Order! Order! Welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Wrestler’s Court. Six years ago, I began a series of articles covering this subject. Reading through the old work, I began thinking… why not? Let’s rewrite all these articles, add more content, and present it in an all new way. As far as I know, nobody has gone as far to bring it all together in one place.
If you read my previous articles, you’ll already know the stories. However, I have made a concerted effort to add more detail and include alternative tales I did not previously cover. With that said, let’s begin with what CM Punk had to say about Wrestler’s Court. He said:
“Wrestler court was the most insecure small d*ck energy average white man embarrassment to the wrestling business sh*t of all time.”
Before we judge so harshly, let’s start at the beginning. What is Wrestler’s Court? In the words of Dutch Mantel (aka Zeb Colter), the original creator, it’s a “kangaroo court” to iron out minor injustices in a light-hearted manner. Most of the trials were to boost morale, but some could be seen as hazing, especially by the defendants.
The court is independent from management, although most of the wrestlers & staff would attend. They did not conduct it backstage during TV episodes, because there was already too much going on. This is where I allow the chief judge, The Undertaker, to tell us what he thought of Wrestler’s Court.
Dutch Mantel conceived the idea after the death of Bruiser Brody, who was stabbed backstage in the showers by wrestler José González. He later died in hospital.
Dark Side of the Ring Review — “The Killing of Bruiser Brody”
Mantel felt the wrestlers were on the road away from their families a lot, and needed an outlet. Having a platform where animosities could be dealt with in an entertaining manner would not only stamp out heat, but it would keep up morale and maintain a level of respect. He used it in various independent promotions, including Jerry Jarrett’s Memphis territory in the 70s, before leaving Smoky Mountain Wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation in 1994. You can listen to him talking to Steve Austin about Wrestler’s Court in the video below.
The Kliq & BSK
Why is this important? Because it showed there was enough respect to make a crazy concept like Wrestler’s Court work. The Godwinns named themselves the “unofficial” police officers of the locker room. Wrestler’s Court would see judges in The Undertaker, Ron Simmons, and Yokozuna. Mantel acted as a bailiff. Later on, when The Undertaker wasn’t around, other judges like Triple H were used. The prosecutor’s position was mostly played by Bradshaw (JBL). Defense attorneys included Brian Adams (Crush), Bubba Ray Dudley, Ivory and others.
The rule of Wrestler’s Court was that if you couldn’t tell the truth, tell a better lie. You could lie, cheat, and bribe your way out of an offense. Most of the time, you could get out of an offense by buying gifts like food and beer for the boys. Sometimes, harsher penalties had to be handed out, like paying for hotel rooms or being expelled from the locker room for a while. However it played out, it was to make people accountable for their actions. Other times, it was just something fun to do on the road.
Stories of Wrestler’s Court in WWE have dwindled over the years, more so since The Undertaker stopped wrestling full time. In 2016, Seth Rollins revealed they don’t do Wrestler’s Court anymore in WWE, but it has happened in Impact Wrestling & Ring Of Honor. Impact produced a parody of Wrestler’s Court as a storyline for TV, to find out who was guilty of shooting the character John E. Bravo.
You have reached the end of the introduction. It’s all about the stories from this point. Please take them with a grain of salt, because stories can be exaggerated or remembered wrong. All I can do is tell you what I have found. If any elements of the stories have been proven otherwise, let me know and I’ll make corrections. Thank you.
Sloppy Sunny
Sunny was one of the first to be called in to Wrestler’s Court. The boys didn’t like how she treated Chris Candido and was found guilty. Her punishment? To have The Godwinn’s slop bucket thrown over her on TV. Yet, it was no ordinary slop. Earlier in the day, they left the bucket in the locker room and told everyone to “leave it alone”, knowing full well the guys would add their own contents.
There’s no way of knowing what was added, but you can imagine. On TV, The Godwinns cornered her around ringside. Sunny did her best to persuade them to look the other way, but it was inevitable. Oh well. It’s not like she hasn’t done nastier things since then!
Mick Foley & Al Snow Leave Bob Holly Hanging
As many will know, Mick Foley and Al Snow have been friends for a long time. They have a similar sense of humor, so it makes sense that they carpooled together when Snow returned from ECW in 1998. Hardcore Bob Holly started working alongside Snow in the J.O.B squad in November. In the passage of text I found about this story, they couldn’t understand why the serious Bob Holly would be asked to go with Foley and Snow to a carnival, but it seems obvious.
The story was confirmed in Foley’s book “Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks”. One day after a Sunday night house show in Austin, Texas, Foley and Snow asked Bob if he would join them in going to a carnival. Bob was initially reluctant, but after loads of poking and telling him to drop his rental car off, he agreed to meet them there.
The plan was for Bob to drop his rental car off at the airport. They would pick him up and take him to the carnival, then they would carpool together in Foley’s car to get to Monday Night Raw in Houston. Bob drove to the airport, dropped the car off, and waited over an hour in the freezing cold before renting the car again.
Foley insisted it was a misunderstanding, as he thought they were going to the carnival first. Bob said it made little sense as he would have had to keep the rental car longer. They couldn’t agree, and then Road Warrior Hawk heard of the incident and blamed Foley. Word got around to The Undertaker and Wrestler’s Court went ahead. Foley didn’t want to admit he was wrong, but Al Snow had just returned from ECW and didn’t want heat with the guys.
Snow convinced Foley to settle out of court by paying Bob’s travel expenses. A very reluctant Foley (who is known for being cheap) paid for Bob’s rental car and two days of traveling expenses. This includes food, hotel, gas and rental costs. Bob Holly would later state it was funny how the tight Mick Foley had to pay him £500+ over a carnival so they didn’t get taken to court. Foley stated in his book:
“As a matter of fact, Al Snow and I almost had to go to wrestler’s court to face formal charges of stranding Bob Holly at the airport in order to go to a carnival. We were guilty as hell, but we settle out of court to the tune of two nights’ free lodging, meals, and rental car, and the reimbursement of $80 that the cranky, curmudgeonly “I don’t want to go to a carnival” Bob had to pay for his own car.”
The Hardy’s Steal Kane’s Seat
On a pre-taped episode of Monday Night Raw on June 29th 1999, The Hardy Boyz won their first WWF World Tag Team Championships by defeating The Acolytes. It was in their home state of North Carolina, so they were in the party mood. The fans cheered them considerably, which made Michael Hayes (their manager) extremely happy.
Michael Hayes was from an era where partying to excess was the norm, so naturally, Hayes was loaded on the plane to New York. Feeling a sense of entitlement, Hayes wanted to find his tag team champions some first class seats. He found three seats, and ordered Matt and Jeff to sit. Glenn Jacobs (aka Kane) had been waiting for D’Lo Brown at the gate as he had his ticket. Kane boarded the plane to find Jeff sat in his seat. Jeff realized his mistake and was ready to give up the seat, but Kane, being the nice guy he is, waived him off and sat back in coach.
