Stevie Richards may not have been working at CVS, but he still handed JBL a massive receipt — or so fans thought when Richards connected with a brutal chair shot to JBL's head on a the July 7, 2005 episode of "WWE SmackDown." The resulting gory gash was seen by many as retribution for JBL drunkenly attacking Richards' friend The Blue Meanie in the closing moments of ECW One Night Stand. However, on "The Stevie Richards Show," the titular host tried to set the record straight, denying intent.
Advertisement"Every single day that this comes up, I feel bad about it," Richards said. "It's not what we get in the business to do."
Richards blamed the mishap on JBL's height, claiming he'd wanted the Texan to absorb the impact down on one knee. As it happened, Richards caught JBL with the rim of the chair, splitting his scalp. Richards denied swinging the chair as hard he could, asserting that most wrestlers were swinging chairs like that at the time. Richards apologized profusely to JBL, who took the incident in stride. The only major pushback, Richards recalled, came from The Undertaker, WWE's unofficial locker room leader.
"Gorilla was empty. Only 'Taker was there," Richards recalled. "He said, 'Listen, you have to understand. The roster's thin enough as it is. We need all the guys we can have right now. And now one more guy's out because of you.' What can you say? 'Yeah, you're right.' It was because of me."
AdvertisementRichards also revealed it was JBL's idea to frame the matter as a shoot. But Richards insisted he couldn't have been more concerned. "I followed him like a little puppy dog to the trainer, and stayed there while they stapled him up," Richards said. "Independent to whatever he did to Meanie, he deserved an apology. ... I was 100% wrong for that."