The wrestling industry is known for being a highly volatile place to work in. With everyone fighting for a few, very limited top spots, the tensions between the wrestlers can become very unpleasant, especially if they really despise each other in real life. With the range of egos also to be taken into account alongside the rock and roll lifestyle that the wrestlers live (often spending a lot of their travel time partying and getting up to no good in bars and hotels) this can often lead to conflict.

Some of the brawls that have taken place have been quickly resolved and haven't led to many repercussions, yet others have become serious incidents, landing those responsible in handcuffs and the victims in a hospital bed. This is the worst case scenario, but is still incredible. This wouldn't likely happen in other lines of work, but then again these performers are often very driven by their testosterone levels and big egos. While what they do in between the ropes may very well be staged, when these athletes get into it in real life the outcomes can be very messy, but the reasons for the fights are often just as ridiculous as the gimmicks they attempt to get over on TV each week.

This article will look at several incidents between wrestlers that have led to major confrontations, with six taking place backstage and 10 that happened outside the ring.

16 Backstage: Chris Jericho & Brock Lesnar

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Few men are brave enough to square up to the Beast, Brock Lesnar, and you can't exactly blame them, Lesnar is incredibly scary and his legitimate MMA career would put off enough people from wanting to have a scrap with him unless you were being paid to do so. However, that didn't stop Chris Jericho following Lesnar's SummerSlam match with Randy Orton, which did end in bloody and brutal fashion. With Lesnar landing some legitimate blows to the Viper, leaving him a bloody mess.

Wit Y2J unsure that the entire thing was a work, Jericho rushed to Gorilla position and quickly confronted Lesnar, showing no signs of fear, with both men having to be dragged apart.

15 Outside The Ring: Ken Shamrock Takes On A Tag Team

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Ken Shamrock is one of WWE's genuine hard men with a legitimate MMA career before the sport really took off and became a huge success, so you would not want to cross him in a legitimate fight, but when the Nasty Boys found themselves in that situation, they had the numbers advantage. The Nasty Boys gave inappropriate comments towards one of Shamrock's female friends and he took offense to the situation and went to confront them at a hotel, but because of the number advantage found himself on the losing end of the fight.

Shamrock was hit from behind with a lamppost which is how the tag team got the advantage of the situation and things calmed down from there, but it is crazy to think that Shamrock was confident enough to just start on both of them.

14 Outside The Ring: Tracy Smothers & Tom Prichard

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Wrestling fights have taken place ever since the sport would happen it appears, with Tracy Smothers and Tom Prichard brawling back in the Smoky Mountain Wrestling days which started after Prichard made comments about Smothers accidentally injuring someone.

Things continued during their car journey to the next show when their cars pulled over as a method to end the dispute, but instead, Prichard chased Smothers with a beer bottle, but luckily for the pair the police turned up just in time. With neither man wanting to be arrested the pair pretended they were working on wrestling spots rather than having an actual fight, the officer bought the lie and the pair buried the hatchet.

13 Backstage: Paul Bearer & Sunny

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In terms of unexpected fights, this one might just top this list, and not just because it is a man and a woman, but the fact of who it is, with Paul Bearer and Sunny never really having any interaction on television or having a real reason to hate each other. But in the world of wrestling, where ego dominates, there was backstage heat and this eventually came to blows. While Bearer reportedly restrained himself and just took several slaps, it was Vince McMahon himself that broke up this situation before things got worse.

Bearer then did gain heat from Sunny's boyfriend Chris Candido, but considering who Bearer worked with, veterans such as Undertaker and Kane who were heavily respected, that blow never took place.

12 Outside The Ring: JBL Vs Michael PS Hayes

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One infamous flight from the UK back to America was quite controversial for WWE as it landed the company in hot water because of how many incidents took place on the journey, with one of them being between JBL and Michael P.S Hayes. The duo came to blows on this plane ride, which Vince McMahon had paid to have an open bar on, likely leading to the problem starting in the first place, but it wound up with JBL bleeding like crazy after Hayes opened up an old cut.

JBL didn't take the fight lightly either though, reportedly knocking out the WWE Hall Of Famer. While there isn't tons of detail on why they began brawling, it's clear it was a plane ride to remember for the staff trying to calm the situation down.

11 Outside The Ring: Sheamus & Yoshi Tatsu

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A pair of people together that you really wouldn't expect, especially in an all-out brawl, with Yoshi Tatsu portrayed as a genuinely nice guy during his WWE career, but perhaps that is where the company went wrong. Tatsu has a legitimate fighting background and is a tough man, with the reports stating that he had beaten up Sheamus, who certainly had the size and weight advantage, in this fight.

With the pair living together along with Ted DiBiase during their FCW days, Sheamus became known for borrowing things from them and not cleaning them. Eventually, Tatsu had enough and snapped, giving Sheamus a beating he likely didn't forget in a hurry.

10 Backstage: Joey Styles KO's JBL

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Given the number of stories related to JBL hazing talents and just being a general bully, most people will rejoice in the fact that the commentator, Joey Styles actually managed to lay him out during a tour of Iraq. Styles had been JBL's victim on that tour, with the commentator having drinks poured on him, with JBL reportedly often bullying him with little comments and jibes, and eventually Styles had enough.

The ECW commentator retaliated to him and the pair eventually had to be dragged apart, but Styles quickly got a final shot in the landed JBL on the floor, likely bringing an end to any of the bullying he took from him.

