According to a popular wrestling urban legend, old-school promoters had one simple rule about wrestlers getting into bar fights. You can get into as many bar fights as you want, but if you lose even one, you are fired. Back then, wrestlers were a decidedly more blue-collar lot who loved to end another day - or sometimes begin one - by going to the bar and enjoying several rounds of several drinks. This was also a time when every roughneck tough guy who went to those same bars thought that they should prove how tough they are by challenging said wrestlers to a fight. Most of the time, it did not go as well as they hoped.
Although professional wrestling bar fights are a lot less common now given the nature of the business, you still hear about the occasional brawl between civilians and wrestlers that makes you remember most performers are incredibly tough human beings. Whether old or new, there’s just something entertaining about imagining a wrestler who so often only gets to show their skills in scripted matches prove that there is nothing fake about the damage they can deal. That’s especially true of these 15 crazy pro wrestler bar fight stories.
15 15. Andre The Giant Almost Drowns Dick Murdoch and Blackjack Mulligan
Andre the Giant is going to appear a couple of times on this list because there is something simply fascinating about the idea of regular bar patrons deciding to pick a fight with a man who was the approximate size of a particularly large boulder. What’s even more confusing is why another wrestler would ever mess with Andre. Yet, according to Ric Flair, that’s exactly what Blackjack Mulligan and Dick Murdoch did one night at a beachside bar. While Mulligan and Murdoch were tough dudes in their own right, they weren’t tough enough to get away with attempting to punch Andre in a bar one night. Rather than punch them back, Andre decided to simply lift the two - incredibly large - men off the ground, drag them to the ocean, and continuously dunk them into the water until they calmed down.
14 14. Jake Roberts Gets Into A Fight Over How Attractive Daytona Beach Women Are
There are a lot of reasons to get into a bar fight, but most of them come down to alcohol. Still, everyone who has ever been in a bar fight is usually going to chalk up the fight to some kind of disagreement. Few people who have ever been in a bar fight, however, have ever gotten into one over a matter as stupid as the relative attractiveness of an area’s women. Well, everyone except for Jake Roberts, that is. Yes, in the late 80s, Jake Roberts was out drinking at a Daytona bar when he started sharing some drinks with a fan that spotted him. According to a later police report, the two began to argue about how attractive Daytona Beach women are. The matter escalated into a brawl, and the fan ended up filing charges against Roberts.
13 13. Haku Bites a Man’s Nose Off for Calling Wrestling Fake
Like Andre the Giant, Haku is going to make a couple of appearances on this list for the simple fact that his legendary bar fight stories are too entertaining to possibly ignore. In case you didn’t know, Haku is generally considered to be one of the toughest men in the history of the professional wrestling business. How tough was Haku? He was so tough that he once bit a man’s nose off during a fight.
According to Haku, the incident occurred at a hotel bar near the Baltimore airport. Some patrons recognized Haku and began making accusations about the fake nature of professional wrestling. Outraged, Haku walked over, grabbed one of the men by the face, and bit part of his nose off. We’re not sure if that proves how real wrestling is, but it does prove that you should never mess with Haku.
12 12. Alberto Del Rio and Drew McIntyre Get in a Bar Brawl
It seems that many wrestling fans are unaware that Alberto Del Rio is a well-trained MMA fighter and all-around tough guy. No seriously, if you mess with Del Rio, you will soon find out that he is one of the toughest men in the wrestling business. Just ask the people who supposedly tried to start a fight with Del Rio at an Irish pub. According the popular version of the story, Del Rio was hanging out with Drew McIntyre when someone made some comments about the girl McIntyre was with. Del Rio fired back a few comments of his own, and the person he talked to retaliated by hitting Del Rio with a bottle. This triggered a brawl that left Del Rio with a nasty black eye. Apparently, the gentlemen on the other end of the fight walked away in much worse shape.
