WWE veteran recalls JBL being beaten up during backstage altercation with former champion
WWE Attitude Era legend Val Venis has discussed a backstage fight between JBL and Steve Blackman.
Val Venis was signed to WWE for an 11-year stint between 1998 and 2009, working with the company through three separate programming eras. One of these eras was WWE's fabled Attitude Era, where the real-life Sean Morely would enjoy his biggest championship success. During this time, he also shared a locker room with some of the industry's biggest names and some of its most volatile.
Big Valvowski has now given his thoughts on a backstage brawl between John "Bradshaw" Layfield and "The Lethal Weapon" Steve Blackman. In a recent clip uploaded to the WSI - Wrestling Shoot Interviews YouTube Channel, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion was asked about memorable backstage fights from his time in the locker room. This eventually led to Val discussing a brawl between Attitude Era mainstays Bradshaw and Steve Blackman.
"There was one of the most memorable ones for me in WWE was the one where- it was the night Owen passed, and it was Bradshaw and Blackman. And Bradshaw had been poking Blackman for a long time at this point. Y'know, sticking his thumb up is a**... Blackman, not really a guy you wanna mess with, y'know?" he said (1:10 - 1:35)
Venis also noted that the brawl took place the same night Owen Hart tragically passed away. He also made mention of Bradshaw's prolonged taunting of "The Lethal Weapon."
The WWE Legend then gave details of the JBL vs Steve Blackman brawl
Big Valvowski then detailed the situation step-by-step, which began following a plane ride.
The former Acoltye was apparently playing a rather obnoxious prank on Steve across a brief period of time. He didn't heed Blackman's warning to stop, and soon found out why Blackman was "The World's Most Dangerous Man."
"And so we were getting off the plane, and I guess Blackman had told Bradshaw a few times, y'know, 'don't do that, don't take your thumb and stick it up my a** again.' and just warned him several times." he said (1:34 - 1:48)
Bradshaw apparently didn't listen, and again began to taunt Blackman as he waited for his bags. This ended badly for the Texans, as Venis noted.
"All I saw out of the corner of my eye was Blackman do a quick one-eighty and pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. And i saw Bradshaw's head go bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang." he added (2:04 - 2:13)
Bradshaw and Steve Blackman did get into a fist fight at baggage claim before the Over the Edge show. [5/99]
Val then noted that Blackman took a step back, possibly throwing a kick at Bradshaw, but Al Snow was apparently there quickly enough to interevene.
What did you think of Val Venis' comments? Have you heard of the JBL/Steve Blackman brawl story before? Sound off your thoughts in the comments section below.
If you use any quotes from this article, please give credit to WSI - Wrestling Shoot Interviews, and H/T Sportskeeda for transcriptions.