Real, fake or staged? That’s the debate over WWE Superstar Chris Jericho’s violent altercation with a female fan.
Jericho had just lost a Raw Live WWE bout and was driving off in his Chevy Tahoe, while the fans heckled.
It’s thought that one fan ran out as Jericho stopped for a stop sign and started banging away on the roof. At this point 50 other fans crowded the car, blocking all movement along the road in both directions. There were no police and only a few low level security people around.
Jericho got out of the truck, but from there, reports vary wildly.
According to one witness, Jericho had the car door slammed on him, so he punched that guy, whose his friend jumped into the fray. They scuffled and the second guy’s girlfriend jumped in as well, and only at this point do the security guards wade over.
Jericho then spits in the girls face, and swears at her. She returns volley. He tries to get back in his car but two guys shove his head into the car roof. Then he snaps.
A WWE-style brawl breaks out with fists and swearwords flying everywhere (though with no Lionsaults), and with Jericho screaming at the guards to get the police down here and to do their job.
And then the original girl leaps at him, so Jericho turns and punches her out. This stunned everyone, and the girl’s friends ended up jumping in trying to fight Jericho. He fought all of them off, then stormed into his vehicle swearing and sped off, running a stop sign in the process.
According to police, there was an “altercation” but Jericho left before they could question him. They still haven’t managed to contact him, but two “fans” were taken into custody before being released without charge.
According the the WWE, Jericho was physically and verbally assaulted by a “mob” when he was leaving the studio, although a spokesman has also rejected claims that Jericho had punched the woman, as the term was “too extreme.”
One thing that will weigh heavily on the WWE is its trademark of mixing reality with fiction (known as Kayfabe). We’ll just have to see how it all turns out.
Source: The Canadian Press
