Former Wrestlers Sue WWE

[enviousdominous]

According to this link, WWE Brain Injury Lawsuit, former wrestlers are suing the WWE due to cranial damage received while they were performing for the company.

The WWE's response to the allegations, as noted in the cited article, is this:

this is another ridiculous attempt by the same attorney who has previously filed class action lawsuits against WWE, both of which have been dismissed. A federal judge has already found that this lawyer made patently false allegations about WWE, and this is more of the same. We're confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate as his prior attempts and be dismissed.

So basically, no answer as to whether or not they've provided proper care for their employees.

The full list of names suing the WWE:

 

[SSJPhenom]

I feel for the WWE in this one. All that has to happen is one of them, just one of them have to prove that the WWE was aware of their concussion and either continued to let them perform or actually asked them to continue performing. Just one and the sad part about it is that it doesn't have to be VKM that knew about it or whatever. It could be some mid management guy and the WWE would still be liable. Fortunately for WWE, though, the burden of proof is not on them to make.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

A ridiculous suit, as Meltzer and Alvarez tore down this week on the Observer.

If you want to make a case for guys like Sylvain Grenier and Heidenreich, fine. But guys like Slick and Dave Hebner? Fuck off. Unless Pat Patterson was caving road agents' skulls in before episodes of Superstars, what basis do they have for their suit?

Also keeping in mind guys like Earl Hebner and Chavo Guerrero are still working today, the latter of whom is an agent for Lucha Underground and still does unprotected chair shots to the head on the show, despite being in a position to stop it, like WWE did about NINE years ago.

A lot of the guys on the list worked other places, with brief cups of coffee in WWE. To prove they sustained any meaningful damage under the auspices of WWE is going to be very difficult.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Is it a coincidence that none of those guys are required by WWE for padding out future Hall of Fame classes and nobody would care much if they appeared on an old school Raw? Largely they're just guys you'd remember if you watched them at the time and this could be their last opportunity to make some money.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't see a whole ton of credibility regarding this list. Guys like Slick and Earl Hebner suffered cranial trauma while working in WWE? Seriously? A manager and a referee? This whole thing feels like a scheme on the part of wrestlers and various over the hill personalities who were never major players in WWE to score a big payday.

The credibility of this case isn't helped by the fact that the attorney for this case was reamed out by a judge for untrue allegations in the past. This guy has tried to sue WWE a number of times in the past.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

If you are sympathetic to the former NFL players like Jim McMahon and Junior Seau you have to have some sympathy for these guys as well. None of us can deny WWE's schedule and old skool attitude of "losing your spot". Ignorance on WWE's part and the fact that these guys are independent contractors are only so much of a defense. It is reasonable for WWE to share in some of the damage for these guys. It is worth discussion and judgement.

 

[OYDK]

I mean, there is some basis to this if they can prove that WWE ignored these wrestlers' injuries and willingly sent them out to wrestle hurt while they were still with the company. I just think it's going to be ridiculously difficult to undoubtedly prove that and WWE's lawyers are going to have a field day with this.

Question. Is WWE still responsible for their talents' health even after said talent leaves the company? If not, this is a pretty flimsy argument no matter how many names they get to sign on for this.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

A ridiculous suit, as Meltzer and Alvarez tore down this week on the Observer.

If you want to make a case for guys like Sylvain Grenier and Heidenreich, fine. But guys like Slick and Dave Hebner? Fuck off. Unless Pat Patterson was caving road agents' skulls in before episodes of Superstars, what basis do they have for their suit?

Just wanted you to bear in mind that referee's and managers both take bumps as well. Depending on how willing the guy is, and how good they are, quite a few.

Remember the Hogan/Andre match on the Main Event with the evil Hebner twin angle? Remember the end where Hogan overthrows Earl over Dibiase and Virgil so they couldn't catch him? Earl came down pretty hard on that barely protected concrete floor? It wouldn't shock me one bit if he got a concussion from that angle, and was out on the road the very next night.

That is just how it went back then.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

According to this link, WWE Brain Injury Lawsuit, former wrestlers are suing the WWE due to cranial damage received while they were performing for the company.

The WWE's response to the allegations, as noted in the cited article, is this:



So basically, no answer as to whether or not they've provided proper care for their employees.

The full list of names suing the WWE:

The one thing that gets me with this is the number of guys who had barely any, or zero time spent working with the WWE.

