WWE referee Daphanie LaShaun just clapped back hard after a fan publicly blamed her for not responding during the match where Elton Prince suffered a serious neck injury that ultimately led to surgery.
On January 17, 2026, a fan on Twitter revived the conversation around Princes in-ring accident from May 2, 2025, where he took a bad bump during a SmackDown tag match against Axiom and Nathan Frazer. The fan singled out LaShaunwho officiated the matchand accused her of botching counts and failing to check on Prince when he was clearly hurt, demanding she get fired.
LaShaun responded with a GIF laughing at the tweetsparking an even more heated reaction from the fan, who doubled down:
Thats when LaShaun fired back with a sharp retort, making it clear that she couldnt care less what the fan had to say and that he was completely wrong, saying, I truly admire your consistency to be loud and wrong.
This comes after Elton Prince broke his silence on January 9 about the neck injury thats kept him off WWE TV for over seven months. In a detailed Instagram post, Prince revealed that he underwent a two-level neck fusion surgery after a terrifying in-ring moment in May 2025.
While Prince never publicly blamed anyone for the incident, the fans comments have brought the role of referees in real-time injury response back into the limelightand LaShauns unapologetic response made it clear shes not tolerating misdirected blame.
The road back for Elton Prince is a tough onebut the conversation around in-ring safety and referee responsibility is now louder than ever. Whether justified or not, Daphanie LaShaun isnt backing down from the heat.
Do you think fans are right to call out referees in situations like this? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
