TNA's lawsuit against the WWE

[Mack_Swagger]

TNA/Impact Wrestling is currently in a courtroom battle with the WWE claiming that the WWE has been in contact's with TNA wrestler's while under contract to TNA/IW about possibly signing with the WWE. Alex Shelly is one (former) TNA name. And there are others TNA claims. Various rumors come up about a mole.

But do you think that the WWE exposed TNA as far as politics? And this can all be just a way for TNA/IW to get even with the E. But TNA/IW has been doing the same thing for a few years now. But the claim on TNA/IW is that the WWE did it while TNA talent were still under contract.

So in your honest opinion. Does TNA/Impact Wrestling have a case? Or their just alot of butthurt?

[ProWrestlingFan]

Originally Posted by Mack_Swagger

TNA/Impact Wrestling is currently in a courtroom battle with the WWE claiming that the WWE has been in contact's with TNA wrestler's while under contract to TNA/IW about possibly signing with the WWE. Alex Shelly is one (former) TNA name. And there are others TNA claims. Various rumors come up about a mole.

But do you think that the WWE exposed TNA as far as politics? And this can all be just a way for TNA/IW to get even with the E. But TNA/IW has been doing the same thing for a few years now. But the claim on TNA/IW is that the WWE did it while TNA talent were still under contract.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/2552...flair-involved

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair attempted to terminate his TNA contract and did not show up for scheduled dates in May, and that the timing of this seems "suspect" as WWE allegedly waited three weeks to share the information with TNA of Wittenstein's actions and subsequent dismissal. You can read much more by clicking on the above link, however it's worth noting that this current litigation could prevent Flair or other former TNA stars from signing with WWE until the suit has been settled.

Source : Wrestlezone.com

So in your honest opinion. Does TNA/Impact Wrestling have a case? Or their just alot of butthurt?

I think this is a case of WWE fanboys (like you) being butthurt. Why do some of you guys hate TNA so much? WWE will only get better with competition as WWE is pathetic right now. Watch all Wrestling, stop being so pro-WWE or anti-TNA. Be a WRESTLING FAN.

[blockanWo]

Gee this sounds like a fair and unbiased question.

If you knew anything about the case and werent just looking for a rise youd know it wasnt simply about signing TNA talent. Its about securing inside information from that talent.

I honestly dont know if they have a case. I dont know enough about business law in the US. If nothing else, perhaps it forces both sides to have act with some integrity when signing new talent promoting a healthy competition.

[THTRobtaylor]

The issue is that a former TNA employee went to WWE with all the info on dates of contract expiry, info the WWE would not have had otherwise.

To WWE's side, they alerted TNA and fired the guy... but the lawsuit is based on the "delay" in doing so that TNA claims there was of a few days. Around the same kind of time Ric Flair, long known to be someone WWE wanted back started acting up and basically walked out. They felt he'd been "tapped up" as someone in WWE knew his contract was ending and Flair just wanted to speed the process up.

TNA has to prove that WWE used the information to influence it's talents. The best way I can equate it is football (soccer for many of you). If a player is under contract, a club has to get permission from his current club before offering him a contract, agree a transfer fee etc. IF for example the club's captain informally talks to the player and says "We'll give you x per week if you come" that is then called "tapping up" as he is being influenced outside proper channels. If the amount is more it's likely the player under contract will be disrupted enough to want the move, causing the employer to have to either match the offer, let him go or risk an unhappy player causing problems. There are pretty stiff penalties for this kind of thing and in business it's often the same, many companies have prohibitive clauses in their contracts so you can't just walk out to the competition. The only exception is that 6 months from the end of your deal you can talk to any interested club and sign a pre-deal... but if you want to leave before then a fee is still payable.

Unlike in football, contracts are not as "out there" in wrestling, most are confidental so if Flair goes to Vince and says, "my deal is up in 3 months", flair is breaching and can be sued. Sure sheets report this kind of thing but it's rare that the actual money/length details are out there unless it's wanted out there like Show's 10 year deal.