While Kane accepted it, the roster found out about the incident. Soon enough, Bradshaw informed The Hardy Boyz they were scheduled for Wrestler’s Court the following week. They found it disrespectful because they knew Kane was 7 foot tall and had problems getting comfortable on planes. It was the right thing for them to give their own 1st Class seats (although they didn’t have any to begin with) to the big guy.
The Undertaker knew it was Hayes’ fault (his reputation preceded him), but they wanted to make an example out of The Hardy Boyz. Their punishment has never been completely confirmed, but it’s said they were made to rib Don “The Jackyl” Callis (who everyone hated) by jamming the doors on his rental car with toothpicks, and other undisclosed juvenile acts. Apparently, Michael Hayes wasn’t allowed near first class for a long time as well. Matt Hardy had the following to say about it in a recent interview:
On the airplane incident: “We go to get on the plane, we get in our seats and then all of a sudden when they’re ready to close the door they say ‘It’s going to be one second, we’re late, there’s someone who was having an issue and they made this flight at the last second so they’re getting on right now,’ and it was Glen Jacobs (Kane). He had some sort of issue where travel delayed him and he just barely made the flight and he was coming through and they said ‘Oh Glen, you’re not in first-class?’ ‘Well, I was, but I guess they gave away my seat.’
“As he’s walking by, Jeff and I are respectfully trying to get out of our seats and the guys are holding us in these seats. They knew, the powers to be that we were running wrestlers court at the time, they knew that Michael was the one who put us in those seats and it was like a reward for us winning the tag titles. We didn’t ask for it, we knew we almost didn’t belong there at that juncture.”
On the wrestler’s court session: “I’ll never forget how entertaining JBL was. He was like ‘Look, I’m going to tell you guys. We’re going to give you guys a bit of a hard time but make sure to buy some bottles of Jack Daniels and make sure to pay off the judge Undertaker and everything will be fine. Really, we’re going to get Michael on this one because we know Michael is the one that put you guys up to it.’ Just as he was sitting there, he said ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, The Hardy Boyz are here now and they must be two of the biggest stars in the company because now they’re sitting first class and they won the World Tag Team Championships and obviously they feel like they’re a big deal.
“They told Kane he’s a piece of sh** even though he’s a former World Champion, he doesn’t draw any money for the company and he’s not a big man who is important because they just sent his ass to the back, to coach. Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to know that these Hardy Boyz are running rampant. It could happen to me, it could happen to anyone of you. I find them all guilty.’
“We ended up doing our deal where we bribed the judge with Jack Daniels bottles so we were off the hook, but I think Michael had to buy Kane lunch for like a month at different restaurants because he took away his first-class lunch that he was going to have on that flight.”
Edge & Christian Cough Up Presents For Unintentional Brown Nosing
In 2000, the writer in charge of E & C’s angles was Brian Gewirtz. He had a hobby of collecting sci-fi action figurines. Edge & Christian would buy him figurines now and then. Whether it was because they liked the guy, or they wanted to “brown nose” to get a better spot on the card, is up for debate. Wrestlers in the mid-card didn’t make tons of money after all the expenses, so it’s hard to believe they didn’t have an ulterior motive.
Word got around, and they were called in to Wrestler’s Court. It wasn’t just a breach of basic etiquette; they were breaking a rule in their contracts which stated wrestlers were not to buy gifts for the office staff. On an episode of Edge & Christian’s Pod Of Awesomeness, they talked with Brian about the trial:
Edge: “I got a Flash figure, and I give it to Brian because I assumed because he wore the t-shirts that he was a Flash fan. I was like, ‘I got this, I don’t want it. I like Flash, but I’m a Thor guy and a Daredevil guy.’ So I give it to Brian. Bob Holly saw it, and the next thing you know, we’re going to wrestlers court! (laughs)”
Brian: “Yes, you gave me a Flash figure. That’s indisputable. The big rumor, though, was that, when we were in Nassau, Long Island, where I grew up, my mother invited the two of you to my childhood home (and we had) matzo ball soup.”
Christian: “There was some sort of rumor that we were invited to your parent’s place, and we went there and had a big feast.”
Brian: “Which would have been delightful, but that didn’t happen. But that raised the ire of a lot of people. You guys were completely prepared for it, that’s the thing.”
Christian: “Well, we received an anonymous tip from, I don’t want to say his name here because I don’t want to incriminate him. We’ll call him ‘Burt Angel.’ We received a call from him in between towns. He’s like, ‘You guys didn’t get this call from me. You’re going to Wrestlers Court tomorrow.’ We’re like, ‘For what?’ ‘Uh, for kissing ass with the writers.’ We’re like, ‘Okay…’ ‘I just wanted to let you know, but you didn’t get this call. I’ve got to go,’ then he hung up (laughs).”
Brian: “Let’s just set the stage. Wrestlers Court is a time-honored tradition of self-policing within the locker room with the entire roster there. Not only the roster, but all the agents and referees, pretty much everybody, and I wasn’t told that. I was told, ‘It’s a rite of passage; you get pizza and beer.’ I literally brought a box of pizza and a six-pack of beer because I thought it would be like a tribunal or something. Like, ‘Ah, there will be like five people, we’ll discuss the misunderstanding, everyone will enjoy some pizza and beer, and then we’ll be on our way.’ No. So I burst in the door, and there’s like over a hundred people there.”
Christian: “So we got tipped off, and we discussed it on the drive, what we would do, and then we decided we were going to flip it back on them. It was a little risky, but we decided we were going to go this way. So we decided on making a book because a lot of the talent were getting book deals at this time. I think Chyna, at the time, had a book that was about to come out. We had got to the building early; we took a book, just a whatever book, and we took it to Richie (Posner), who used to do the props and the magic. We didn’t tell him what was going on, but we just said, ‘Hey, we need this book, and we need the cover to be our picture, and we need it to say: “Edge and Christian: How To Kiss Ass, Our Road To The Top.’”
Edge: “Complete with a picture of us with total shit-eating grins.”
Christian: “We’d also come up with this speech where we were going to talk about how we had been kind of pegged as ass kissers, and we weren’t going to hide from it, and we presented the book. We said, ‘There’s a lot of ass kissers on this roster, so we’ll take the fall for all of them.’ We just kind of owned up to all of it, and at the end, we said, ‘A lot of the talent have been getting book deals. We probably should just tell you now, so you’re not surprised when you find out, but because of the stuff we’ve been doing, we’ve received a book deal.’
“You could just see silence in the room, you could hear a pin drop, and just peoples’ faces turning beet red. They were mad, like, ‘These guys have been here for, like, a year, and they get a book already?’ and we pulled the book out, we read the title, and the whole room burst out in laughter. Bob Holly had tears in his eyes. He was laughing so hard. Steve Blackman was laughing. Triple H came up to us and goes, ‘Guys, that’s the best defense I’ve ever seen in my life.’”