Sabu - maybe worked briefly for WWE, but that was after years of extreme style wrestling across the globe for everyone but WWE
Axl Rotten - same deal. In his case, he even owned his own promotion where he had zero regard for his physical well being
Don Leo Jonathan - Would have never worked for Vince Jr, Capitol Sports, or anything associated with WWE today. Plus in his day, State Athletic Commissioner regulated wrestling and would have been responsible for him being allowed to compete
Rod Price - to the best of my knowledge, never even worked once for WWE as even an enhancement talent. The most I remember of him and WWE, is that at one time, there was talk of him coming in to work with Austin... and nothing ever came of it.
Larry Oliver - Worked the territories for decades, and I think maybe had a handful of enhancement matches with WWE in the late 80's. The closest of this list to having any type of a case

There are some legitimate cases on that list, but the ones I listed above should have never been included. They just drag everything down with the most dubious claims.

 

[enviousdominous]

The one thing that gets me with this is the number of guys who had barely any, or zero time spent working with the WWE.

That's one thing I have to give to the WWE as well. We all know that there was a time when concussions were shrugged off like petty annoyances, but when a guy like Slick is suing them I get a little suspicious. I don't recall Slick ever taking a hard bump.

There's also people like (rest his soul) Axl Rotten who were with the WWE for only about half a year. I have a hard time blaming the WWE for damage that was done to someone who was willing to take furniture staples to the forehead for a disreputable independent promotion.

I was snarky in my assessment of their response to the lawsuit, but I'd be pretty dumbfounded if I was a Titansports exec looking at the list of plantiffs.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

The only part I can agree with the wrestlers on is if WWE pushed wrestlers to compete when they were fully aware of said head injury, if that happened then any wrestler who WWE did that to has every right to be mad and should sue because WWE knowingly put that talent in a dangerous situation. There's this thing called personal responsibility though and if said talent didn't bother seeking treatment for a head injury or concealed a head injury from WWE because of fear of them losing their spot then I'm sorry but I just can't back you on this one, in that case they chose money over health and that's on them. You can get mad at WWE all you want about not saving spots because someone got injured but that's the nature of the beast, when Joe Montana had that long injury and had to sit on the sidelines he didn't just get his starting job back because Steve Young tore it up and took that spot away from him, it sucks but you can't blame the 49ers for doing that either. Same thing with wrestlers, it's a physical business, shit happens and if you get injured you can't expect WWE to keep your spot warm for you if/when you come back, at that point it all depends on whether someone else steps up and takes it away. Granted, I understand being mad because there was a time where your payment was dependent on your performance but once again that's something I'm sure they were aware of going in. I'm not going to argue that all this behaviour is right because it isn't, it's a situation where you're essentially a dancing monkey but that mentality ran rampant through pretty much every wrestling promotion until the 90's, it was the norm and it wasn't anything that was surprise.

Over the last 25 years the mentality has changed to where it's not the problem it was before, from my understanding talent get most of their medical bills paid by WWE, they do extensive testing to ensure their athletes are healthy and I believe they mostly get taken care of financially when they're on the shelf as well. Was the system fucked up back in the day? Yes but WWE has done a hell of alot to rectify that and they also have done alot to take care of a lot of those former talents that previously worked for them, the legends contract is a good example of that and for the most part those guys get paid for sitting on their ass.

I'm sure there are talents with legitimate claims to this but for the most part it's just a bunch of wrestlers looking for a quick payday all the while taking no responsibility for their actions.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Sorry, but you can't really compare something like Montana losing his starting job to Young due to injury with a 'sports entertainer' in a scripted environment losing their spot due to injury.

One is a legit, fluid, sanctioned environment, while the other is scripted and controlled.

Besides, Montana losing his job as starter, then the team either trades him to a team that does want him as starter, or he signs with a new team as soon as he's legally able to. In the meantime, Montana has a guaranteed contract that allows him financially to take the time he needs to heal properly.

A pro wrestler who gets hurt? His paychecks basically stop. Sure, most of these guys would have had their downside guarantees that meant they still got paid when hurt... but do you know what a standard downside was? A couple hundred bucks a week. If they weren't working, they weren't making a livable wage. And coupling that with working in a company endorsed environment of 'tough guys', taking time off because of a headache would have been career suicide. (remember for a lot of these guys, the dangers of CTE just weren't known). Plus losing their spot was a real thing. If you had a push, and had to step away from it because you were hurt, unless they had real big plans for you, you'd be lower on the card (making less money) when you came back.