In this case, WWE appears to have done the right thing, they blew the whistle, fired the guy and have held off on any "advantage" they may have gotten from the information by not signing any TNA guys. That cannot go on forever or WWE or TNA talent could countersue that TNA with their "frivolous" lawsuit are distorting the market or restraining their trade. It happened in football and is why a player worth 100m in transfer fees can simply walk out for nothing and get paid all that money themselves once their contract runs out.

Realistically, TNA won't win anything major out of it other than making the point that they are "legit" competition in that they have talent WWE want. WWE will have to fight it as they are publicly traded and settling or being found guilty has ramifications. But there will come a point where TNA will "settle" and it'll probably be in the form of a talent deal, as they have ironically been doing with WWE since the lawsuit started. Realistically there are going to be some talents that TNA don't want to renew that WWE will want and vice versa, so I can imagine it ending up with Anderson or RVD back in WWE and a few lower level talents headed to TNA.

[SinCityBlitz]

Rob is right about every thing except "most are confidential so if Flair goes to Vince and says, "my deal is up in 3 months", flair is breaching and can be sued" that. That is not breach of contract unless it is written in the contract and it never is. Kevin Nash had a WCW contract while he was in his final weeks/months in WWF. It was okay because he went to Bischoff and not the other way around. Vince can get into trouble if anyone in the WWE went to a TNA talent and started talking contract.

He is 100% right in that TNA has to prove that the WWE did anything wrong. I think this case will wind up being settled because TNA can't get much if anything out of winning it. TNA's case would have been much better if they had waited until some talent actually signed with the WWE. I think they jumped the gun a little.

Originally Posted by ProWrestlingFan

So in your honest opinion. Does TNA/Impact Wrestling have a case? Or their just alot of butthurt?

I think this is a case of WWE fanboys (like you) being butthurt. Why do some of you guys hate TNA so much? WWE will only get better with competition as WWE is pathetic right now. Watch all Wrestling, stop being so pro-WWE or anti-TNA. Be a WRESTLING FAN.

This is kind of funny coming from an anti-WWE guy. Maybe you should take your own advice.

[Tripleb2k1]

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/2552...flair-involved

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair attempted to terminate his TNA contract and did not show up for scheduled dates in May, and that the timing of this seems "suspect" as WWE allegedly waited three weeks to share the information with TNA of Wittenstein's actions and subsequent dismissal. You can read much more by clicking on the above link, however it's worth noting that this current litigation could prevent Flair or other former TNA stars from signing with WWE until the suit has been settled.

Source : Wrestlezone.com

But in the said three weeks, it involve Laurinaitis bringing it to the attention of WWE HR & WWE Legal departments, then contacting head of TNA Talent Relations & TNA Legal departments. the thing is, how can you prove that WWE had used this info, let alone need it when WWE has spent decades of knowing when other company's talent's contracts were scheduled to expire

[MrPlatano1989]

I'm glad everyone responded with more brains than the author of the post. I once heard a story of Coca Cola contacting Pepsi the minute that someone tried to sell some of their secrets and upcoming plans. WWE took a while to contact TNA. I understand they were probably prepping their legal team and what not, but that is why TNA is upset. It also doesn't help that Ric Flair started neglecting his contract around the time of the accusations. The man in question was suppose to terminate all TNA documents that he had while under contract with TNA, he failed to do that and TNA is also suing him!

[kor420]

How i understood it is that TNA wasn't suing WWE, that they were suing the guy that gave wwe the documents and tna didn't want the wwe to destroy the documents so they would have a case against this guy.

Is that not what it was about?

[Azane]

This feels like Deja Vu, didn't something almost exactly the same happen like this a year ago?

I distinctly remember WWE getting insider information, and a failed lawsuit exactly like this.

[blockanWo]

Originally Posted by Azane

This feels like Deja Vu, didn't something almost exactly the same happen like this a year ago?

I distinctly remember WWE getting insider information, and a failed lawsuit exactly like this.

Its been going on for some time, probably the same incident.