Randy Orton wanted to fool the dirt sheets. Instead, he almost ended up fighting half a police department. What started as a harmless backstage prank outside an episode of Monday Night RAW quickly spiraled into complete chaos after officers who weren’t in on the joke rushed in believing they were witnessing a real fight.
According to former WWE star Mark Jindrak, the whole thing snowballed because one punch landed a little harder than anyone expected. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Jindrak explained that he, Orton and Maven had become obsessed with reading wrestling rumors online. Eventually, they came up with an idea: stage a fake fight outside the arena and see if anyone reported it. To make the stunt look convincing, Jindrak even recruited one of the police officers working security.
“If Randy and I start a fight, okay, a fake fight, will you jump in and break it up for us… They’ll be in awe, and somebody, at least one person, would tell one of these internet sites or report what had just happened.”
The officer loved the idea. Everything was supposed to look real. Then Orton decided to make it a little too real.
“He punched me so hard. It was literally… I felt he hit me about 85, 90%. And I returned the favor, and I stiffed him back. We were stiffing each other back and forth.”
At that point, the officer who knew about the prank stepped in exactly as planned. The problem? Nobody bothered telling the other cops. Suddenly, six or seven officers saw one of their own getting shoved to the ground while two WWE wrestlers were throwing legitimate punches, and they reacted exactly the way you’d expect.
“What we didn’t plan on was the other six or seven officers outside. They didn’t know. They weren’t in the know. They didn’t know this was a fake fight.”
Things went from funny to absolute bedlam in seconds. Jindrak said Orton shoved the officer who was trying to separate them, causing him to lose his balance and hit the ground. That was all the other officers needed to see before charging in.
“All I saw is this cop lost his balance, hit the ground. Now, the other six or seven cops out there… they think it’s real.”
Within moments, fans were running in every direction, police were piling onto Orton, and what started as a prank to fool wrestling websites had turned into a scene that looked like it belonged on the evening news.
“The fans are out of control… We’re still fighting… These six or seven cops are fighting him… So now there’s mayhem everywhere.”
Fortunately, cooler heads eventually prevailed. Police got the situation under control, nobody was arrested and, perhaps most importantly for Orton and Jindrak, the prank accomplished exactly what they wanted.
“Nobody got hurt, and nobody was arrested… over the next few days, various news sites, dirt sheets, and rumor mills covered it, and we loved it. We had pulled it off.”
The fake fight may have fooled the wrestling media—but for a few chaotic minutes outside RAW, it also fooled an entire group of police officers.
What’s the craziest WWE backstage prank you’ve ever heard about? Let us know in the comments below.
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