Brian: “Oh yeah. You two were such a delight. So wonderful, but if you recall, the three of us were up there together. You two worked it like gangbusters. Remember that Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are playing to a big house, and Bugs does his routine and gets a standing ovation and roses? Then Daffy does his schtick, and it’s like crickets, silence. That, I think, is an appropriate approximation of our day in Wrestlers Court. You’re using prop comedy; you’re using funny anecdotes.
JBL, as the prosecutor, says, ‘Well, Mr. Ger-witz, here…’ and I say, ‘Excuse me, my name is Gewirtz, so if we’re going to get this sham of a trial underway, the least you could do is get my name right,’ thinking, ‘It’s tongue-in-cheek. They’ll like that I stood up to John,’ and nothing. In fact, even more anger. People needed to be, like, restrained. Everybody was, you know, putting over Adam and Jay. ‘You boys learned your lesson, you little scallywags,’ and I’m like, ‘I learned my lesson, too.’ ‘No. No, you didn’t!’ Just so much, so much anger.
That spiraled out of control rather quickly. I remember Stone Cold walked out about halfway through. He had seen enough. Pat (Patterson) came in when Stone Cold was leaving and didn’t really understand that there was tension between me and the other people. So he was like, ‘That little shit, he changed the finish of the matches.’”
Edge: “Which just like ramped it up on top of what was already happening. I think that was one of, if not the last, Wrestlers Courts because what we did showed how to turn it on its head. How to turn a really ridiculous, asinine, infantile thing on its head is just to, you know, go with it.”
Brian: “Yes, there was a distinct ‘How to’ and ‘How not to’ handle Wrestlers Court…”
Christian: “…And both were shown that day.”
Teddy Long Found Guilty Of Being Extremely Tight
In 2002, Teddy Long traveled on the road with the APA as they worked on the SmackDown brand together. The APA demanded Teddy should go to the court for being a “cheap motherf**ker”. Mick Foley was known for his cheapness, but Teddy took it to another level. Apparently, traveling with Teddy was a nightmare as he would weasel his way out of paying his side of the bill, and occasionally pretend to be asleep as they drove up to a toll booth to get out of that too.
As the brand split saw The Undertaker working on Raw, Triple H was appointed judge. Triple H gave some harsh words and was homing in on the punishment when Teddy produced a character witness. The details are sketchy, but Teddy Long has said that Mae Young was his lawyer for the proceedings, and she was there to defend him against the allegations of selling Viagra to some wrestlers.
Apparently Mae Young did not know what he was there for, and gave Triple H a mouthful as she couldn’t understand why wrestlers in their primes needed any “help”. Sounds hilarious, but the details are not concrete, so take it with a pinch of salt. Either way, Teddy Long was found guilty and sentenced to paying for the APA’s chicken and beer for a month. That’s a lot of chicken and beer!
During an interview with former Mean Street Posse member Pete Gas, who says this was the funniest thing he ever saw during his time, he recalled exactly what happened. Mae Young said she doesn’t understand why the boys with their big dicks need all this “niagra”. Triple H played o
Daivari Ribs Billy Gunn Shortly After Arriving In TNA
TNA Wrestling wanted to show their version of Wrestler’s Court to be more light-hearted in comparison, so one day it was decided that Daivari, now going by Sheik Abdul Bashir, would go to court over a rib he played on Billy Gunn (now called Kip James).
Bashir, his buddy Rhino, and Kip James boarded a plane. Bashir asked the attendant to announce it was James’ 66th birthday over the tannoy. He hadn’t been in TNA long enough to pull such a rib on a veteran (even though everyone found it hilarious). Brother Ray (Bubba Ray Dudley) served as judge, while B.G James (Road Dogg) represented Kip, and Simon Diamond played the bailiff.
Brother Devon was supposed to represent Bashir, but as he turned up late, Bashir fired him and represented himself. In a surprise twist, Rhino played the eyewitness on behalf of Kip, but he turned “heel” and instead sided with Bashir to become his eyewitness. Rhino claimed Kip had lied about his age all along! They showed the court some “evidence”; several clearly doctored 1970s photos with Kip (when he was in his 30s) in the background.
Apparently, Vince Russo & Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno) were kicked out of the court as it was “Wrestler’s Only”. Daivari took a plea bargain, where he was made to buy beer for the locker room. Because of a successful hearing, a backstage party broke out, and unlike some Wrestler’s Court stories, this was entertainment value for the sake of a beer bash.
Divas Dodgeball Gets Real
What was supposed to happen didn’t happen. The team with the models and the cheerleaders beat the team with the full-time wrestlers. Val Venis got involved as well. It’s best described by Ivory in the video below. The story begins at 03:50.
JTG Goes To Court Over The “British Rat”
Here’s a story told by JTG in his book “Damn! Why Did I Write This Book?”. Below is an excerpt explaining what happened one night after a show in England. This was written by JTG (edited by Ryan Nemeth) and published in May 2015, so all credit goes to them:
During one trip overseas, I made a new friend. Well, maybe I’m using the term “friend” loosely! I met a girl, and she was one I wished I had never met, spoke to, or had any private interaction with, because of all the stress and grief she caused me afterward.
One night after a show in England, I was with the boys at the hotel bar. I noticed that a particular female had her eyes on me. (Can you really blame her?) This woman was so into me, and made it so very obvious that one of my colleagues picked up on it. Now this was not just any co-worker. This was the leader of the locker room, the champ himself. It started to get late, so I threw down my ninja smoke bomb and disappeared (aka, I very discreetly snuck out of the bar and snuck back up to my room). I made my way to my room, undressed, and got comfortable in my bed. The phone rang. I answered it. It was the champ. I thought I was going to get heat for leaving without saying goodnight to everybody, but that was not the case.
CHAMP: “Hey JTG, hope you’re not sleeping. I have a beautiful young lady that wants to hang out with you.”
ME: “Hey Champ, I’m actually in my bed and I’m exhausted. Are you referring to
the English chick in the red top?”
CHAMP: “Yup, she’s on her way up to your room. I sent her up a few minutes ago! Don’t disappoint me and you’re welcome!”
I was tipsy and exhausted. I laughed to myself. It seemed like I was waiting for a delivery from DomiHOES, Booty-Hut or Little Skeezers (with a side order of peer pressure). A few seconds later, I got a knock on my hotel room door.
ME: “Who is it?”
HER: (In a cute British accent) “Room service!”
It was 3:00am. I knew damn well it wasn’t room service. Still unsure (and still tipsy), I opened the door. There she was, the English chick in the red top. She let herself in, we had very little small talk, and then this little English vixen got right to it. She pushed me down on the hotel bed and began to have her way with me.
It could have been classified as rape, because I was obviously too tired (and too tipsy) to defend myself. There is no doubt about it: she took advantage of a young, fresh-faced, wide-eyed, innocent JTG. If you don’t believe me I have no problem getting the rape doll and reenacting what she did to me. About an hour later, she left my room with a big smile on her face. “Thank you for a good time. You take care now, okay handsome?”
