page_title: Mass Transit incident (professional wrestling)
section_title: Incident
hierarchical_section_title: Mass Transit incident (professional wrestling) / Incident
caption_attribution_description: English: Wrestler Jerome Young, aka New Jack.
context_page_description: The "Mass Transit incident" was an event in professional wrestling that occurred at an Extreme Championship Wrestling house show on November 23, 1996 at the Wonderland Ballroom in Revere, Massachusetts. It involved Erich Kulas, an aspiring professional wrestler using the ring name "Mass Transit", being bladed too deeply by New Jack of The Gangstas during a tag-team match. Two of Kulas' arteries were severed; he bled profusely and passed out, and needed to be escorted out of the arena with medical attention. Further controversy arose when it came to light that Kulas had lied to ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman about his age and professional wrestling training. The incident led to a future ECW pay-per-view being temporarily cancelled and a lawsuit from Kulas' family.
context_section_description: Axl Rotten had been scheduled to work a tag team match with D-Von Dudley against The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa Saed), but could not make the show due to a family emergency and then getting traveling issues. Erich Kulas, a wrestling fan who had just turned 17, told ECW owner and booker Paul Heyman that he was 21 and convinced Heyman to allow him to fill in for Rotten by lying that he had been trained by Killer Kowalski, a retired star wrestler who ran a notable wrestling school in the Boston area. Heyman stated afterward that he was unaware of Kulas' real age. Kulas performed as Mass Transit, a Ralph Kramden-esque bus driver gimmick.
  Before the match, Kulas asked New Jack to blade him since he never had done it himself, and New Jack agreed. During the match, Dudley and New Jack brawled outside the ring, while Saed and Transit fought inside the ring. The match was booked as a squash and Dudley was quickly isolated outside the ring. The Gangstas then double-teamed Kulas inside the ring, with New Jack pummeling him with crutches, toasters, and various other objects in the hardcore style ECW was known for. At the end of the match, New Jack bladed Kulas with a surgical scalpel, as the two had agreed, but cut too deeply and severed two arteries in Kulas' forehead. Kulas screamed in pain, then passed out as blood poured from his head.
  The event was a house show and thus not televised; however, camcorder footage was available, which was eventually used as evidence in legal proceedings. The video showed New Jack quietly asking Kulas, after the blading, "You alright?" Next, The Gangstas proceeded to work Kulas over even more with elbow drops and various objects, prompting Kulas' father to scream, "Ring the fucking bell. He's 17!" As medics rushed into the ring to aid Kulas, New Jack grabbed the house microphone and shouted, "I don't care if the motherfucker dies! He's white. I don't like white people. I don't like people from Boston. I'm the wrong nigga to fuck with."
  According to New Jack in an interview with RF Video, he told Kulas "This is not a good idea" prior to the match.
caption: New Jack
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