Wrestling World Reacts To Brutal Hannibal Assault On Referee

Hannibal 'The Blood Hunter' disgustingly beat and choked out referee Lando Deltoro.

by Andrew Pollard
Lando Deltoro Hannibal The Blood Hunter
WCCP

Be warned, for what follows is a disgusting tale that some may find extremely disturbing.

Referee Lando Deltoro was seriously injured over the weekend due to an assault from Devon Nicholson, aka Hannibal 'The Blood Hunter' of Hannibal TV.

At Saturday's World Class Pro Wrestling's Christmas Star Wars event, Hannibal wrestled former WWE Intercontinental Champion Carlito. Post-match, Nicholson attacked Deltoro with a spike, causing the official to suffer a torn artery as he was left unconscious and in a pool of his own blood.

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Deltoro was not actually the referee for this contest, but he was meant to be part of a pre-planned post-match attack from Hannibal. Taking to Reddit, a user named Colbafone claims to be the ref for this match, and he detailed how Hannibal had gone into business for himself and was "messed up" prior to the bout.

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Colbafone stated how Andrew Anderson - who, along with Hannibal, is managed by Kevin Sullivan - was meant to come out and brawl to the back with Carlito. From there, Hannibal would attack Lando Deltoro with a spike and the referee was meant to do a blade job to sell the attack.

When Deltoro hadn't managed to bleed, Hannibal attacked him for real with the spike and hits him several times after legitimately choking him out. With Deltoro unconscious and bleeding profusely, it took Hannibal's real-life girlfriend Blaze to get him to stop this assault. The police were soon on the scene, with Colbafone alleging Hannibal hid the weapon and Sullivan telling him to "kayfabe" the cops and pretend this was all merely a part of the show. Likewise, when Hannibal approached Colbafone in an aggressive manner, MLW standout Jacob Fatu stood up and protected the official.

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For Lando Deltoro, he was taken to hospital and underwent surgery and required several staples into his head. He has has since posted on his own social media accounts to update on his condition.

World Class Pro Wrestling promoter Jerry Bostic has issued a statement detailing how the promotion will never work with Devon Nicholson again, berating Hannibal for his actions. Since then, Hannibal has posted a video of this incident on his YouTube channel in an attempt to get more hits...

On a more positive note, a GoFundMe has been set up for Lando Deltoro, with over $2,000 already raised for the referee as of this writing.

Several within the wrestling business have also taken to their own social media platforms to rightfully slam Nicholson for this disgusting attack.

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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, 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.