9 Outside The Ring: Dynamite Kid & The Fabulous Rougeaus

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Wrestlers love pulling pranks, but sometimes they can easily get out of hand and that was the case for the Fabulous Rougeaus. Their bags were taken and all of their clothes were cut up, by Curt Henning. Henning blamed the entire incident on the British Bulldogs instead of taking the wrap for it. Understandably annoyed, there was a slight brawl backstage, which Dynamite came out on top of, but that wasn't the end of it.

Embarrassed further by the situation, the Rougeaus waited to attack at the hotel, with a fist loaded with quarters that sent some of Dyamite Kid's teeth flying out of his mouth. It was definitely not a pretty sight and remains one of the more rough retaliations in wrestling history.

8 Outside The Ring: Sid Vicious & Arn Anderson

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Two of wrestlings tough figures came to blows during a UK tour after having too many drinks on the coach to their hotel, falling out after Vicious told Arn Anderson that he and Ric Flair needed to retire. Once they finally reached the hotel, things did not improve between them, in fact, they became a lot worse. Anderson threw a drink over Sid and after thinking about the situation he decided to go for revenge.

For some reason, scissors became involved in the brawl and Vicious got hold of them, stabbing Anderson until he passed out while screaming out to stop. Eric Bischoff found out about the incident, which gained national coverage in the UK and he acted quick, firing Sid.

7 Backstage: Giants Collide

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A confrontation between Big Show and The Great Khali, legitimately fighting is something that sounds quite interesting, but the scrap between them was apparently anything but that, though who would want to get in between them? Show was feeling some jealousy towards Khali coming in as another giant clearly taking some of the shine away from him. One problem was that Khali used Big Show's famous chop move to pop the crowd.

Big Show took offense to him blatantly stealing one of his popular moves and the fight began backstage after Show confronted Khali, who at first thought the whole thing was a joke. Eventually, it would take Kane to settle things down.

6 Outside The Ring: Mr Perfect & Brock Lesnar

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Mr. Perfect was always seen as an incredible professional wrestler, someone who could mix it up with the very best. The same can be said for Brock Lesnar, while he may simply suplex people now, his amateur background speaks for itself. On one fateful flight from a European tour back to America, Mr. Perfect decided to claim he was a better wrestler out of the two, and the Beast did not take that lightly, attacking Perfect and starting a brawl on the plane.

The pair reportedly almost knocked open the plane door they were that much out of control until Triple H was on hand to split the pair up, and Perfect ended up being fired not long after.

5 Outside The Ring: Undertaker & Kurt Angle

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Controlling a fight between an Olympic Gold Medalist and a genuine hard man like The Undertaker is likely tough enough as it is, but the fact that it took place on a plane made things even harder, but it was all actually Vince McMahon's fault. Vince McMahon, as told in Kurt Angle's autobiography, used to try and take down Angle at any chance he could get as a way to prove himself. So during one flight, Angle acted for revenge and took down his boss.

The problem was, this prank woke up a sleeping Undertaker who simply thought the pair were actually fighting and jumped to Vince's aid. Taker locked Angle in a choke hold and almost choked him out until Undertaker was calmed down and told the truth.

4 Backstage: Chris Jericho & Goldberg

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It is clear that while he might not be one of WWE's biggest wrestlers in terms of size, Chris Jericho doesn't have any problems in squaring up to some of his fellow wrestlers if they push him the wrong way. While confronting Brock Lesnar is one thing, his altercation with Bill Goldberg, who is also much larger than Jericho, actually led to the pair brawling on the floor, with Y2J actually getting the best of the situation.

Jericho had caught Goldberg talking trash about him and his gimmick backstage in WWE, and after having heat during their WCW days, this proved to be the tipping point, with Jericho kicking the brawl off.

3 Outside The Ring: Brian Christopher & Chase Stevens

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This is possibly the most recent entry on the list and it also could be the most brutal with former WWE superstar, Brian Christopher receiving incredibly serious injuries after his brawl with ex-TNA star, Chase Stevens at a hotel. The full reason for why the brawl took place is unclear, but Stevens was arrested for it and certainly won the fight. Christopher was left with noticeable dental injuries, an approximate 2-inch laceration to his right brow, orbital eye socket discolouration to both eyes and more, proving that this brawl was certainly intense.

He has since launched a Go Fund Me to try and pay for all of the medical bills that came from the brawl between them, which just goes to show how costly this fight has been to the son of Jerry Lawler.

2 Outside The Ring: Booker T & Batista

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Two of WWE's most well-known stars, Booker T and Batista got into a brawl when filming a commercial for WWE, which was likely not the way the company wanted to be promoted to other people. Regardless, the two men certainly brawled on set and it was reportedly all down to brand wars, with Batista making a comment about SmackDown's ratings, which clearly upset Booker T, who was the veteran at the time.

The two men eventually began fighting, which lasted several minutes, with the genuine hard man, Booker T coming out on top of the scuffle, leaving Batista with a few cuts and scrapes for good measure.

1 Backstage: Bret Hart Clocks Vince McMahon

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The feud between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon is well known amongst everyone, with McMahon screwing Bret Hart out of the WWF Championship in the widely discussed Montreal Screwjob. After the match took place and Hart and worked out exactly what had happened, the Hitman was rightfully angry. Even though he spat at Vince McMahon at ringside, things escalated further backstage.

Vince took Bret into his office in an attempt to calm the situation, but Hart was having none of what he had to say and clocked his boss, leaving Vince McMahon with a huge black eye that was visible for a while after, with Hart making his final mark.