at times have been not only tolerated, but also encouraged. And this is what results when things are taken too far.