Joe Black spoke to Wrestling Inc. about the incident between him and a fan that took place at an Intense Wrestling Entertainment (IWE) show in Augusta, Georgia, earlier this month. This video shows a fan grabbing Black and headbutting him, causing the wrestler to retaliate. Here’s what Black had to say on the matter:
“[Tyreeke] is doing the typical things a manager does, you know, he’s talking crap to the people, he’s choking the babyface, blah blah blah. So this gentleman, who was the person who headbutted me, actually said to Tyreeke, he called him a racial slur. So Tyreeke whispered to me, ‘Watch out for this guy’. So I ignored it, kept working the match, and getting my heat. He then said something racial to me, which I really don’t want to repeat, but I let it go, cause at the one show before, a couple shows before this, a fan actually stepped over the barricade and got on the apron because he thought he was part of the show. And I didn’t even antagonize this fan, because I was a babyface and he just decided to step over the barricade.
“So I didn’t want to take away the match Anthony and I were having so I ignored it, kept getting my heat from everybody else. At the end of the match, Krule comes out and we set up an angle off this match. I’m walking around the ringside. At this point, this gentleman [front row fan] mouths to me the same racial slur he called Tyreeke. So, at this point, I flipped his hat off and I kept walking. He got up and then he headbutted me in the face, which prompted my response to hit him back. This gentleman kept saying things. At this point, it was pretty much diffused and a lady that was sitting near him said he was being obnoxious the entire night. He was drunk, like not a ‘couple drinks’ drunk, but he was plastered. And he was sitting front row and apparently he was being obnoxious to the other talents, too. “So my intention was never to go and assault this fan. He tried to spin it and say that I made contact with his face when I flipped his hat off and his glasses flew, which if you look at any of the angles of the video, there is no way I touched this guy. I flipped his hat off and then, you know, he’s trying to make it seem like the reason he attacked me was because I made contact. It was the bill of his hat flipped up and that was it. He was being racist to me and Tyreeke, the response that just flipping his hat, to me, was tame. I’m still in character, I’m still the heel persona. I didn’t stop and curse at this gentleman, I didn’t call him out. I just flipped his hat off. — Joe Black
Jim Cornette would go on to comment on Twitter saying both parties “were to blame”. When asked about , Joe replied that he felt the legend’s words possibly put too much of a positive light on the fan who attacked him.