She shut the door behind her as I laid across the bed, tipsy, exhausted, and victimized. And I was a victim! That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! I would have pressed charges, but she took all the evidence and my DNA samples with her! Giggity! After a few months of mentally recovering from the scars of this sexual misconduct, that night came back to haunt me. Before my night of debauchery in Europe with the British babe, I had actually met her a few months prior. One of my colleagues introduced her to me as “one of his road chicks.” Are you asking what a “road chick” is? It is a polite wrestling term for a groupie.
On the night she took advantage of me, I didn’t even think about her association to my co-worker. It never crossed my mind. (I guess it wasn’t on her mind either, judging by the way she performed.) But when my colleague, who I actually considered to be a friend, found out about the situation, he was hurt. I’ll never forget that fateful Sunday night when he called me. He sounded like a sad little boy who had lost his dog (no pun intended).
WRESTLING PAL: Hey Jay, what’s up? You know [insert groupie name here]?
ME: Yeah, I know her.
WRESTLING PAL: Did you guys-
ME: Yeah, but she raped me!
WRESTLING PAL: I can’t believe you, Jay! I told you that was my personal road chick!
Uncomfortable silence.
WRESTLING PAL: Let’s just talk tomorrow..
Upon reflection, I thought to myself: Self, a road chick is a groupie, right? Right. I then asked myself a follow-up question: Then isn’t a ‘personal groupie’ an oxymoron? Why yes, Jay, it most certainly is. I could not understand for the life of me why my wrestling pal was so hurt. If he had such a serious relationship with the British babe, I honestly was not aware of it. And why was he so mad at me, and not her?
When I got to work the next day, for some reason almost the whole locker room knew I had a late night rendezvous with my colleague’s “personal road chick.” I couldn’t believe how fast this news had spread! Sometimes it could be so boring backstage in the locker room that the boys would make a big deal out of nothing just for their own entertainment. The news spread throughout the locker room, and it seemed like the roster was choosing sides. The guys’ opinions on the matter were split. Some of them said I was a rat-wrecker, and some disagreed and said, no, that’s what groupies are for, and that one guy can’t hog up all the groupie love.
To make matters even worse, my colleague’s close friend was going around telling everyone that I slept with his best friend’s girlfriend! That was the version of the story that eventually got to the top executives in the office. This wasn’t something I could be fired over, but it was a direct attack to my character. The chatter went on for weeks and I just wanted it to stop. It got to a point where something had to be done. My colleague decided that he wanted justice, and I, on the other hand, just wanted the nightmare to end. Since we both needed a resolution, he had me summoned to Wrestlers Court.
Forget the court shows you see on TV. Wrestlers Court is much worse. In Wrestlers Court, the locker room is the jury, and a top guy is the judge. In our case, The Dead Man himself was set to preside over our case as the Honorable Wrestlers Court Judge. JBL acted as Prosecutor and represented my colleague.
The day of the trial (which was to be held before that night’s taping of Monday Night RAW), I had to scramble to find an attorney of my own. In addition to securing my wrestler representation, I was also strongly advised to sway the court’s decision by buying beer for all the boys. Since things weren’t looking good for me, I was also instructed to purchase special liquor for JBL and The Deadman, in order to further help my cause.
Before arriving at the venue, I went to a liquor store and spent over $400 on alcohol. To me, that was well worth the investment. I needed to win. If I lost this case, I was going to be sentenced, and the verdict could have been deathly severe. The punishment would have been something like carrying other wrestler’s bags for months, or not being allowed to change in the male locker room for a whole year, which are things that may sound silly to an outside person, but, in reality, greatly inconvenience the life of a wrestler.
That day before RAW, there was a lot going on. There was to be a fake funeral service for Vince (his character had “died” a few weeks earlier), which meant hours and hours of rehearsals for the entire roster. In the midst of preparing for that, I had to find a credible lawyer. I was in a tough spot. Not many (if any) of the boys who I thought were qualified enough to get me out of this mess wanted to defend me. I finally got a little help from my buddy Armando Estrada. While we were in catering, Armando pointed out to me an ECW Legend, who was sitting nearby reading a newspaper.
Armando said, “Look! He’s reading a newspaper. He’s got to be smart! Ask him to defend you.” Look. I know that merely being able to read a newspaper in no way makes one qualified enough to be a courtroom attorney. But this wasn’t real court, this was Wrestlers Court. I didn’t need a real lawyer. I just needed someone who was well-respected by the locker room to speak on my behalf. I was desperate, so I took Armando’s advice. I humbly asked the ECW Legend to represent me in Wrestler’s Court. Thankfully, he obliged. He said he was honored to be my attorney, that he had a strong defense, and that he was excited to win the case.
Whew. Throughout the day I saw my wrestling pal a few times. As he passed me in the hallways, he said, “You’re going down!” That definitely intimated me. I’ll be honest; it looked like the jury would most likely favor him. He had been around much longer than me, and was really well-liked among the boys. All day guys kept asking me was I ready. ”This is big, Jay,” they would say. Others antagonized me by saying things like “You should just quit now and get a job at Subway, make it easy on yourself!” At one point, I even heard the Deadman cynically ask, “Where is this court case taking place again?” This was really happening.
The time was getting closer to my court appearance, which was scheduled to after the final rehearsal. The entire roster and WWE staff was called to sit in the stands around the ring. I shit you not, my whole body went numb and I started sweating like Kim Kardashian at church. Vince was out there, Stephanie, the guys from the production truck who you hardly even see, writers, agents, Michael Hayes- everybody you could possibly think of. They were all ringside. I knew this story had become big in the locker room, but I didn’t think the whole company would be taking part.
As the crowd got thicker and everyone was finding their seat, the boys were looking at me like, “Oh, shit, you’re in trouble now, JTG!” Even my courtroom opponent looked shocked. Finally, just when I thought we were about to begin, things took a different turn. Something strange happened. One of the top guys in the company dropped to his knees and began to cry. I didn’t know what to think. But I did know that he clearly
wasn’t crying for me like that. I was very confused. A few moments later, Vince entered the ring and informed everyone that Chris Benoit and his family had been found murdered in their home.
It was a shocking moment. Instantly, I had mixed emotions. Clearly, I was deeply sad that someone I respected and idolized as a child growing up was murdered. Certainly, I wish a less tragic incident could have disrupted my case. Of course. Something like that should never happen, and it was mind-blowing and painful that it happened to someone we were so close to and worked so closely with.
However, if I were to say that I didn’t feel some tiny, little bit of relief that Wrestlers Court wasn’t happening… well, I would be lying. When we left ringside, most of the boys were more shocked than anything. I guess for me, having already dealt with the emotions of preparing for my trial, it hadn’t really sank in yet. When I finally got back to the locker room, I was told by several guys how lucky I was that the trial was postponed.
That postponement ended up being an indefinite one, because that edition of Wrestlers Court never ever happened. The day my trial was slated to happen, both the RAW and the Smackdown rosters were all together as one locker room, because of the TV funeral that was to be held for Vince. That gathering of the entire roster was the perfect setting for Wrestlers Court.
