SEPTEMBER 6, 1989 – Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil punched Guns N’ Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin in the face backstage during the MTV Video Music Awards. Neil claimed in a Kerrang! article that he struck Stradlin after he reportedly “messed with” Vince’s mud-wrestler wife Sharise Ruddell at LA’s Cathouse nightclub.
The Guns N’ Roses‘ video “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was up for awards in two categories: Best Group and Best Metal Videos. They ended up winning the latter and, as fate would have it, Motley Crue were tasked with presenting and handing out the award to Duff McKagan and Steven Adler. While the Crue were all smiles and high fives with the Guns N’ Roses rhythm section, Neil was seething internally. At some point in the weeks leading up to the event, when he was on a white-water rafting trip in Idaho, Neil’s wife had gone out to the Cathouse club in Los Angeles where she’d been allegedly assaulted by Stradlin.
