Todd Grisham has spoken candidly about the hazing culture he encountered during the early stages of his WWE career, detailing an experience that quickly escalated beyond a locker room prank. Grisham recalled that shortly after arriving in the company, The Brooklyn Brawler spread a rumour suggesting that the “new kid” believed professional wrestling was fake, something that immediately put a target on his back among the roster.

Grisham explained that while many of the wrestlers understood it was meant as a joke, one individual in particular reacted with genuine hostility. He named Bubba Ray Dudley as someone who took the rumour seriously and made an example of him in front of others in the locker room.

“Someone told Bubba Ray Dudley this, and Bubba Ray Dudley, I’m sure he won’t even mind me saying this, is the biggest asshole the WWE has ever seen,” Grisham said. “Everyone else was kind of in on the joke. He treated it like it was the real deal. He was like, ‘You got to go apologize to every single one of these people. You don’t belong here. You should never be hired.’ He was very serious. And I remember thinking, bro, come on, I’m 27 years old, I’m not saying anything, and he just berated me in front of people, like I thought he was gonna get physical with me.”

According to Grisham, the situation did not stop with verbal confrontation. The hazing soon carried over into physical intimidation inside the ring, where he was deliberately placed in uncomfortable and dangerous scenarios with some of WWE’s most imposing performers. He described being surrounded by established stars such as Batista, Jazz, Hardcore Holly, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, all while being unsure of how far the situation might go.

“So next thing you know, Batista is in the ring, and they’re like, ‘Give him a Power Bomb, Batista.’ And I’m like, Oh my god,” Grisham said. “So Batista sets me between his legs, grabs my underwear and freaking rips them straight up. Just like a saw going, and he keeps acting like he’s gonna do it right, and I’m scared to death, and thank God he didn’t Power Bomb me, but my freaking butt crack was bleeding afterwards, raw as hell. I remember Hardcore Holly getting in my face going, ‘You think this is fake? I’ll kill you in the parking lot right now.’”