Sometimes the relationship between pro-wrestlers and the fans attending their shows can get crossed, which is what happened during a recent independent show when one fan got too close to a wrestler and paid the price.
XPW is an independent wrestling company that specialized in hardcore and deathmatch-style matches. Like many smaller federations, XPW hosts events in smaller venues to give the match a more intimate atmosphere. What this also leads to is the wrestlers being much closer to the action, whether it’s in the ring or whether it spills to ringside.
In this case, an XPW wrestler named Kit Osbourne was brawling with his opponent during a show called Broken, Beat, and Scarred. At one point, Osborne stood at ringside, bloodied and battered.
And because of that smaller venue, the space between the ring and the fan attendance area was so small that Osborne had the ring right in front of him and a fan right behind him.
For whatever reason, this fan’s jeering and heckling angered Osborne so much that he turned his attention to this fan and attacked him.
Wrestler punches fan at indy show, referees need to restrain him to prevent further injury
The fan was seen holding a “Billy Corgan is a p*ssy” sign when suddenly Osborne swings backwards with a light tube and appears to hit the top of this fan’s head. Osborne then hits at least one full-contact punch to the fan’s jaw and tries to rip the sign away. The jaw-jacking continued until the referee and other officials had to pull Osborne back as the ref yelled “don’t do it” to him.
A fan at the XPW show Broken, Beat and Scarred heckled Kit Osbourne and then this happens… pic.twitter.com/teVAYJe1x8
— Covalent TV (@TheCovalentTV) June 9, 2023
Although there is a much stronger security presence at events hosted by WWE and AEW, such protection isn’t always guaranteed at local wrestling events put on by smaller companies. As such, fans should always assume a degree of risk when watching wrestling and the actions spills out of the ring.