AEW Fan, Security Guard Exchange Punches In Wild Scene At Wrestling Event

There was action both inside the ring and outside of it at Sunday night's AEW event in Chicago ... as a fan and a security guard got into a wild fistfight in the stands.

The scene went down at some point during the AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door Pay-per-view at the United Center, when multiple guards tried to pull a fan from his seat.

It's unclear exactly what the man allegedly did to get the boot from arena staffers ... but you can see in video, he was not willing to go quietly.

It took multiple security guards to rip him from his chair ... but even as they got him up the stairs -- he pulled away from the guards' grasp, and started throwing punches!

The stadium official on the receiving end of the blows didn't take the haymakers kindly -- and returned fire with several fists of his own.

Eventually, staffers appeared to corral the man and take him from the scene.