Content warning: The following post contains events that are extremely disturbing.

Raja Jackson, the son of MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles, nearly a month after a brutal attack on a pro wrestler was captured live on stream.

The arrest was first reported by TMZ. Uncrowned has confirmed via Los Angeles County jail records that Jackson was arrested in the morning on a felony charge, with bail set at $ 50,000.

The attack in question occurred on Aug. 24 at a Knokx Pro Wrestling event, which was being streamed on Kick. Jackson can be seen entering the ring and hoisting independent wrestler Stuart Smith — aka Syko Stu — above his head, then slamming him down with his head hitting the mat. Jackson then mounts the unconscious wrestler and throws down more than 20 punches at his head before a group of other wrestlers rip him away.

Smith was rushed to the hospital and spent days in critical condition, but was eventually released on Aug. 31. His family said he has “a long road to recovery ahead,” with injuries including “trauma to both the upper and lower jaws, a laceration to his upper lip, and a fracture to the maxilla bone, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of several teeth.”

Video of the incident quickly went viral, with the LAPD opening an investigation into Jackson a day later.

Why did Raja Jackson attack Syko Stu?

At the heart of the incident appeared to be a misunderstanding documented in this video.

With Kick live-streaming the proceedings, Smith approaches Jackson backstage and confronts him in-character, apparently believing Jackson to be a fellow pro wrestler at Knokx. Smith strikes Jackson with a beer can, which leads to a hostile reaction from Jackson. Smith can be heard asking Jackson if he is going to “sell” the move (i.e. make it look real for the wrestling audience).

Another video shows Smith apologizing to Jackson and shaking hands with him, with Jackson saying “I appreciate it” and “I get it now.” An agreement is made for Jackson to come out during Smith’s match that night and get some retaliation. However, a stream from the front row shows Jackson saying “I’m really going to hit him … I’m dead serious,” due to the beer can incident.

In a video from after the incident, a person tells Jackson he was only supposed to perform a double-leg takedown and throw fake punches.

Jackson has experience as an MMA fighter, with a 4-0 record in amateur bouts before losing his professional debut against Steve Collins at UFL 3 in December 2023.

‘Rampage Jackson’ is among his son’s critics

Condemnation of Jackson was widespread, with veteran wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer describing it as “maybe the worst thing I’ve ever seen in a ring” and Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy calling it “heinous” and “selfish” in a statement.

Among the loudest voices has been Jackson’s more famous father “Rampage,” who initially characterized the incident as “a work that went wrong” before unpacking it more on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Rampage” was critical of everyone involved — claiming that the beer can had given Raja a concussion — but acknowledged his son took things too far:

“I don’t talk to Raja no more,” Jackson said. “I talked to him, I heard his story, some other stuff, then learned a whole lot of stuff about it and everything. Raja’s wrong. He went against what I told him to do, and he hid the fact that he got wrote into a pro-wrestling story. Raja’s not a pro wrestler. He’s a fighter. He had no business in that ring. Everybody there was wrong. Yes, my son took it too far. He knows better. He knows he’s wrong for getting involved in a pro-wrestling match. He wasn’t supposed to do it. I told him he couldn’t even go to the gym for two weeks [after suffering a concussion in sparring].

“My job as a father is to still take care of my son because I still love him. Even with how upset I am with my son, I still love him. But ever since he’s become an adult, he don’t listen to s*** I say. All I can do is be a father. Raja knows I keep it real. I’m not going to lie for him.”

However, “Rampage” also seemed to believe the legal system shouldn’t come down too hard on Raja, saying, “he should go to jail, not prison” and suggesting community service, an anger management class and therapy as additional possibilities.

A felony charge indicates the authorities have something different in mind.

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