It was months before we were all scheduled to be together again, and by the time it could happen, the excitement over me and the British road chick would long since have faded. Me and my buddy are cool now, and he has helped me a lot through the course of my career. I’m glad we didn’t let a rapist, aka the British rat, get between us. The moral of this story is…well, Chris Brown said it best: “These hoes ain’t loyal!”
JTG would later say the following about Wrestler’s Court:
“There was definitely some comedy [to Wrestler’s Court] it was entertaining to the locker room, you know, when you’re backstage for like 12 hours, the boys, they’ll find anything to get some type of entertainment. Stories, or would it be Wrestler’s Court. It was a joke and comedy to them, but to be on the stand it’s pretty, very serious to me because the punishment would be very serious too. That would have been no laughing matter.”
Dawn Marie & Randy Orton Share A Hotel Bed [Debunked]
This story was a part of my original articles, with no evidence to back it up. Dawn Marie has since commented on this and changed the details. Here’s what was originally reported:
One night after a show, the wrestlers booked in to a hotel, but Randy showed up late and the hotel rooms filled up, meaning he would have to sleep in the car. Dawn Marie offered to share her room with Randy, so long as he didn’t get any ideas. Turned out the room had no couch, only a small chair, so she offered to share the bed with him. Randy was a gentleman all night.
They summoned Orton to Wrestler’s Court the next day, but Dawn doesn’t remember why. She assumed he overslept and missed something. Randy accepted the punishment and didn’t tell the court about sleeping in the same bed as Dawn, as he didn’t want to hurt her reputation with the boys. A classy act, according to the voluptuous Dawn Marie.
Last year, Dawn Marie said the following to D-Von Dudley on his Table Talk podcast:
“I almost got into a lot of trouble because Randy didn’t have a room or something and he probably lied, just trying to get in my room, who knows? So I felt bad for him, you know, because he was broke. Not that he’s broke now, he made up for it. So I was like, ‘Randy, okay, fine. You can sleep on the chair in my room!’ And I was like, ‘If you come anywhere near my bed, I swear to God I’m gonna kill you.’
So I let him do it like a couple different nights, I let him like sleep on the chair. “I don’t even know if he remembers this and someone saw him coming out of my room and you know, back then, that was a no-no, you can not sleep with the boys, and it was innocent.
It was totally innocent, and I was like, ‘Randy, you don’t even touch me. I swear to God I’m going to kill you,’ and I remember Bob Holly and everyone, they were getting on me, they were, ‘Yeah, we know’ and I could’ve gotten fired for that and not like now. Now they do stories about it. It’s like a freaking kick in the a**. Like everyone getting pregnant now and they glorify it. Meanwhile, I was [throat cut gesture] for being pregnant.”
Alex Shelley & Matt Bentley Feud Gets Real
The second instance of Wrestler’s Court in TNA Wrestling. I can’t remember where I got the story from. After looking around forever, I could find nothing about it. Maybe got lost over time?
TNA X-Division stars Alex Shelley and Matt Bentley were scheduled to wrestle, and Jerry Lynn was their agent for the match. The layout of the match had already been decided, but Shelley wasn’t happy, as he didn’t agree to any of the spots he would have to take, so he tried making several changes. Bentley found out and took offense to it, so much so that he and Shelley had a scuffle at the base of the heel entrance ramp.
The court appointed Jerry Lynn as judge, as he was the agent for the match. It was really heated, as Shelley disagreed and “popped off at the mouth again”. Bentley hurled himself at Shelley and tried to swing for him. He was stopped mid-swing, and they decided the trial would end. Lynn ruled that if they wanted to work “stiff” in their match, they had permission, so long as it didn’t affect the quality of the match.
He wanted nothing more to do with it, and the court ruled that if one of them struck first, the other had to accept their “receipt”, but if they went down that route, they had to agree to consider the issue closed immediately following their match. If the issue continued, they would have been called in to Jeff Jarrett’s office with severe repercussions. They were not fired over the incident, so safe to say they resolved their differences.
The Miz Expelled From Locker Room Over Chicken Incident
In The Miz’s early career, he had to deal with a lot of hazing from some of the boys. They didn’t appreciate some reality TV star making his way in to their locker room paying no dues. Some veterans didn’t like his attitude or his ability in the ring. In the first few months of his main roster career (2006), there was an incident which has only been described as “The Miz disrespectfully eating chicken over someone’s bag, and getting crumbs in it”. The bag in question, from when The Miz originally told the story, belonged to a referee. But it was later revealed it wasn’t a referee’s bag, it actually belonged to Chris Benoit. WWE does not permit the use of his name, which is why The Miz initially told everyone it belonged to a referee.
It was Benoit who found The Miz in the act. They changed the story to include JBL finding the Miz, instead of Benoit (for the reason above). The Miz was called in to Wrestler’s Court and was found guilty. His punishment was that he wasn’t allowed to change in the locker room for six months. On one occasion, fans saw The Miz entering the public toilets to get changed, with some murmuring “Isn’t that The Miz??”
Benoit was to let The Miz know when his sentence was up. Instead, Benoit changed the severity of the punishment on several occasions. Originally, the sentence only included house shows, but he changed his mind. Benoit changed his mind again and extended the sentence (possibly up to a year). Benoit decided he would never be allowed to change in the locker room. In interviews, The Miz has referenced the incident to highlight the genuine grief he used to further his on-screen character. In the end, The Undertaker was the one who allowed his return.
It’s one of the harsher examples of Wrestler’s Court, but it also highlights The Miz’s persistence against hazing. You could say it made The Miz stronger, and it set an example to the locker room; never eat anything over someone’s bag, or you will pay the price! Below is an interview with The Miz talking about his story.
Melina’s Nuclear Heat
The details of Melina’s call up to Wrestler’s Court remain blurred, but there are several examples of the former Diva being difficult to work with; so much so that other wrestlers have compared her to Sunny. One time Lita kicked her out of the locker room, so she had to change in the hallway. She had an altercation with Sharmell (a week after Booker T and Batista had their backstage fight) in 2006. Candice Michelle had heated words with Melina over a wrestling move Candice was using (although on that occasion, it proved Candice wrong), and Taryn Terrell stated Melina was the only Diva WWE personnel warned her about in 2007.
Maria Kanellis had nothing nice to say about her after leaving WWE, and Brooke Adams (Tessmacher) went further by saying she was the only person who liked Melina, but still labelled her as a “rude, fake, bitch to everyone”. She also told a story about Melina spreading a rumor and trying to turn Layla and Kelly Kelly against her. In OVW, Melina expressed her hatred for Mickie James and Angel Williams (Angelina Love) by posting negative comments on the forum of her official website. After WWE promoted Mickie James to the main roster in 2005, Melina posted:
“I know that there’s going to be people who don’t understand. I’m sorry… I can’t help the way I feel about HER (I Hope you know who HER is). I tried my best to get along with the girl. It’s just not meant to be. I don’t know if you’ve seen America’s Next Top Model and how cady girls can be on that show… well, welcome to my world with HER. She hated me from the day I showed up to Louisville. She made sure my life there wasn’t great. You WOULD think it was a new person thing, but when new people came around, I was still the one who got her rudey poo. But you know, as she tried to break me…. I just got stronger and tried harder. Our work got us on tv and She hated that I was on tv first. “She hated that I got any attention at all.
