Steve Blackman Tells Story Of His Fight With JBL At Airport: “I Went, One, Two, Uppercut, Bombed Him; He Went Flat On His Back At Baggage Claim”

Blackman’s account of the altercation.

For the first time, former WWE talent Steve Blackman gave his account of the fight he had with John Bradshaw Layfield at an airport in St. Louis, Missouri.

Blackman was a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet and gave his account of what unfolded. After sharing the details of the fight itself, Blackman shared that afterward, Vince McMahon was not pleased about the altercation unfolding at an airport. Blackman promised McMahon it would not happen at an airport again, but could not promise that a fight in general would not happen again.

Steve was still looking to fight Bradshaw at the venue. He told him that for things to be cool between them, Bradshaw had to apologize. Blackman said Bradshaw was not a punk, but he apologized in front of everyone in a cafeteria. He added that they were both fined and kept off television for a month. Blackman said the only reason there was not that much heat on them was because their fight happened on the day that Owen Hart died at the Over The Edge pay-per-view.

“Well, I’ve seen a few of the guys’ versions (of my fight with JBL), just coincidentally popping up when I’m watching stuff on my phone at night. 

Oh, he (JBL) laughs about it now too. He doesn’t care. That guy’s great. Back then, I was pissed at him but, a couple days later, we laugh about it, nobody cares anymore. That’s the way you have to be. But some of the accounts were somewhat accurate. We were on the plane — JBL and one of the other guys — kept throwing stuff up a few rows up and hit me in the head. Well, I’m trying to sleep. We don’t get a whole lot of sleep when you go to bed at midnight or 1 AM and you’re getting up at 5 AM for an early flight, a couple hours sleep on the plane. I walk back after he did it a few times. I said, ‘Look guys, I’m trying to get some sleep. I’ve had enough, okay?’ I walk back and sit down, and they do it again. So, a few more minutes goes by, I walk back, I’m like, ‘Guys, I had enough,’ and the only reason I didn’t start swinging right there is because I knew there’d be 20 Air Marshals waiting for me when we landed. So I’m like, let me go back and sit down. They did it a couple of more times and I am just fuming and I’m like, I wanna sprint back this aisle and just go now, and I gotta hold it, hold it. We get to the baggage claim in St. Louis. I walk up and Bradshaw comes up and stands right beside me. Comes up and bumps me, right up against me. I took my sunglasses off, handed it to one of the guys. I came with a backhand from the floor. I backhanded him. I didn’t hit him as hard as I could because I didn’t want him to split his head open on the floor. But I cracked him. He flew. I turned around, I went, one, two, uppercut, bombed him. He went flat on his back at baggage claim and there were 500 people there, and just as I hit him the last time, my foot went through a duffle bag on the floor. It was like a puzzle. My foot must’ve went right through a certain way. There’s this big duffle bag and I couldn’t get it off my leg. I’m kicking, pulling — well, I don’t know the time. A little bit of time goes by. Well, he’s awake and back to his feet. I turn around, I’m like, aw, I can’t get this thing off my leg. I don’t know, 40-pound bag, 50-pound bag, and he comes back swinging. I see the punch coming, I slip. He throws another one, I slip, slip. After that, a whole bunch of guys grabbed everybody and pulled us apart and well, naturally, it was so many people at baggage claim, it was a pay-per-view day. So some of the guys from the office had already told Vince (McMahon) and stuff. We get to the arena. Well, Vince must’ve beeline right for me. I’m walking down the hallway, he comes up and Vince, obviously, he can be cynical. He comes straight up to me, he’s like, ‘Steve, Sunday morning in the airport? That’s great. That’s great,’ and I’m like, ‘Vince, I’m sorry it happened in the airport. I can’t say it won’t ever happen again but I can promise you it won’t happen in the airport.’ So we go walking back. I go put my shoes on and I said, ‘Go tell Bradshaw to lace up…’ And he comes up, he goes, ‘Steve, if you put me on the spot out there,’ he goes, ‘I’m gonna have to fight.’ I said, ‘Well, I expect you too!’ He goes, ‘Well, what do I have to do?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna tell you what –’ I said, ‘You can apologize in front of everyone in the cafeteria for being a complete asshole.’ I said, ‘Or we’re gonna go again right there’ and I said, ‘I’m gonna hit a whole lot harder this time.’ So he walks in, he was in his sneakers and gym shorts. He was ready. I mean, he’s no punk. He goes, ‘I apologize for being an asshole,’ whatever, blah, blah and we let it go. We laugh about it now… I hit him four times in a second (he laughed). Because I remember the sequence. Because I turned and it was like, I went, one, two, uppercut and then bomb. It was a pop, pop, pop, pop. He dropped flat on his back. But, anyway, it is what it is and when it happened, some guy, some elderly guy, must’ve gotten elbowed by one of us or knocked backward and I don’t know, he was an older man. His son, who was somewhat elderly, comes up and goes, ‘One of you guys hit my father and he had blood coming out of his ear,’ and I’m like, I looked over at the guy, I said, ‘Sorry. I’m really sorry about that.’ He let it go and then the son said something else. I said, ‘Dude, I said I’m sorry twice, okay?’ And his father’s standing there and he looks okay now or whatever. The guy said something a third time. I said, ‘I’ve had enough.’ I said, ‘Christ, I said I was sorry now!’ (Steve) Austin heard me say that. I look over and he’s standing there cracking up… They kept me and Bradshaw off TV for like a month — as a punishment — fined both of us, and it’s unfortunate, but the only reason heat was taken off of us because that’s the night Owen (Hart) fell from the ceiling. Because when that happened, there was nothing else on anybody’s mind but Owen…”

Blackman has not wrestled since 2007, and in the same interview, he spoke about the possibility of returning to in-ring action. To read more, click here.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.