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AJ Mana, one of the wrestlers being blamed for instigating Raja Jackson’s attack on Syko Stu, has shared his side of the story. In doing do, he tried to deflect blame from himself and on to others in KnokxPro Wrestling, including the victim Stuart Smith, AKA Syko Stu.
Prior to the attack, AJ Mana can be seen and heard telling Raja Jackson to give Stu “a receipt” in the ring as payback, despite Stu apologizing and he and Jackson shaking hands after a altercation involving Stu hitting Raja with a beer can. That, in part, led to Raja Jackson getting himself very worked up while sitting in the audience before hitting the ring and unleashing over 20 punches to Stu’s head while he was unconscious.
Among those blaming AJ Mana for his part in letting Raja Jackson think what he did would be okay is wrestler Douglas Malo, the man who was largely responsible for finally putting an end to the attack in the ring. He said in a lengthy interview on Monday that Mana is to blame “for ‘gassing [Raja Jackson] up to be in that f—— ring to leading him to ruin his own f—— life to hurt somebody that AJ also has a f—— problem with.'”
AJ Mana has had a lot to say
Following the attack, AJ Mana wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post (Knokx Pro Wrestling has allegedly been telling people to not cooperate with police or to speak to the media about what happened), “I want to take a moment to address the recent incident at KnokX Pro. First and foremost, my thoughts are with Syko Stu and his family no one ever wants to see a fellow performer get seriously hurt.
“There’s been a lot of speculation online about my role that night. The truth is, I was in character and speaking in the language of wrestling. Everything I said was part of the show, and I never intended or encouraged real harm. This was a situation that unfortunately got out of hand due to miscommunication behind the scenes.
“Wrestling is built on trust, respect, and protecting each other in the ring. That’s what I stand for, and anyone who has worked with me knows that. I respect this business, I respect the fans, and I respect the performers who step between those ropes. I hope we can focus on Stu’s recovery and making sure something like this never happens again.”
He takes little to no accountability
Mana also appeared on the F Y’all Podcast on Monday night to defend himself from all of the criticism he was receiving for his part in the attack.
During the interview, AJ Mana revealed that he lost his job over the incident, saying, “I got a call from my f—— job. ‘We saw the TMZ video. You’re an accessory to an attempted murder. We gotta let you go.’ I can’t wrestle anymore.”
As for him telling Raja Jackson to get “a receipt,” Mana said, “The tape never stopped running. Since this is already on film, let’s go ahead and use it. Let’s make it a part of the show. How are we going to do that? I’ll give you a chance to go in on, on during his match and you get your f—— get your lick back. You see I said receipt? I didn’t say lick back. I said receipt… That’s all the f— I told Raja to do. The only thing I told Raja to do was give him a f—— receipt, because that’s what the promoter wanted to do to f—— be done. The promoter sent me away with Raja to work out the details, watch the video. I didn’t tell him to go beat that man.”
In wrestling parlance, a “receipt” is a real-life physical retaliation for an infraction or perceived offense or disrespect during a match or backstage. So, for a non-wrestler such as Raja Jackson, there is a whole lot of gray area there if it isn’t specifically spelled out to him.
He claims it was a ‘work’ gone wrong
“By the way, that video where I’m telling them that I’m telling Raja to f—— hit homeboy. That was a part of the f—— buildup to what was about to happen later on in the f—— show. Just so you know,” Mana went on to claim, then blamed the “production team” for telling Jackson to keep hitting Stu until someone pulled him off.
“Unbeknownst to you mother——- that are saying that I put a hit out on him,” he also claimed. “You didn’t know that was a part of the f—— storyline, did you?” He also added, “There’s nothing that I did wrong, but I apologized. Just this is a f—— work that went totally off the rails.”
He went to to blame the promoter, saying, “I’m not the promoter. I was carrying out the order of the promoter that wanted to implement an individual into the show. I’m not Raja’s coach… I got a coach. I ain’t a coach. The only thing I coach is children and I can’t do that no more.”
Mana even blames the victim
AJ Mana also claimed he had no previous beef with Syko Stu, saying, “That’s my brother. He’s another cowboy outside of wrestling. I’m closer to him outside of wrestling than I am in wrestling because in wrestling we’re working characters.”
He, much like WWE Hall of Famers Mark Henry and Rob Van Dam, also blames Syko Stu being a factor in creating the situation where he was later brutally attacked by Raja Jackson.
“I have to get back to why there was a beer can in the first place,” he said. “Are we not putting two and two together? I don’t want to talk s— because my brother’s in the f—— hospital, but let’s call a spade. Don’t drink beer and liquor in the f—— locker room. Get lit and twisted before a f—— performance in which you are now a liability not only to yourself, but to anybody you’re in the f—— ring with. Let’s call a spade. No more drinking, especially on a live f——- production.”