MLB suspends Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe for WWE-style celebration
Major League Baseball has imposed penalties on Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Abner Uribe for a wrestling-inspired gesture, drawing criticism from team management and prompting an immediate appeal.
Major League Baseball has suspended Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Abner Uribe for one game and fined him an undisclosed amount following a celebration deemed inappropriate by the league. The penalty was officially announced on Friday evening, stemming from an incident during the Brewers’ 6-0 shutout victory over the St Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, 27 May 2026.
The suspension follows Uribe’s performance of a “crotch-chop” gesture towards the Cardinals dugout after recording an inning-ending strikeout against first baseman Alec Burleson in the eighth inning. The motion is widely recognised as the signature celebration of the professional wrestling stable D-Generation X, which popularised the move during the late 1990s.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy publicly condemned the action during the postgame press conference, describing the celebration as unacceptable. Murphy’s criticism highlighted the tension between player expression and institutional standards within the club, particularly given the gesture’s direct address to the opposing team’s dugout.
Uribe, a fourth-year pitcher who has made 21 appearances for Milwaukee during the 2026 season, has filed an appeal against the ruling. Consequently, the one-game suspension and the financial penalty are currently on hold while the appeal process is underway. The final determination regarding the validity of the penalty remains pending.
While similar celebrations have been observed in other sports, such as by NBA player Joel Embiid, the specific motion is historically tied to the WWE’s Attitude Era. D-Generation X, originally formed in 1997 with members including Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Chyna, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019 for its cultural impact.
The incident underscores MLB’s ongoing enforcement of conduct policies regarding on-field celebrations. Although the league has a history of penalising players for unsportsmanlike behaviour, the specific application of these rules to wrestling-inspired gestures remains a point of contention among fans and analysts.
