Featured Image Credit: Bradlee Rutledge/WWE via Getty Images
Topics: WWE, Wrestling, Ozzy Osbourne, Celebrity, Social Media
Ellie Kemp
Topics: WWE, Wrestling, Ozzy Osbourne, Celebrity, Social Media
Kelly Osbourne has slammed WWE’s Becky Lynch for insensitively bringing up Ozzy Osbourne’s death during Raw in his hometown.
The heavy metal icon died at the age of 76 on July 22 'surrounded by love' at his Buckinghamshire estate.
But the Black Sabbath frontman is responsible for placing his hometown of Birmingham firmly on the map.
In fact, days before his death, the 'Crazy Train' singer had performed an emotional final show in the city, reuniting the legendary band for the first time in 20 years and raising $190 million for charity.
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Ozzy, who'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, died of a heart attack, according to the musician's death certificate.
His life was honored with a procession through Birmingham attended by his wife Sharon Osbourne, four of his six children - Jack, Kelly, Aimee, and Louis. This was followed by a private service in Buckinghamshire.
On Monday (August 25), Netflix streamed WWE Raw live from Birmingham's BP Pulse Live, where wrestlers and Nikki Bella and Lynch faced off.
After Bella provoked Lynch, the latter hit out at both Birmingham and the late Ozzy.
“I’m not wrestling in Birmingham," she began. "The only good thing that came out of here died a month ago. But in fairness to Ozzy Osbourne, he had the good sense to move to LA, a proper city. Because if I lived in Birmingham, I’d die too.”
Yikes. As you'd expect, the quip didn't exactly go down well with viewers - or Ozzy's family.
Since, Kelly has taken to Instagram to scold Lynch for the 'joke.'
Posting to her stories, Kelly tagged a fan page for Lynch rather than her personal account, writing: "You are a disrespectful dirtbag! Birmingham would not piss on you if you were on fire. #birminghamforever.
"Shame on the @wwe for allowing such things to be said about my father and his home!!!"
Ozzy and the WWE actually go way back; the musician made a memorable appearance at WrestleMania II in 1986, where he managed The British Bulldogs with Lou Albano to a tag team championship win.
He later returned during the 2000s, guest-hosting Raw with Sharon, while his music heavily featured in WWE programming - most notably, his track 'I Don’t Wanna Stop' as the theme for Judgment Day 2007. You'll still hear Black Sabbath’s 'War Pigs' today for WWE’s WarGames events.
And in recognition of his contributions, Ozzy was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (Celebrity Wing) in 2021.
So with all that in mind, other social media users also reckoned Lynch's comment was out of touch.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one person said: "Becky Lynch shoulda just stuck to the boring 'your football teams are s**t' attempts at getting heat if she can't get it any other way. Scraping the barrel with the Ozzy comments... Weird vibes."
"@BeckyLynchWWE dropping that comment about Ozzy was too soon and not cool," a second agreed. "Low hanging fruit and I hoped you wouldn't go there, but you did. Highly disappointing."
UNILAD has contacted WWE for comment.