We’ve heard countless stories of fans and collectibles dealers swarmed WWE talent and accosting them at all hours during WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas last month. Legends and current stars have talked about mobs of people waiting for them in the lobby, casino, and elevator well at MGM Grand where most WWE wrestlers were staying for the April 18-19 shows, and surrounding events.
The highest profile of these incidents involved CM Punk and a fan who followed Punk’s wife AJ Lee and their friend
Bayley to film their goodbyes after they indicated multiple times they wanted privacy. Punk knocked the man’s phone from his hands, which he and others caught on video. The man asked for and, to our knowledge, never received an apology, even after his clip of the scene showed Bayley tried to block his shot before Punk batted his phone to the ground.
Despite the lack of outrage from the populace, which lessened even further as more stories of bad “fan” behavior in Vegas emerged and actual-fan sympathies shifted further to the talent, TMZ* stayed on the first Punk story. And now they’ve unearthed a second. It seems unlikely to change public opinion about who the wronged parties during ‘Mania week.
It’s a call to 9-1-1 from a Spanish-speaker, using a translator we presume was supplied by the emergency number. The man says he was “waiting for the WWE superstars” at 12:31 a.m. in the lobby of the MGM Grand “trying to get a picture and maybe an autograph from them.“ He says he did not need medical attention, but ”when I got close, the star CM Punk pushes me and chops me from my chest.“
The man said he didn’t need medical attention, but believed the famously Straight-Edge star to be drunk or high because “his face was red and his eyesight was full of anger.” Asked if Punk was brandishing a weapon, the reply was “None. He only had a briefcase on his left hand.”
TMZ reports that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers did respond to the call, spoke to all parties involved, and determined no report needed to be filed and that Punk was free to leave.
Seems like another headline TKO could have headed off by putting WWE stars in a location with its own entrance somewhere off the strip and paying for transportation. Or as our Jon Velez-Jackson put it, “Ari Emanuel made $67.4 million from TKO last year, but they can’t spend like $20K for extra security at the hotel for WrestleMania weekend?”
Give us your reaction to this latest ‘Mania “fan” incident — and the latest angry CM Punk incident — in the comments below.
* In addition to it getting a fair amount of attention, my guess is this is because TMZ’s business model depends on maintaining the ability to surprise celebrities anywhere, anytime with cameras and microphones.
