Fans are allowed back into wrestling shows. Hooray, says wrestling promotions, come on in, before the fans immediately jump the barricades and rush the ring like dying men in the desert lunging for a glass of water.
Oh no, says wrestling promotions, we forgot how awful each and every one of you truly are. Don’t get me wrong, by an overwhelming margin, live fan attendance makes wrestling shows better, much better, good riddance Thunderdome you uncanny valley of digital puppets, but as we turn a pretty significant corner in how watchable wrasslin’s about to become, perhaps a quick reminder that fans aren’t always peaches and rainbows.
Basically, this list is a public service reminder for people to not be a dick. Which is secretly what all our lists are about. DON’T BE A DICK. I’m Adam hailing from partsFUNknown, and here are 10 Times Wrestling Fans Invaded The Show.
10. Judas In Your Head
So let’s start with the reason why we’re doing this list. Literally, AEW first Dynamite away from Daily’s Place, they set one foot out the door, and some self-aggrandizing helmet tries to rush the ring. This is why we don’t deserve nice things.
During a segment between Montel Jontavious Forter and his dad who really didn’t want to do all this on their one custody weekend a month, a fan hopped up onto the rampway, ripped off his shirt like he was ready to go 60 minutes, before immediately being grabbed by security. Jericho managed to throw a punch at the fan before he was removed.
To further complicate the story someone claiming to be the fan then took to Twitter tweeting at Jim Cornette claiming that he did it for him to prove that “wrestling is no longer a safe space for friends to dance around and play dress up.”
Getting terrifying vibes from that, to which Cornette responded by calling the fan a dips**t and blocking him. Lovely, well done everyone. Gold stars for humanity all around.
9. The Shield Reunites Kinda
So it’s not just glassy-eyed Kurt Angle, looking like he’s going trick or treating with his teenage kids who’d rather be at home, turns out anyone can join the Shield if they try hard enough and are willing to get yeeted into oblivion by six security guards called Big Malcolm.
At Night of Champions 2015, the Wyatt Family were scheduled to face off against Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and whomever’s inside the mystery box.
That turned out to be Chris Jericho, but before he made his entrance, a fan who looked just a little like Joey Mercury (I’m not saying it was Joey Mercury, I’m just asking questions) rushed into the ring wearing a black vest and fatigues, to stand alongside Roman and Dean before immediately getting blitzed.
It’s been cut from the Network, which makes sense but it also a bit of a shame as it means you can’t go back and watch Bray Wyatt’s amazing ad-lib, pointing at the departing fan, laughing and saying, ‘that your guy’?
Not to be outdone by his Shield brothers, Seth Rollins also found himself with fan backup that exact same month, just 2 weeks earlier on Raw, as a fan who looked like the Pichu to Fred Durst’s Pikachu hopped the rail and sauntered down the ramp with Rollins for a six-man tag, and props to Seth for no-selling it hilariously.
8. UK Fans Hit Rock Bottom
Ah it’s been a good few weeks to be a sports fan in the UK hasn’t it, as our footie fans repeatedly embarrassed themselves on the road to Euro Finals by turning Leicester Square into a tree-tossing warzone and trying to break into the fucking stadium, you stay classy England.
To prove that it’s not just football we lose all airs and graces for, fans rushed the ring during an episode of Smackdown in April 2015, wait a third one from 2015, was it the chinese zodiac year of the moron?
Actually no it was the year of the goat, which makes sense considering fans invaded during a Daniel Bryan match, see it’s all connected, the truth is out there.
The episode of Smackdown, filmed in London (oi oi apples and pears, have a banana), was main evented by a match pitting John Cena and Daniel Bryan vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.
Fans (who actually turned out to be YouTubers from a prank channel called TrollStation) ran into the ring and fought each other, giving each other actually quite decent rock bottoms and brawling until they were removed.
Fun fact: that match turned out to be Daniel Bryan’s final match before he retired for three years. Again, not saying it was TrollStation’s fault, I’m just asking questions.
7. CenaGrinsLol
This may not come as news to some of you, but there was a time when fans really didn’t like John Cena. That time might be right now for some of you, clutching your CM Punk shirts to your chest and sobbing it should have been him.
But in 2008, loads of people were irritated by the way Cena say, immutable, unchanging, goofy and persistent atop the WWE Main Event scene, so on June 2nd, when it came time for Cena to wrestle Hardy for a shot at Triple H’s WWE Championship at Night of Champions, a fan thought not this time and rushed the ring to execute sloppy and uncoordinated justice.
Amazingly, this one’s still on the Network (for us at least, don’t know about you peacock cretins) and that’s probably because Cena and Hardy stopped wrestling to watch the fan be escorted out, even cracking smiles and doing comedy shrugs at the crowd.
Say what you want about Big Match John, the dude’s crowd work instincts are on point, as he whipped the crowd up into a frenzy following the rude interruption.
6. Macho’s Gonna Kill You
If there’s one thing about the modern era, it’s that if you invade the ring you’re slightly less likely to have an insane man from wrestling’s golden era punish you with insane man murder for hopping into the ring.
In 2008 Cena laughed and shrugged, in 1999, Macho man rugby tackled and leathered. I’m not saying Cena was right to not go after his fan, and I’m not saying Macho was wrong to down an entire can of spinach and try to form brain surgery on his fan through his goddamn ear, but yeah, things were scary in the past.
It was the May 17 episode of WCW Monday Nitro and Nitro in 1999 was a bloody chaotic nightmare of a place to be even when everything stuck to the script.
Case in point, earlier in the night Randy Savage and Madusa wrestled Ric Flair and his mini-me, Lil Naitch Charles Robinson in a tag match that’s famous for Savage accidentally collapsing Robinson’s lung with an elbow drop.
