Grayson Waller Claims He Nearly Got Into Bar Fight During WrestleMania XL Weekend

Grayson Waller has revealed one of the wildest WrestleMania XL weekend stories yet — and it doesn’t involve a match. It happened at a bar in Philadelphia, right after he and Austin Theory captured the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

During an interview on the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast, Waller was asked who he’d want backing him in a bar fight. Instead of a fantasy lineup, he shared the real-life moment when Shayna Baszler, MVP, and Josh Barnett had his back during a near brawl.

“I actually have a real story where I had almost a bar fight, and I had three people step up my team,” Waller said. “This is WrestleMania 40. After we won the Tag Team Championships, we go back to the hotel bar. Sometimes when WrestleMania stuff happens, the fans know what hotel we’re at, so we’re trying to have a good time and chill, and all these fat flops in black shirts and who stink are just like roaming around trying to grab you and all. It’s the worst.”

According to Waller, one overly aggressive fan was bothering the NXT women at the bar, prompting him to step in.

“So there was a guy who kept just trying to grab and touch and talk to some of the NXT girls. So I went up to the bar to talk to him, and I was like, ‘Hey, can you leave the girls alone? They’re trying to have a good night.’ This guy was very drunk. He starts firing back at me. He goes to push me, and I’m like, ‘Man, I just won the Tag Team Championships. I’m going to get in a fight at the bar at WrestleMania. This is going to be the story.’”

That’s when reinforcements arrived.

“Shayna Baszler, she’s like, ‘Is everything all good here?’ She’s talking to me. MVP walks up next. I’m feeling pretty good. Then, Josh Barnett. I’ve never met Josh Barnett, but I know of him. I know he’s a badass. He steps up next and goes, ‘Is everything alright here, guys?’”

Realizing the muscle that had just assembled behind him, Waller backed off and let the intimidation speak for itself.

“I sat down at the bar, and I just looked at the guy like, ‘Hey, I’m good,’ like Shayna Baszler, MVP, Josh Barnett have my back. There isn’t a man alive who I think can mess with this team. That guy, he disappeared real quickly, which was nice. I think I actually had a real-life team of four — WarGames bar team.”

No fists were thrown, but Waller clearly walked away with a legendary WrestleMania weekend story — and a tag team championship to match.