You know…. I don’t consider myself pretty. Not at all. Not like the other girls. And I am cool with that. Like I have said before, looks come and go but the way I am, the way I treat people and the things I accomplish in life… that can never be taken away from me. I can die right now knowing how I touched peoples lives… I know that I did things on my terms. I never took off my clothes, kissed ass or slept with anyone to get my spot. I worked hard. I’m not perfect but I give the people my all.”
Continuing with examples of her behavior, the biggest example would be the WrestleMania XXVII team of John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki. Kelly Kelly was originally scheduled to be in the match, but it was a ruse to slot Snooki in at the last-minute. Melina assumed she had a spot on the team, but it was announced Trish Stratus would come out of retirement for the six-person mixed tag match. It’s known that John Morrison had purposely snubbed Trish before and during the match, and wanted nothing to do with her ideas. This was unlike Morrison, so Trish was upset and confused by his behavior. It’s believed Melina had been in his ear for weeks, and he may have resented Trish for “taking his girlfriend’s spot”.
Paul London has previously talked about Melina’s case happening at 3am in a hotel. Wrestlers were asked to come down from their rooms and witness the event; which London said was “stupid”. In a shoot interview, London said The Undertaker was the judge for the case, and the boys were taking bets on how long it would take for Melina to cry. Sadly, there are no more details about the case itself. What came from it remains unknown.
Fellow WWE Diva Kristal Marshall commented on the incident:
“Oh, it was bad. It was bad. It was bad. I remember one time, we were in Europe and they held Court for her. And it’s like I sat there and I really didn’t know at the time exactly what all that meant. I just knew it was like, ‘oh, we’re going to talk about some s–t that she did that pissed us off.’
Like, looking back now, the s–t they were mad about, it was really none of our f–king business. It was none of our f–king business really! And we are grown ass people now. I can say that. But it really wasn’t, so I just kind of felt like sometimes in [pro] wrestling, they pick a whipping boy, so-to-speak. I think she was that person at that time, for sure, at least from the female perspective.”
A few years ago, Melina talked about contemplating suicide while working with WWE:
“I don’t really open up and talk about [the whole story] because one, I don’t want people to imitate it and recreate it. I don’t want people to do that action. It was during WWE. I think it was during my injury, my leg injury where all this stuff was going on, and I’m not wrestling. And all of a sudden, I hated life. When it comes to the depression, when it comes to thinking about suicide, it’s a series of events.
It’s not something that just happens. It’s a series of not just events, but also things you tell yourself. And you don’t think — everyone’s like, ‘Why can’t people think of who they’re affecting? They’re affecting everyone around them.’ And they get so angry about that. You think about the people around you, and you tell yourself they’re better off without you.”
Billy Silverman Doesn’t Care For Wrestler’s Court
I would like to give credit to this article from 2005 for shedding light on the Billy Silverman situation. The piece explains it in more detail, so I’ll summarize below.
– When WWF bought WCW, the WWF wrestlers knew the WCW guys were coming, so they expected them to be respectful of their backstage etiquette. They wanted to prove to the WCW guys they were successful because they had unwritten rules to abide by, and there were no exceptions.
– In the beginning, the WCW guys could do nothing right. If they talked too much, they were put in their place, and if they talked too little, they were awkward. Just like any serious merger, the WWF vs. WCW stigma took time to wear off.
– Billy Silverman booked himself in for First Class on his first flight as part of the WWF. What he didn’t know was that it was disrespectful for someone who had just joined the company to book themselves in First Class with the veterans. Kurt Angle felt the need to inform Silverman of the “rules”, as he didn’t want Silverman to get heat with the boys. It took a while for Angle to feel like he could book in to First Class after joining the company.
– Despite the warning, Silverman didn’t understand. He didn’t get the concept of having to earn your tenure before booking in to First Class. Angle tried explaining it, but Silverman didn’t care, and by not caring he made himself a target for hazing.
– Silverman was summoned to Wrestler’s Court. They found him guilty of breaking basic etiquette, and his punishment was to serve liquor to everyone on a plane ride. He may have been sentenced to do this twice, but the details aren’t concrete.
– Before Wrestler’s Court, many of the boys insulted Silverman. After the hearing, the insults calmed down, except from one man, John Bradshaw Layfield. While JBL insulted Silverman in jest (which is typical for him), the former WCW referee didn’t see it that way. He soon left the company and sued WWE for JBL’s bullying. Nothing came from it, but it’s interesting to note that The Blue Meanie added his own comment in a deposition for the lawsuit. Credit to this link.
“[Brian “Blue Meanie” Heffron], who is roughly 6-1 and 280 pounds, admits he had previously criticized [John Bradshaw Layfield] for being a bully in earlier Internet interviews and gave an unflattering opinion of him during a deposition taken for a lawsuit against WWE filed by former referee Billy Silverman. Heffron said he experienced “verbal intimidation and hazing” from Layfield outside the ring during his time working with WWE from November 1998 to June 2000.”
The Goldberg & Jericho Scuffle
The infamous incident between Goldberg and Chris Jericho is one of the most talked about Wrestler’s Court stories. Luckily, the details were ironed out long ago, and I can also provide a video of Jericho talking about it in an interview.
Goldberg and Jericho had a backstage altercation on Bill’s first day in the company. There was still some animosity left over from the WCW days, and by this time Jericho was a veteran in the company, while Goldberg was the new guy. Jericho stopped Goldberg’s assault before it began with the only shoot hold he knew from his job as a bouncer; a face lock (or head lock, depending who tells it) which rendered him immobile. Every time Goldberg tried to get out of it, Jericho cinched it in harder. He kept the hold on until others came to separate them.
Word got around that Jericho took the mighty Goldberg down by himself. Even Vince McMahon heard about it, and he laughed it up as he couldn’t believe Jericho had taken out one of the biggest guys in WCW history. Goldberg was taken to Wrestler’s Court. Apparently, it was he who asked for this, because he felt Jericho had been disrespectful, but it royally backfired.
As the brand extension split Raw and SmackDown in to two rosters, and The Undertaker was on the other show, Triple H was appointed the judge. The Game did not hold back any punches. He immediately found Goldberg guilty of disrespecting the business and showing disrespect for those who worked their asses off to put him in the main event spot he had.
Unlike previous punishments, Goldberg did not have to buy anything, and he could not bribe the judge and prosecutor with gifts. His punishment was far more severe. Triple H told Goldberg his punishment was to “apologize to Jericho, and to publicly admit that, out of the two, Jericho was the better wrestler, and always had been.” I’m guessing many fans would have paid a lot of money to see that apology! – The Goldberg story begins at 2:15.