11 11. Shawn Michaels Provokes a Group of Marines and Suffers the Consequences
This is one of the most well-known stories on this list, even if the details surrounding it are a bit debatable. According to popular WWE legend, the whole thing started when Shawn Michaels, Sean Waltman, and Davey Boy Smith visited a bar in Syracuse. At some point in the evening, Michaels began hitting on a girl who was clearly with her Marine boyfriend. Some say that Michaels had too much to drink that night, while others claim that he arrived at the bar after having taken too many pills. Whatever the reason, Michaels decided to continue to hit on the girl while talking trash to her boyfriend. Eventually, the boyfriend and his buddies began to viciously beat up Michaels. Waltman and Smith made sure someone called the cops, but elected to not join the fight.
10 10. Ric Flair Has to Pay for the Damages Caused By the Nasty Boys Beating Him Up
Ric Flair is known as more of a bar patron than a bar fighter, but you have to imagine that Flair could hold his own back in his prime. After all, nobody that talks that much and throws that much money around gets to go through life without running into a few bar conflicts. While Flair might have been a pretty tough guy in his day, he did go a little too far one night when he decided to get into a confrontation with the Nasty Boys.
According to Flair, he decided to stand up to the Nasty Boys after the pair spent the night harassing Flair’s friend. Flair eventually slapped Sags across the face, but Knobbs jumped over the bar and knocked Flair to the ground. Oddly enough, the whole thing ended when Flair was tossed out of the bar and his credit card was charged for the damages.
9 9. The Undertaker Knocks a Guy Out on His Way to the Restroom
While we’ve never heard anyone deny that The Undertaker is probably a pretty tough guy, you do get the feeling that he’s not someone that just goes looking for trouble. Still, the reports of Undertaker’s love for bourbon and strip clubs does make one imagine that Undertaker occasionally finds himself in some bad crowds. One hilarious confirmed instance of an Undertaker bar fight occurred during Taker’s younger days. Dutch Mantel (Zeb Coulter) claims that he and Undertaker were drinking one night when Taker said he had to go the bathroom. Soon, Mantel noticed a little commotion going on near the restrooms. Sensing trouble, he worked his way through the crowd of people. He soon found Undertaker standing over a knocked out drunk and explaining to the bouncers that he had just taken this guy out with a single punch for harassing him.
8 8. The Big Show Breaks the Jaw of a Man Who Told Him He’s Not That Big
While not every big guy in the world is a great fighter, there are some wrestlers who are so physically imposing that you should probably just assume that you wouldn’t be able to beat them up. One of those wrestlers is The Big Show. We understand how you might think that’s obvious information, but apparently, it isn’t. In 1998, a fan decided to start mouthing off to Paul Wight at a bar. Among other insults, the fan went so far as to insist that Wight wasn’t really that big or tough. Wight tried to calm the man down, but nothing was working. Based on a closed caption feed of the incident, it appears that the man decided to shove Wight. At this point, Wight proceeds to throw the quickest and most devastating punch you’ll ever see from a man his size. The punch shattered the man’s jaw and landed Wight in court.
7 7. Haku Snaps a Pair of Handcuffs after Being Maced in the Eye
Haku makes his second appearance on this list with a story that would be downright unbelievable if it wasn’t witnessed by a host of people who would go on to tell the tale the rest of their lives. The popular version of this story comes from Ted DiBiase who was one of said people in attendance on the night that Haku decided to visit a bar in St. Louis while in town for a show. It’s not entirely clear what happened during the evening, but sure enough, a fight broke out between some of the wrestlers in attendance and the people at the bar. The cops showed up relatively quickly and proceeded to mace and handcuff Haku even though he was just trying to break up the fight. Haku looked the cops in the eyes, snapped the handcuffs, and proceeded to once again try to break up the fight.
6 6. Brock Lesnar Puts Someone to Sleep for Breaking Drinks Over His Head
According to Brock Lesnar, he’s not really a guy that gets into fights very often outside of the ring. That’s understandable considering that he’s Brock Lesnar and most people are not. Also, why fight for free, when you get paid to do it? However, he does remember one time that he went to a bar to order some drinks and someone came up and took them out of his hands. Lesnar tried to tell him those were his drinks, but the guy wasn’t listening. At that point, Lesnar grabbed the drinks from his hands and tried to walk away. The man he took the drinks from decided to grab some nearby drinks and smash them over Lesnar’s head. In Lesnar’s own words, “Somebody went to sleep and it wasn't me.”
