Raja Jackson, who was seen beating a professional wrestler in the ring during what was supposed to be a scripted event in Sun Valley, was arrested Thursday on felony charges, according to jail records.
The 25-year-old mixed martial arts fighter was booked on $50,000 bail, jail records show.
Jackson was booked on suspicion of felony battery, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson said.
The arrest comes as police were investigating the Aug. 23 incident in Sun Valley.
In a livestream of the event, Jackson was seen running into the ring at KnokXPro Wrestling Academy and slamming wrestler Stuart Smith into the mat.
Smith, whose stage name is Syko Stu, appeared unconscious as Jackson then rapidly punched him 23 times, many of the blows hitting his face.
It took four wrestlers to pull Jackson off of Smith, as wrestlers seemed unsure of what was staged and what was real and came to realize the incident was not part of the show.
In the days after the show, wrestlers at the gym told The Times the incident appeared to have been sparked by a previous confrontation between Smith and Jackson before the show, where Smith smashed a beer can on Jackson’s head during the livestream for Raja’s Kick account.
Jackson has since been kicked off the platform because of the incident, a spokesperson told The Times.
Wrestlers at the gym said several of them, including Smith, believed they were to be in character because of the livestream.
Jackson had been invited to the event by another KnokX wrestler, Andre Joel Hudson, who paid for Jackson’s VIP ticket.
In an Instagram post addressing the incident, Jackson’s father, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, criticized Smith for hitting his son, but also blasted his son for not going to police after the incident.
“If my son would’ve just went to the police when the beer can incident happened then the whole event could’ve gotten shut down,” Jackson wrote.
Smith would later apologize to Jackson, telling him he believed he was “working” as part of the show and pointing to the livestreaming camera.
Jackson, who at first refused to shake Smith’s hand after the incident, shook Smith’s hand after wrestlers there appeared to agree that Jackson would run into Smith’s scripted set and interrupt it.
Multiple wrestlers confirmed there had been no initial plan for Jackson to run into the match, and that the event was instead planned “on the fly” after the beer can incident.
But wrestlers at the gym told The Times Jackson’s “run-in” was supposed to be a scripted incident, and instead turned into a real attack.
Video clips of Jackson livestream showed the 25-year-old sitting in the front row during the wrestling event.
“You just can’t hit a can on my face,” Jackson is heard saying moments before the incident. “This s— isn’t going to be scripted.”
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