On the December 23 episode of WWE SmackDown, Bray Wyatt snapped and attacked a cameraman, locking in the mandible claw.
The cameraman was eventually saved by Adam Pearce and other WWE officials.
Speaking to Bill Apter of WrestleBinge, Independent wrestler JT Energy, who played the cameraman, addressed the attack in a kayfabe interview.
"I was hired to come in and do a job where, I had no idea what was going to happen that night. I knew I was supposed to show up, do my job as a camera man, and lo and behold, I was in the ring with Bray Wyatt when, what I thought he was cutting just a very standard promo telling the fans what had happened on the previous week's SmackDown between him and LA Knight. As the promo went on, it seemed that Bray lost his train of thought, and as he lost his train of thought, he kind of fumbled over his words. Then he set the microphone down and he kind of crouched down. When he took his face away from the crowd, I made sure to do my due diligence and I wanted to get that camera shot and show the people the emotion on Bray's face. As I got closed, before I knew what hit me, I had Bray Wyatt's fingers jammed down my throat," he recalled. "The instant shock overtook me. If you watch the footage back, at first I'm just grabbing because I don't know what's happened to me. As I start to realize what's happening, I drop my camera, I try to grab Bray's arm, but the power he holds in his body, I was helpless. Before I knew it, I was thrown to the mat and I as I was thrown to the mat, trying to reach out for help, my head started being bashed into the mat over and over again. Just as I was about to pass out, I was thankfully pulled out of the ring by WWE officials."
When asked what happened when he got to the back, JT said, "I had to ask multiple people what had happened because, before I knew it, I was trying to go over the thoughts in my head of what I'd just done. I had to have a couple of people relay back to me and show me a replay of what happened. I was lost in shock as much as the fans because I hadn't seen anything, being a fan of WWE leading up to this, Bray didn't seem unstable."
Though Wyatt has turned over a new leafs in some respects since returning to WWE, JT has had no contact with him since the incident.
"No, no contact. If he was looking for me to apologize, for all I know, he could have apologized and I didn't remember it. The shock of everything that happened, and it happened so quickly, everything is a blur. I've seen on YouTube everything that has happened, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything at this point," he said.
Finally, JT was asked if he has thought of pressing legal charges against Wyatt.
"No, not at all. I know that when it comes to WWE, I know the environment that I'm stepping into and I know what my job is as a cameraman and even if I were to look at any other cameraman who stands on the sidelines of a NBA or NFL game, you have to be ready for anything. That night, I drew the unlucky card of being the camera man that was too close to Bray Wyatt," he said.
JT Energy was trained by Seth Rollins and largely wrestles for SCW Pro Wrestling.
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