10 Times Wrestling Fans Put Themselves In Harm's Way

Joe's gonna kill you, Joe's gonna kill you, Joe's gonna kill you...

Samoa Joe ROH Fan
ROHWrestling.com

Wrestling fans are a loyal, loyal bunch. Whether that's in regards to individual grapplers or simply to a certain promotion, period, fans have their own particular favourite flavours of wrestling ice cream.

These favourites will so often be defended time and time again whenever any naysayers dare speak ill of your best guy or gal, and the 'wonderful' world of social media has only increased this ten-fold - as many forever rush to reiterate which hills they are more than willing to die on.

Away from Twitter and the like, this staunch defensiveness is something that's long been commonplace in wrestling venues across the globe. It's one thing to chat sh*t to a wrestler or about a company online, but there are those who have been more than willing to do that sh*t-chatting live and in living colour once the opportunity arises.

Of course, putting yourself directly in the crosshairs of a wrestler might not necessarily be the wisest of moves, and at times some of these fans have very much risked getting themselves seriously hurt in their acts of defiance to support Wrestler A or stick it to Wrestler B.

Here, then, are just ten examples of those fans who left themselves wide open for trouble...

10. NWO Vs. OAP

Samoa Joe ROH Fan
WWE.com

With the nWo having largely dominated WCW programming for well over a year by the time of the 1 December 1997 episode of Nitro, this was the time that fans were desperate to see Sting take the World Heavyweight Championship from Hollywood Hogan at the upcoming Starrcade PPV.

Harking back to the wily, handbag-wielding blue rinse brigade seen across the wrestling shows of the '70s and '80s, this Nitro had an extremely passionate old gal in the front row of the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.

Like so many others, she was reigning down her rage on Hogan while adorning a Sting mask. And once Hulk had spotted her, the ferocious OAP refused to back down and instead got right up in the nWo leader's face - going as far as to start swinging punches at Hogan.

To be fair to Hollywood, he had reason to be wary of old ladies, for two years prior a seemingly helpless old woman turned out to be Kevin Sullivan in disguise - leading to the Dungeon of Doom shaving the Hulkster's prized moustache, brother.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.