If you’ve ever seen WWE Hall of Famer Abdullah The Butcher wrestle, you’ll know his act is about 70% “stabbing you in the face with a fork,” followed by both you and said butcher bleeding all over the place. That’s it. Tons and tons of blood. Abdullah comes from that long-ago era when big stars would end up with scarred, nasty foreheads because bleeding profusely was in the job description.
The problem here (besides everything else I just wrote) is that when you contract a communicable blood disease, you should probably stop bleeding on folks. According to a $6.5 million lawsuit filed against Abdullah by Devon Nicholson (who wrestled as “Hannibal”), Abdullah bled against his wishes during a match in 2007 and gave him Hep C. He alleges that he was about to get a WWE gig and had his contract canceled three weeks later when the E discovered his condition. Uh, whoops!
The good news for Nicholson (and the really, really bad news for Abdullah)? A judge has ruled in favor of his case to the tune of $2.3 million. That’d buy a lot of forks.
Via CBC:
On Tuesday, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that Nicholson did contract hepatitis C from [Lawrence Robert] Shreve [AKA Abdullah The Butcher].
After a long legal battle, Nicholson said it’s great to finally have the truth on the record.
“Mr. Shreve himself has been saying all along that I’m a liar, that he doesn’t have hepatitis C, he didn’t cut me, and I believe the judge made it very clear that, yes, he did cut me … and yes, he does have a history of hepatitis C,” Nicholson said.
Shreve has 30 days should he decide to launch an appeal.
Here’s the thing: while I certainly believe this guy could’ve gotten/did get Hep C from Abdullah, his story’s always struck me as a lie. How many people wrestle Abdullah the Butcher WITHOUT one or both of them bleeding? ESPECIALLY in 2007. The guy’s old. Him showing up and causing a bloody mess is his only marketable talent. Well, that and cooking ribs. How did Abdullah blade against somebody’s wishes? What did they want him to do, throw a bunch of Canadian Destroyers?
Anyway, because this is a pro wrestling story, Nicholson celebrated the win by immediately going outside and demonstrating his signature moves.
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Shreve has 30 days to stab him in the face with a fork.
