nZo and Joey Janela Got into a Fight at a Blink-182 Concert

Janela got into a dustup with a never-was last night
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Last night, Blink-182 played the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ, which is a stone's throw across Raritan Bay from Staten Island. This event is notable for wrestling purposes because noted wrestler and gonzo promoter Joey Janela attended that concert. So did disgraced former WWE wrestler and accused rapist Enzo "nZo" Amore. The former caught wind of the latter, and according to Janela, went over to introduce himself. nZo took umbrage with it and instigated, according to Janela, "the shittiest fist fight of the year." I have no reason not to believe Janela's account of the fight because nZo himself corroborated it (CW: gross sexist stereotyping about the female genitalia). He later went onto say that Janela "caused a scene" while nZo was talking to friends or whatever. The most unbelievable part of this is that nZo has friends, but that's neither here nor there.

Janela's played the whole thing off really ironically, in the "ha-ha" sense, which would've led me to believe that he was trying to brush off an ass-kicking. However,. nZo posted an Instagram video of... them squaring up but not doing anything? It looked like he was backing away the whole time. If nZo got the better of him, which from his Twitter preening he believes, why not post video of him dusting Janela up? This, more than either guy claiming it was real and not a work makes me think it wasn't a work. Like, if it was, you'd show a scuffle at least. Instead, nZo basically is showing him doing the only thing he's ever done well, running his yap.

Honestly, nZo accusing Janela of clout-chasing is hilarious since he's the one who tried raising a scene at Survivor Series this past November by sneaking in and standing on his seat drawing attention to himself. I mean, whether he was trying to parlay that into an angle to return to WWE or stick it to his former employer while mollifying his "brand," I mean, that's the very definition of chasing clout. Janela, meanwhile, has become one of the biggest names on the indie scene through his Spring Break shows and his hardcore match with Jon Moxley at Fyter Fest. It's all just bitterness.

The thing is I understand not wanting to be bothered when I'm out. I'm not famous at all, and there are times when I don't want to be bothered by anyone. I wouldn't be surprised that after nZo first shot him down that Janela said something flippant to him. That being said, even if Janela was abrasive to him, like, if he's that much more famous than Janela is, he could have just not been an antagonistic dick and called security?

See, that's the thing about all this. No matter how I can imagine Janela being the main instigator here, it's hard for me to believe that nZo could ever have diffused the situation because of his massive ego and his belligerent personality. Add that to the fact that he's an accused rapist and I feel like he took this situation as a way to, again, raise his brand because he could get one over on someone he thought was below him. Even if I feel Janela was in the right, no one comes out of this looking good though, but I mean, I doubt anyone remembers this in a month unless it becomes a meme. And knowing some sectors of Wrestling Twitter (of which I'm admittedly part of), it just might become one.