Anyway, later that show, Savage attacked Kevin Nash, giving him an impromptu makeover, with some lipstick, making him look like an NFL drag queen, when a fan rushed in to make the save before getting DEMOLISHED by savage, spearing him to the ground and whaling on him.
Naturally, it’s still on the network as WWE aren’t going to waste time making it look like WCW had their shit together.
5. This F**king Guy
This is probably the most annoying one. For real, f**k this dude.
At the 2019 Hall of Fame, which saw Bret Hart receive his second induction, this time for being part of the Hart Foundation, a white man in a reggae hat and dreads (and really, isn’t that all you need to know) slid into the ring and tackled a 61-year-old man to the ground, during an induction that was half to honor Jim Neidhart, who had died the year before.
Once more with feeling, f**k this dude. Hart injured his hip, but finished the speech because he’s the goddamn Hitman, it would take more than this scrawny ass to take him out.
As you can imagine, attacking a beloved and respected figure on a night where several wrestlers were both in attendance and emotional, proved not to be the soundest of strategies as the man received numerous blows, including a savage one from the man then called Dash Wilder, as he was led away by a swarm of muscled people who hated his gut.
4. Latino Beat
Why would you piss off Eddie Guerrero? You will get burned by his Latino Heat you silly sausage. Eddie really has bad luck with WWE ladder matches, doesn’t he?
At SummerSlam 2005, during his custody of Dominik in the bank match, Vickie was late for her cue, prompting him to blow his top and shout ‘where the f**k is Vickie’, his match at Judgment Day 2003 saw his partner Chavo be hit with an injury and miss the show, meaning he won the tag titles with random-ass Tajiri, and then there’s this match against Rob Van Dam on the 27th of May episode of Raw 2002.
Eddie vs. Ronald Van Donald in a ladder match for the IC title sounds like one beauty of a main event and it was very good, including a closing spot promoting a Steve Austin/Eddie Guerrero feud that would sadly never actually pay off.
During the match, in a moment that’s surprisingly still on the network, Eddie’s climbing the ladder when a man rushes the ring and pushes the ladder out from under him which is SUPER fucking dangerous, and Eddie, quite away how SUPER fucking dangerous it was, smacks the guy upside the head as security take him now, before getting in a few kicks while he’s being bundled out of the ring. What a silly fan.
3. The Good Son
Les Dawson made a living off making mother-in-law jokes, and here are some of them: forgive me if I’m down, tomorrow is the mother-in-law’s funeral, and she’s canceled it.
Walked into a bar and saw six men attacking the mother-in-law, someone said aren’t you going to help, I said, no six of them should manage it. I can always tell when the mother-in-law’s coming to stay; the mice throw themselves on the traps.
Bit of fun, but one person who earned brownie points with his Mother-In-Law to be was Triple H. On the March 20, 2000, episode of Raw, on the road to WrestleMania 2000 Linda McMahon made an appearance on Monday night raw to announce that Mick Foley would be in the main event of WrestleMania despite having been retired by Trips just a few weeks prior.
At least one fan saw the McMahon in every corner writing on the wall, and like we all did, tried their best to stop it, by vaulting the guard rail onto the ramp in front of Linda, prompting Triple H to rush forward and tackle them to the ground at her feet while she stood there with all the expressive facial animation for with Linda McMahon is famed.
Even weirder, it’s still on the network, go back and take a look at the last remaining chivalry of Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
2. New World Disorder
When trying to figure out a list of the most important moments in the history of American Wrestling, the first WrestleMania is one, WCW closing is another, but high on that list needs to be the formation of the nWo, when Hulk Hogan turned heel and helped to usher in the most beloved boom period in the history of the business.
That night in the summer of ’96 is etched into everyone’s memories, The Outsiders vs. Sting, Luger and Macho, with Hogan appearing as the third man before cutting the promo of his life on YOU PEOPLE.
What’s less often remembered is how one time traveler who saw the bloated mess that the nWo would become, traveled back to this night and tried to stop it. It didn’t go well. The moment after Randy Savage is helped out of the ring, the fan enters, and immediately runs into a fist from Kevin Nash.
No plan survives first contact with the enemy, the fan’s brought down when Scott Hall decides to give him a few no so worked stomps to the head for good measure.
The attack’s actually edited out of the network, makes sense, it’s the biggest heel turn of all time, clean it up, but if you want to see one that’s left in, check out the main event of Starrcade that year, where a fan actually interrupts the finish of the main event between Hogan and Piper, prompting hogan and the ref to put the boots in. I mean who’d interrupt the main event of the biggest show of the year.
1. A Streaker Interrupts The Main Event of WrestleMania 23
Yup, the main event of WrestleMania. The most important match, on the most important card in that year’s wrestling calendar, and someone tried to get their cock and two bollocks out in the ring.
Needless to say, you won’t find this on the network it has been HASTILY trimmed, but the unedited footage shows Cena being checked over by the ref before the match begins, then Michaels being checked over by the ref, and then a man rushes in, thinking ‘hey me too’ and removes his shirt.
Chioda rushes him and the cameras pull away like a car swerving to avoid a deer in the headlights. Vince was evidently screaming in the announcer’s ear to ignore the would-be nudist, which was a message that didn’t get to Michaels, who sat on the turnbuckle, smirking and waving goodbye to the man as he was being led away by security guards, which JR tried to hurriedly explain away as… er… ‘Michaels… gotta think is playing some more mind games with John Cena.
Sure, that’ll do. Meanwhile, in Iowa a young Seth Rollins is watching a man trying to turn the singles main event of ‘Mania into a triple threat and coming up with a devilish scheme.
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