Wrestler Chris Jericho Punches Female Fan and Starts Brawl

[JamesG]

Video of the incident - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM9xD7pARgM


Pro Wrestler Chris Jericho's fight with Victoria fan hits YouTube
By Katie DeRosa, Times ColonistFebruary 8, 2009

VICTORIA — Pro wrestler Chris Jericho punched a woman outside Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre after a World Wrestling Entertainment bout Saturday, an altercation captured by a witness on a cellphone camera and posted on YouTube.

Witnesses say the incident occurred when Jericho was surrounded by hundreds of people heckling him after he lost yesterday’s RAW Live WWE bout.

Victoria police confirmed there was an altercation outside the arena, but said the wrestler left before police had a chance to speak to him. Two fans were arrested but later released. Const. Theresa Tuttle said no charges have been laid and the incident is under investigation.

WWE issued a statement saying that Jericho’s car was “attacked by a mob” when he was attempting to leave the parking lot. It said when he got out of the car to clear a path, he was physically and verbally assaulted, until arena and WWE security arrive to re-establish order. The statement said the attackers fled the scene, but it made no mention of Jericho throwing a punch.

One witness said she saw the 225-pound wrestler spit in a woman’s face after she approached his white Chevy Tahoe and castigated him for losing the heavyweight championship to John Cena. With spit dripping down her face, the woman started hitting him, said Darshan Stevens, who watched from about a metre away. Jericho turned and punched her in the face, she said.

“I was really surprised that a pro wrestler would do that with everyone watching,” Stevens said. “And hit a girl, what are you thinking?”

Jericho took off, she said, just minutes before several Victoria police cruisers arrived.

The woman who was hit, 20-year-old Ashley Levey, said the altercation began when her boyfriend, Kalen Johl, heckled Jericho as he drove through the parking lot. Jericho got out of his vehicle, Levey said, and made a derogatory comment to Johl, who is South Asian. She said Jericho pushed Kohl first. Levey called Jericho a racist, so he spit on and punched her, she said.

Levey said she and Johl were later arrested but released without charge.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/Sports/W...349/story.html

[TMC]

This is sort of a dumb thing to ask, but I immediately have assume that this is a work, right?

[TripperFan]

Sounds to me like another WWE publicity stunt.

[JamesG]

No, what happened was real. This was no publicity stunt.

After leaving the match, Jericho got in a vehicle and fans followed him outside. They stopped at a light and fans began pounding on the vehicle so Jericho decided to step outside.

He was trained by the Hart family and they learn to stay in character whenever among fans. He is a "heel", a bad guy, whose character is known to hate his fans.

Some fans went too far and were harassing him for losing the match and preventing him from leaving. When he tried getting back in the truck some girl lunged at him from behind and Jericho struck. He then got mad at security for doing a bad job.

The boy and girl involved in the incident were released by the police and from what I hear it is still under investigation.

[TripperFan]

^ oh o.k. - geez, I feel kinda bad since he's a "homeboy".

[catlover79]

Good grief!!!!

[robyrob]

that honestly looked like a mob of idiots being, well idiots and the "security guards" were basically just standing around with their thumbs up their asses instead of clearing people away from the car so the guy could get out of there - beyond that you really can't see too clearly exactly what Jericho does and whether he's just retaliating to the shoves he got first.

[JamesG]

Yeah I don't think the WWE would stage something like this; not in a public street. They know when/when not to put on a show.

Also, the police would never have been involved if it was indeed a show.

[JamesG]

This is the latest with this:

Wrestler Chris Jericho gets in altercation with fans
Updated Mon. Feb. 9 2009 9:13 PM ET

The Canadian Press

VICTORIA -- Victoria police are investigating after wrestling superstar Chris Jericho's altercation with fans following a World Wrestling Entertainment event.

In a video of Saturday's incident posted on YouTube, Jericho appears to strike a female fan in the face.

In a statement, the WWE says Jericho's car was attacked by a mob as he left the event and that as he exited the vehicle to ask the crowd to clear a path, a man and woman physically and verbally assaulted him.

Police spokesman Grant Hamilton says a man and woman were taken into custody, questioned and released, and that the man was not Jericho.

Hamilton says police have been in contact with WWE officials and they are co-operating with the investigation.

Hamilton says it's too early to determine whether or not charges will be laid because police haven't viewed all the video footage and more witnesses have to be interviewed.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...=Entertainment

[icecream]

I'm not surprised. Wrestling and boxing are trashy sports that breed a lot of thugs.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by catsrule

I'm not surprised. Wrestling and boxing are trashy sports that breed a lot of thugs.

Well, I don't know what made you come to that statement but that is a very ignorant thing to say.

There are "bad seeds" in almost every sport and to label two industries like that is just dumb.

I also must add that in this case, in my honest opinion, that Jericho was not in the wrong. They were being the aggressors against him and he did what he had to do.

[Marvo301]

There seems to be a lot more thugs in the NBA and NFL these days than in Wrestling or Boxing. Not to mention the chemically enhanced goons in MLB!