10 Wrestling Matches That Started Riots

For those wrestling fans in Little Rock, Arkansas, December 1997 saw them partake in one of the most infamous riots in the modern-day history of professional wrestling.

You have to remember, at this point in time Shawn Michaels was garnering nuclear heat wherever he went - whether from in-attendance crowds or from the guys and gals in the back.

A month after the Montreal Screwjob, the Heartbreak Kid and Hunter Hearst Helmsley - yet to be formally christened Triple H - were in the main event of a Little Rock house show, taking on the babyface tandem of 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin and Dude Love.

The major problem with this event, is that WWE had heavily marketed the Monday 15 December '97 event as being a Raw taping. Local posters said just this, local media said this, and even the Rock appeared on local radio to drive the push for a show that was definitely, definitely, definitely a Raw taping.

So, when 7,000 fans crammed the Barton Coliseum, only to be informed that Raw had been taped the prior week and that this was simply a standard live event - with no big Raw entrance, no elaborate lighting setup, no pyro - those fans soon felt like they'd been duped.

As the hostile crowd simmered throughout a bland card, the event exploded when Shawn Michaels 'cancelled' the main event after being hit by a piece of trash.

Michaels walked out, the fans started fighting amongst themselves, beer bottles were thrown, fires were lit, tear gas was used by police, several arrests occurred, numerous fans ended up in hospital, and thousands of dollars of damage had been done.