On Saturday night, what the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer called maybe the “worst thing ever seen in a wrestling ring” went viral: former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s son, Raja, brutally attacked Syko Stu, leaving him unconscious after slamming him and landing 22 punches on his unconscious body.
The incident was streamed on Kick at a KnokXPro event. Syko Stu, whose real name is Stewart Smith, was reportedly rushed to the hospital and is “awake and stable,” according to Rampage Jackson. As Rampage also pointed out, Raja was suffering from a concussion and didn’t realize he wasn’t supposed to use real “shoot” punches, but instead pulled “work” punches.
Besides Meltzer, several notable wrestling personalities chimed in on the violent viral incident.
WWE superstar Rusev, real name Miroslav Barnyashev, shared that he’s personally familiar with Syko Stu and hoped for a “strong kickout.”
“I’ve known and trained with SykoStu for 15 years. He is a former US Army veteran and amazing guy. There are no excuses for what happened in that ring. Praying for strong Kick out,” Miro wrote.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com called the ordeal “insane,” regardless of the circumstances.
“Whatever this is, it's insane,” Sapp wrote.
“Either Raja assaulted and nearly killed someone, either it's fake and he's way too unsafe to be doing it, but either way security was a failure here.”
Prominent pro wrestling podcaster JDfromNY believes Raja deserves prison time for the assault.
“What Raja Jackson did was attempted murder. And everyone just stood there watching it until it could have been too late. He belongs in prison with the rest of the sub humans who don’t deserve this life,” JDfromNY wrote.
Time will tell if any criminal charges are coming Raja’s way from the Los Angeles Department of Justice.
Pro wrestling ruled the internet Saturday during the opening week of college football, but for all the wrong reasons.