Security CHOAS At WrestleMania 42 (WWE News)

It's been security chaos as fans swarm the WWE hotel over WrestleMania Weekend.

by Andrew Pollard
CM Punk Hotel
WWE/TMZ

With WrestleMania 42 now in the books, reports are surfacing of worrying incidents at the hotel that WWE talent and crew have been staying at in Las Vegas.

For their Vegas stint, WWE has been staying at the Park MGM Hotel & Casino. However, due to the hotel being attached to a major casino, that's made it harder to control who has access to the hotel.

On this matter, TMZ was first to report on an altercation between CM Punk and a fan, with that fan taking a photo/video of AJ Lee and Bayley sharing a hug. Unhappy with this invasion of privacy, Punk confronted the fan and knocked his phone out of his hand, as Ace Steel and security stepped in to diffuse this situation.

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TMZ later reported that Bayley had told the fan to "go away" after he approached her as she and AJ embraced, which is when CM Punk stepped in. Likewise, TMZ has since spoken to the anonymous fan, who said he's "not gonna sue [CM Punk] or put him in jail" and that "I just want an apology."

Additionally, PWInsider reports that, prior to this CM Punk incident, Damian Priest had to physically step in when a group of fans swarmed an unnamed female talent for autographs and photographs. There was also reportedly an incident where a WWE referee was almost knocked down by fans at the hotel.

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Heading into WrestleMania 42, there were security concerns for the Park MGM Hotel & Casino due to that link to the casino. By all accounts, WWE expected additional security procedures to be put in place, but those reinforcements didn't end up happening. As such, we had a scenario where fans have been packing out the hotel lobby, camping at the elevators, and even crowding the elevators themselves.

All of this is said to have been a hot discussion point amongst WWE talent and staff over the past few days

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From taking a quick look at social media, there's footage of a whole host of WWE names getting swamped by hordes of fans, pulling them from pillar to post, including Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre.

Of course, this is all sadly just the latest report of such incidents, with there a worrying trend nowadays of wrestlers regularly having to take to social media to plead for their personal space to be respected, for people not to stalk them at airports and hotels, for people to stop sending items to their homes, and even awful instances of "fans" turning up at a wrestler's house.

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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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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.