The son of a legendary UFC fighter allegedly attacked a professional wrestler during a match, pummeling the man while he was unconscious and ultimately leaving him badly injured and recovering in a hospital.
The incident was severe enough that Los Angeles police confirmed they are investigating, according to Fox Sports.
On Saturday, Raja Jackson — whose father is former UFC champion fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson — was set to fight Suart “Syko Stu” Smith, 47, during a KnokX Pro Wrestling event in Los Angeles, which was also being streamed on Kick.
Though Raja is an MMA fighter, he was participating in the pro-wrestling match and the outcome of that match was scripted.
In the video footage capturing the incident, Raja is seen sliding into the ring and lifting Smith up over his shoulders before slamming him hard to the mat.
According to Fightful.com’s Sean Ross Sapp, that part of the incident was scripted — people interrupting a wrestler mid-match and getting involved is a staple of the industry — but Raja was not supposed to knock Smith unconscious.
The move Raja used was similar to an Alabama Slam, which — if performed improperly — can send the recipient’s head and neck snapping back upon impact, knocking them unconscious or worse.
The video footage shows that immediately after knocking Smith out, Raja pounced on the man and began raining punches down on his head while he was unconscious.
After a few moments, the other wrestlers realized what was happening wasn’t scripted and stormed the ring to pull Raja off of Smith.
Smith was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries from the incident.
Raja’s attack on Smith reportedly was motivated by an incident at the start of the event in which Smith allegedly hit Raja in the head with a canned drink.
It’s unclear if the alleged hit was an act of malice by Smith or was simply the professional wrestler playing into his character and adding stakes and drama to his match with Raja. In either case, it apparently did not sit well with Raja.
Rampage Jackson posted an explanation — from his point of view — on X insisting that Smith was stable and awake and that the whole thing was an unfortunate misunderstanding.
“Raja was unexpectedly hit in the side of the head by him moments before Smith’s match, Raja was told that he could get his ‘payback’ in the ring, i thought it was apart of the show,” Jackson wrote in a post on X. “It was bad judgement, and a work that went wrong. Raja is a MMA fighter not a pro wrestler and had no business involaved in an event like this. I don’t condone my son’s actions AT ALL!”
In professional wrestling, a “work” is any part of the show that is scripted or predetermined.
The X “reader context” box has been appended to Jackson’s post, noting that the incident allegedly occurred hours before the event, not moments, and added that Smith had apologized to Raja several times between the can incident and their match.
A video appears to show Smith apologizing to Raja and explaining that he only did it for the cameras, and mistakenly thought that Raja was a “worker.”
Jackson apologized for his son’s alleged actions and wished Smith a speedy recovery.
“As a father, I’m deeply concerned with his health AND the well-being of Mr. Smith,” he wrote. “That being said I’m very upset that any of this happened, but my main concern now is that Mr. Smith will make a speedy recovery. I apologize on his [Raja’s] behalf and to KICK for the situation.”
KnokX Pro Entertainment & Wrestling, which put on the event, issued a statement following the incident.
“First and foremost our thoughts and prayers are with our brother Mr. Stuart Smith (Syko Stu) as he remains a priority and we are monitoring his well being.What was supposed to be a planned and agreed upon wrestling spot, turned into a selfish, irresponsible act of violence against Mr. Smith. This egregious act is reprehensible and never should have occurred. In the 17 years of operation of KnokX Pro Wrestling Academy, there has never been anything as heinous take place such as this and we apologize to our patrons and fans.”
Raja was banned from Kick shortly after the video of his alleged attack began circulating online.
Dave Meltzer, a journalist who has been covering professional wrestling for decades, said the incident was “the worst thing I think I’ve ever seen in the ring.”
The extremely popular YouTuber Mr. Beast — real name Jimmy Donaldson — said on Sunday night that he would be willing to put funds toward Smith’s recovery.
“Dang man, this hurts to see. Especially because I read he was a veteran that used wrestling as an outlet to get over ptsd,” Donaldson wrote on X. “Genuinely, if anyone connected to him knows of a way I can help please reach out. If his kid is a fan or I can help with hospital bills idk but I’ll help.”