5 5. Andre the Giant Flips A Car with Four People Inside of It
The last Andre the Giant bar fight story on this list is also arguably the most famous of all Andre the Giant drinking stories. The details of this tale seem to change a little with every retelling, but the principle facts involve a very thirsty Andre the Giant wandering into a local bar for a few drinks. At some point, four men approached Andre and began to harass him. Now, Andre was notoriously slow to anger meaning that he took their insults with relatively good humor. Eventually, however, the men did anger the giant and caused him to get up from his stool. Sensing danger, the group fled into the supposed safety of their nearby car. Soon, though, they witnessed a scene straight out of a horror movie as Andre proceeded to turn the car upside down with all four men still inside of it.
4 4. Ed White Urinates On Billy Robinson To Settle a Grudge
There’s a chance you’ve never heard of former professional wrestler Billy Robinson. If that’s the case, allow us to inform you that Robinson is one of the toughest professional wrestlers ever. There are a hundred stories out there to help verify that claim, but they all boil down to Robinson being an old-fashioned mat wrestler and all-around tough guy. Apparently, a 350-pound wrestler named Ed White had a problem with Robinson and wanted to beat him up to settle it. However, he was worried he wasn’t tough enough. So, he decided to buy Robinson round after round of drinks one night. Eventually, Robinson had to step outside and White followed him. White then proceeded to mercilessly beat up the very drunk Robinson. He even urinated on him to add insult to injury.
3 3. Terry Funk Rips a Man’s Pants Off and Bites Him on the Butt
Terry Funk is one of those guys who has seen it all and done it all in his impressively long career. Funk is an old-school wrestler who just looks like the kind of guy that is more at home in a bar fight than he is in his own living room. While there are a few good Terry Funk bar fight stories out there, one of the most amusing occurred when Funk took his wife out to a bar for a night out. According to Funk, who detailed the fight in his book, a large man came up and tried to start a fight. Funk slapped the large man, and he quickly backed off. However, he then tried to grab a table to hit Funk with. At this point, Funk tried using the man’s pants to take him down. In the process, he ripped the man’s pants and underwear off. Seizing the opportunity, Funk proceeded to bite the man on the butt. Funk lost a $750 lawsuit over the incident.
2 2. Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Terry Taylor Accidentally Start a Massive Fight
Many of the wrestlers on this list knew that they were starting a bar fight with their actions. This entry is unique because it involves two people who genuinely had no idea what was about to go down. As the story goes, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Terry Taylor were sitting at a bar one night when they decided to pass time by tossing ice at one another. Somehow, Hercules Hernandez got it into his head that people were tossing ice at Duggan and Taylor. Wanting to help, Hercules ripped off his shirt and proceeded to beat up some nearby people.
Before you know it, the entire bar is involved in a brawl that started with two friends tossing ice at each other. It’s not clear if Hacksaw ever told Hercules what happened.
1 1. Dick the Bruiser’s Fake Bar Fight Turns Very Real
The NFL’s early days are filled with stories of local legends who played the game because they loved to do so. Many of these guys were just local toughs who loved the idea of an extra paycheck. One of these toughs was an ex-Detroit Lions player by the name of Alex Karras. While a member of the Lions, Karras agreed to participate in a wrestling match with fellow tough guy, Dick the Bruiser. Bruiser got the idea to stage a bar fight a few nights before the match as part of a publicity stunt. They even convinced a local paper to write about an epic brawl the two had at a bar that never really happened.
What did happen, however, was that two beat cops saw the staged melee and thought it was real. Soon, Bruiser found himself in a real fight with the Detroit police. Despite injuring two cops in the process, Bruiser made bail and the match against Karras. Of course, the cops did eventually sue Bruiser for $50,000.