No putting this on the performers is wrong. They should have been looked out for better, and they should have been protected from themselves. Maybe so many wouldn't be dying at such young ages otherwise.

Putting this solely on WWE when all of these guys either spent significant time working for other companies, or in some cases exclusively worked for other companies, is what's wrong.

The only way I see a legit argument against the WWE and McMahon himself, is that because McMahon was the one who lobbied for wrestling to be deregulated from the State Athletic Commissions, that he created an industry wide unsafe work environment as a result. If this lawyer goes that route, then he may have a chance with this. Although to be honest, I can't see McMahon ever settling, and he can easily keep this tied up indefinitely.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Actually I can because both instances people lost their spots during injury because there was someone that could replace him. I already covered the "they don't get paid when injured" part but once again that was agreed upon when they started wrestling, it's not like these guys got blindsided with that fact afterwards, it was a very well known thing when they went into wrestling and it was agreed upon. Also, we're talking about stuff that happened decades ago, it was roughly 20 years ago that these performers were getting taken care of when they were injure so you're essentially holding shit against WWE that's over 20 years old. Damn near every person on that list spent significant time outside of WWE, they aren't going after them so it's obvious they just want a quick payday.

Sorry but this whole "WWE didn't do this for their talents 20 years ago" argument is bullshit, especially since you're describing every promotion back then not named WCW, you go back 30 years and you just described every promotion ever . I'm not saying what happened to them was right but it was how it was back then, it was well known and agreed upon, and today WWE is spending millions taking care of former talent, guys like Orndorff still get paid by WWE to this day. They're trying to right the wrongs of the past and they're doing alot to take care of these issues.

They chose to be dancing monkeys, no one made them be dancing monkeys and they did it because they thought they can get rich, Vince made alot of them rich but they were independent contractors back then. I worked as an independent contractor and it was no secret I had to save money and be smart, these guys weren't. I may take them more seriously if they put lawsuits against guys like Jim Crockett and Bill Watts but they didn't so it's pretty damn obvious what this lawsuit is about.

 

[Navdeep]

Sabu seriously, this guy always kills himself in other organizations and is blaming WWE.

 

[Rayne]

If you are wondering why these performers sued the WWE and not the several other organizations they also performed for, it's because there is absolutely no sense in suing either A) a defunct promotion which was headed by a now either dead or penniless person, or B) a promotion without significant money to recoup.

The thing about civil suits the "but they didn't perform the whole time for WWE" is overlooking is that they are not yes/no affairs. A civil jury (or judge) is allowed to find that party A was 20 percent responsible, party B was 30 percent responsible, and party C was 50 percent responsible. Why are they suing WWE? I don't see any spectacularly wealthy men on that list, but I do see a lot of men of the age where they need expensive medical care, due to their time in professional wrestling. And I don't know of any professional wrestling organization besides the WWE that there would be any point in suing right now, unless you wanted a big lawyer's bill and a debt you'd never be able to collect.

 

[stingray11214]

Look, Stamford is getting sued because they have the deepest pockets. Period. End of discussion. If RoH or TNA had WWE's pockets, they would have been sued as well. Didn't Heidenreich play in the NFL? The Hebners were refs. Sabu is a drug addicted POS who has screwed over promotions, and STILL does the same shit that doctors have REPEATEDLY told him to stop doing. Mark Jindrak aka Marco Corleone? Are you f-ing kidding me? He has been in Mexico for eons. Good grief! This is nothing more than a nuisance suit. A fly on VKMs shoulder.

 

[HatchetMan84]

I lost A LOT of respect for some of these guys on here. It is evident what is going on, at least to me. They are PISS broke, can't go do anything else, so they want to sue Vince to get money.

Sabu might be the best example. He took at least one chair to the skull for 300 days a year, but he says now he "didnt know" the risk of brain injury. And he is still wrestling today, doing the same spots, etc...

 

[LBGetBack]

I lost A LOT of respect for some of these guys on here. It is evident what is going on, at least to me. They are PISS broke, can't go do anything else, so they want to sue Vince to get money.

Sabu might be the best example. He took at least one chair to the skull for 300 days a year, but he says now he "didnt know" the risk of brain injury. And he is still wrestling today, doing the same spots, etc...

Right? And how long was Sabu even in the WWE? Less than a year? I think it's safe to say his brains were scrambled in the many years he spent in ECW doing crazy stuff much more so than they were in his brief WWE tenure.