Lance Storm Doesn’t Care For Hazing
In 2005, Lance Storm was a trainer in OVW. He warned his students about the Smackdown brand as it had an “old school” feel, and they should expect to experience hazing there. His biggest warning was to stay clear of JBL and Hardcore Holly, as they were known for it. One student passed on this information to some of the Smackdown wrestlers, and word got round to JBL and Holly.
Johnny Jeter (of the Spirit Squad) complained about being put in to a tag team. Some veterans found it disrespectful to the art of tag team wrestling, so they summoned him to Wrestler’s Court. At the time, it was reported that Lance Storm had advised Jeter not to go to Wrestler’s Court, and again, word got round. Jeter went to Wrestler’s Court, was found guilty, and his sentence was to get beers for JBL and watch tapes of tag team matches. Seems fair?
On WrestleMania weekend, Storm and Holly crossed paths, and Holly angrily told Storm to “F**k Off” under his breath. JBL and Storm had a confrontation later, with JBL apparently cutting a promo before offering him out to a fight. Lance Storm declined the offer and walked away. Some saw Storm’s actions as backing down from a challenge, while others saw it as the right thing to do, as JBL was being foolish by overreacting. Storm would later comment about what he told Jeter in an interview with Cagematch.
CAGEMATCH: What is your personal opinion about JBL?
LANCE STORM: Let’s just say we do not see eye to eye that often.
CAGEMATCH: It is said that you you had a confrontation with JBL because of the fact that you gave your OVW student Johnny Jeter not to accept the so-called “wrestlers court”. Is that true?
LANCE STORM: There was a confrontation, but it is NOT true that I gave Johnny Jeter this advice. This is classic rumor BS. I told Jeter that I was no fan of wrestler’s court, but I also said that it was something he was going to have to do. This was then inaccurately reported back to people, and everyone gets hot, instead of checking out first hand what was actually said.
Matt Striker Stands His Ground
When Matt Striker started wrestling on the main roster, he rubbed people the wrong way. He didn’t just get heat for comparing the SmackDown roster in a negative light to the Raw roster; he was socially awkward. After leaving the company, Striker admitted he talks too much when he’s anxious. He said that when he first meets someone, he can come across as obnoxious or irritating, something that he believes corrects itself once people get to know him.
In 2005, he was starting his WWE career, and he was called in for Wrestler’s Court (no details given). Shane Helms told Striker he should get out of it by bribing JBL and Undertaker with Jack Daniels, and Booker T some cognac. For whatever reason, Striker failed to do so. One night in a hotel lobby, things escalated as JBL called him down from his room after a few beers. JBL drunkenly expressed his issues with Striker before offering him out to a fight. Striker realized the only way he was getting out of this situation was to stand up for himself, so he resigned himself to the fact he was going to take a beating, and told JBL he was ready to fight.
JBL didn’t react initially (depends who you ask), and everything seemed to calm down as JBL realized Striker stood up for himself, so he backed down with good humour—the beef was dealt with. Striker denied he was “fronting up”, and JBL would have kicked his butt even if he was drunk. Striker likes to believe he earned his way out of the heat by working hard and proving to everyone he wasn’t socially difficult to be around.
Muhammad Hassan Wrongfully Accused
Remember him? Muhammad Hassan was a character who talked a lot of truth, so much so it was a heat magnet. The only problem was the man behind the character, Mark Copani, was pushed heavily over a short period. Perhaps Mark Copani had an enormous ego? Perhaps he felt entitled? Or perhaps he was wrongfully perceived because of incidents out of his control? Certain incidents went against him, and soon enough other wrestlers saw him a certain way.
In the seven months he was part of the main roster, he appeared in Wrestler’s Court twice. The first was because he no-sold Sergeant Slaughter’s offense in a match; although supposedly, he was told to no-sell by a producer. The second incident involved Eddie Guerrero. Hassan was using the Camel Clutch, and after seeing Eddie do it in one of his matches, he asked Eddie about it and asked why he was using the move when he was using it as a finisher. Hassan said he was using it because of The Iron Sheik, but Eddie Guerrero reminded him he wasn’t the innovator of the move, it was his father Gory Guerrero.
While it was nothing more than a light-hearted conversation, it circulated around and ended up giving others the impression that Hassan had blatantly disrespected Eddie Guerrero and his father. Despite his attempts to be one of the boys, he was met with further animosity. No telling if the story is true, as Hassan doesn’t recall, but it’s been said that Hassan bought all the boys a drink one night, and they all spilled their drinks on the floor. That would be really harsh, so whether it’s true is up in the air.
Instead of speculating, I listened to some interviews. Below are videos of Shane Helms talking about Wrestler’s Court, and an interview with Mark Copani talking about his time in the WWE. He reveals the reason behind asking Eddie about the Camel Clutch, and also expressed his thoughts about the treatment he received from the locker room. Some interesting stuff in there.
Subjects Discussed In The Muhammad Hassan Video.
- His heat in the WWE.
- Why he walked away from wrestling.
- How the gimmick started.
- The now-infamous Tokyo bar incident.
- How the gimmick came about.
- Working with Hulk Hogan on WrestleMania.
- His life changing since leaving Wrestling.
- Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim comments.
- Working with Daivari.
- A possible WWE return.
The Chronic Godfather
Here’s a story I hadn’t covered before. Luckily for D’Lo Brown, it never got to court, but it would have made for an interesting trial. The Godfather (Charles Wright) tells it like this:
“I took D’Lo [Brown] to court because we were in Chicago, his hometown. I’ve always smoked cannabis, but I would not travel with it. I would not get on a plane with it because I didn’t want to embarrass the WWE, so I never travelled with it I would get it when I got to the town.
So D’Lo tells me ‘big dog don’t worry about it, I got you covered when you get to Chicago, my boys are going to give you the finest grade bud you can ever find so don’t worry about it’. We get there late and stuff, and we get to our rooms like at 10 o’clock at night. D’Lo shows up with this – I can’t even, I don’t even think it was marijuana. I don’t know what [it was], it was like weeds.
I’m like ‘are you joking me?’ and he’s like ‘my guy didn’t come through so this is all I could find’. In the meantime, I’ve told all my connections I got them covered, so I took him to court for this misrepresentation of the word chronic and giving me that swaggy woodie crap that he gave me. Just before it went to court, we settled out of court. He knew Taker was gonna come down hard on him so we settled out of court.”
Howard Finkel Bullied & Humiliated?
Ok, I’m staging a little protest here, because it’s impossible to find confirmation. The fact is, shortly after legendary announcer Howard Finkel passed away, Dave Meltzer reported this Wrestler’s Court story. Many outlets picked it up and not only pointed out how horrible it sounded, but also the convenient timing. Why did it only come out after Finkel’s passing? Even more so while family, friends, and fans are still mourning him? It’s puzzling.
