Pro Wrestling Referee Hospitalized After Planned Stabbing Attack Reportedly Became Real (UPDATE)

By Connor Casey

A violent scene broke out over the weekend at the World Class Revolution "Christmas Star Wars" event in Irving, Texas, resulting in referee Lando Deltoro being hospitalized after being repeatedly stabbed by "Hannibal" Devon Nicholson, wrestling at the show as "The Blood Hunter." The plan for the match between Nicholson and Carly Colon (Carlito) was always planned to have Nicholson attack the referee, but according to a referee who was ringside and wrestlers who have spoken with various news outlets, Nicholson took the spot too far and wound up stabbing the referee multiple times in the head with a spike. 

A ringside referee, identified as Colby Cowperthwaite, went into full detail on the situation via a thread on Reddit. You can see his explanation, as well as footage of the violent incident, here.

"They planned a blade spot but Hannibal took it MUCH further," wrestler Clayton Bloodstone told Fightful on the record. "I guess the ref's blade wasn't working and Hannibal began stabbing him in the head multiple times. The ref went immediately to the hospital. We all thought he was going to die. Many of the guys in the back were very visibly shaken up from it. Hannibal gave zero fucks. He acted like it wasn't a big deal. He was in his RV pretty much the whole time before his match. The ref that reffed his match believed he was intoxicated and warned Carlito, who was working Hannibal, to be careful and end the match ASAP."

Deltoro has since commented on the situation, posting a photo of himself after being released from the hospital. He tweeted on Sunday, "Recovering at home, still a big fuzzy and pain, yes lots of pain. But I'll live. Thanks you all for outpouring of love and support. I am a firm believer that if you put good out into the world, good will return to you."

"I can tell you it was a spot that went way off the rails," he wrote. "From what I'm hearing now he is not a safe worker. And now I have first-hand knowledge..."

He also commented on the situation to several fans, confirming that the incident was in no way part of a storyline. A GoFundMe has been launched to try and assist Deltoro with his medical expenses, and so far more than $3,000 has been raised. Stay tuned for more details on the situation as they become available.

UPDATE (12/14): Deltoro's GoFundMe page stated on Tuesday that he had been taken back to the hospital. The page read, "He is on the way back to the hospital right now. I will not update until I hear the further update. All Lando needs right now is all the support we can give him and just keep praying for him."

Deltoro then took to Twitter with a pair of updates, "Quick update, woke up and the entire left side of my head feels like it's on fire and there's drainage, definitely an infection so I'm going in to get it looked at." He later posted a photo stating he has a blood infection, possibly caused by the gold paint Nicholson used on his spike.

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