Steve Blackman Confirms He Was Pulled From WWF Brawl For All Due To Tearing Cartilage In Leg During Training

Blackman thought he was going to win the tournament.

WWF/E’s ‘Brawl For All’ shootfighting tournament in 1998 has been well-documented. The subject was delved into again by former WWE talent Steve Blackman, as he was being interviewed by Chris Van Vliet.

Blackman was pulled from Brawl For All after being hurt. Blackman tore cartilage in his leg and confirmed that the injury happened during training.

“Well, I did think that (I could win Brawl For All), and then after I fought Marc (Mero), I’m like, okay, let me go home and train now and let’s get moving here. So one of my friends at home was about 6’3, 300 pounds, amateur wrestler his whole life. So I started working and we started training, and he waist locked me, and just as he waist locked me, I wasn’t expecting him to sit so fast. He sat on the side of my leg and tore the cartilage in my leg. I’m like, oh my God, this can’t be happening. We were just starting to do warm-ups. I was going to throw, he’d throw, I’d throw, and he just sat on the side of my leg. I couldn’t believe it. I had to get my leg worked on then, and I couldn’t finish the thing, and I was livid because I wanted to get out there at that point, and so that’s what happened there.”

The winner of Brawl For All was Bart Gunn, and he went on to fight renowned combat sports fighter Eric Esch a.k.a. Butterbean at WrestleMania XV.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.