There are no recollections from shoot interviews of the incident. Apparently, there was a Sean Waltman interview where he confirmed this, but I’ve tried and can’t find any mention. With that said, I want to stress that this may not have happened. Or if it did? The media may have blown it out of proportion. Maybe everyone who saw it agreed not to talk about it, out of respect for Finkel? Who knows? All we know is the following story:
– Dave Meltzer detailed a backstage incident involving late WWE ring announcer Howard Finkel that occurred in 2001. Finkel was in the phase where he was a part-time ring announcer, but was still working house shows (live events). Howard Finkel was bullied and treated cruelly during a case of Wrestlers Court. This happened after a botched spot between him and an unnamed female WWE Superstar. The spot involved Finkel taking a slap from one of the Divas.
Finkel reportedly knew it was coming and botched the spot completely, as he was not used to taking in-ring bumps. The spot fell flat and did not come off well. They took Howard to wrestlers court, where he was bullied and humiliated. The incident happened following the purchase of WCW and the influx of talent from their company. Apparently, this was done to show how things were done in the WWE, using Finkel as a guinea pig to spread fear in the eyes of the WCW performers.
According to this source, what happened to Finkel “was totally uncalled for,” and Finkel was said to have been in tears. The whole thing was apparently “uncomfortable” for former WCW talents who did not support the idea of bullying “nice people.” For the newly employed former WCW wrestlers, bullying the nice people backstage reportedly “wasn’t nearly as prevalent” in WCW before the company was absorbed. When the wrestler’s court was over, the event devastated Finkel.
His punishment was to receive a slap in the face again by another female WWE Superstar. This ended with Finkel allegedly flinching and botching the spot yet again. The wrestlers berated him again, although he was not taken to wrestlers court for the second botch. The source would indicate this was “one of the most immature and cruel things they’d seen in the business.” This source was reportedly someone who had a long career in wrestling. Howard Finkel died on April 16th at 69 years old.
Trial For ROH Referee Gets Roster In Trouble
Another story not to take too seriously because it comes from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In 2015, it was reported that ROH referee Gino Colucci was taken to court for minor offenses. Michael Elgin acted as his defense attorney, while BJ Whitmer served as the judge. Nothing came of it for the referee, as they dropped charges. However, when ROH CEO Joe Koff caught wind of this, he was not happy. He issued the roster a firm statement, telling them they should concentrate on their performances and not to do that again. Sounds like he threw the book at them.
BJ Whitmer now works for AEW as a producer. Michael Elgin has struggled to get work after being accused of violating his ex-fiancee. He was arrested last year for violating a protective order filed by her.
Shawn Daivari Squats
Daivari has the distinction of having stories for Wrestler’s Court in two companies. This time, it was early in his WWE career while managing Muhammad Hassan.
Apparently he had been disrespecting veterans, including Shawn Michaels, so Chris Benoit sent him to trial. With The Undertaker as judge, he found Daivari guilty and sentenced him to do 1,000 squats in front of the roster. The next day, seeing he could not bend his knees, Chris Benoit sentenced him to 500 more.
Shut Up Raven
After ECW fell, WWE acquired several of its wrestlers. This included former ECW World Champion Raven, who we may remember for working primarily in WWE’s Hardcore division. Did you know he won the Hardcore title 27 times? That’s a record. Many fans questioned why WWE never used Raven in a more prolific spot, and it could be because he wasn’t appreciated backstage. Longtime on-screen rival Tommy Dreamer tells us this story about Raven’s sentence from Wrestler’s Court:
“Have you ever met Raven? Raven back then had a lot of heat. He’d be himself and he would also solicit. He was, at one point, not allowed to talk in the WWE locker room for two months. He had to go to wrestler’s court and the only time he was allowed to speak was when he was able to go over his matches and if he was caught speaking, his sentence would double, so he went a month, maybe two months without speaking. Pretty funny. Sh*tty time for him, but he kinda dug his own grave.”
Raven was released in 2003, so he started working for NWA:TNA, where he became the NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Palmer Canon Harassed By JBL & Benoit
Wow, I almost forgot about Palmer Canon. Brian Mailhot portrayed an authority figure representing the “network” from 2005 to 2006, which was WWE’s way of sticking up a middle finger to UPN.
The network wanted WWE to get rid of Muhammad Hassan because they found his gimmick offensive. He was sometimes referred to as “P.C”, which could be a link to the term political correctness. Palmer Canon was like Right to Censor, in that he would clean up the show in an underhanded manner. Often working alone and going over Teddy Long’s head, Palmer Canon introduced:
- The Boogeyman
- A “junior” division of little people
- The tag team of John Toland & Chad Wicks, called “The Dicks”
- Paul Burchill’s pirate gimmick
One of his last acts was telling security to escort The Miz out of the building as he was misbehaving. The Miz had yet to make his wrestling debut, and was set to do so against P.C. However, during a tour of Italy, Mailhot flew home and handed in his notice. He cited the reason as JBL & Chris Benoit harassing him during Wrestler’s Court. There are no details of why he was on trial, or what they said, but it was enough for Mailhot to give up such a valuable spot on TV.
Dustin Rhodes Wastes Alcohol
This is the last story I have for you. In 2020, The Undertaker took on many interviews, and one of them includes a story about Dustin Rhodes (aka Goldust). Here’s what the judge had to say:
“We had a guy – it was a time when WCW was just killing us and we had no live events and no attendance. Our business was really hurting. We had a couple of guys who were out at a bar, and we’re talking about a time when guys didn’t know if they were gonna be able to make their mortgage payments – that’s how lean it was. We had a couple of guys and they were at the bar, and another wrestler came up and they’re buying shots of whiskey and drinks and they’re having a good time in spite of everything.
Well, the guy that comes up is taking his shot of whiskey and instead of just saying no and passing – so at the time they’re doing the shot, he’s throwing his over his shoulder. If you’re not gonna drink, just say ‘No, I’m good, I don’t want to.’ But these guys are paying hard-earned money that they really didn’t have, and you’ve got a guy throwing his over his shoulder because he doesn’t want to get drunk or get messed up. And he got caught.
He got brought up on charges and he had to pay the judge off and he was banned from going out to any clubs or bars for a while until he had made his penance. So, the two guys at the bar were Ron Simmons and JBL. And the guy coming up was Dustin Rhodes. And he learned his lesson and was great after that. That’s the example of how wrestler’s court can help you because he could’ve kept doing that and that could’ve kept – Ron and John were not two guys you wanted to piss off.
Message received, either if I take the shots I’m gonna drink it but I’m not gonna throw it on the floor and waste these guys’ money. That was the gist of the whole thing, as simple as that sounds. But it all sends a message that we’re all in this together, we’re all struggling, and this is hard-earned money and we’re trying to have a good time in the midst of getting our asses kicked in the ratings and everything else.
Comradery is very important, especially in those kinds of times. You’ve gotta be a tight unit to be able to persevere through the struggles that you’re going through. When you got two guys on one page, and somebody else throwing shots over their shoulder – it was bad for the time. But Dustin more than paid his fine and definitely got back in the good graces of everybody and obviously is a legend in our business as well.”
I hope you enjoyed the Ultimate Guide to Wrestler’s Court as much as I did putting it together! As always, thank you very much for reading.
