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More Wrestlers Sue WWE Over Injuries And Possible Brain Damage

Submitted By Caroline Walsh on 04/10/15
TMZ reports that WWE’s lawyer Jerry McDevitt (their outside counsel from K&L Gates) has responded to the recent lawsuit from McCullough, Sakoda and Reigns. He said the three only wrestled for a short time and are “being targeted by attorneys who tell them there’s hundreds of thousands of dollars they can make by joining a class action suit like this.”

He added: “We know these claims are fraudulent, and will fight them.”

He said other wrestlers have been approached to join the lawsuit and think it’s a scam. He thinks the suit will spend more time talking about Chris Benoit and wrestlers other than the ones who are suing.

He said: “It’s sensational, but if you really look at … what was done specifically to them? There are almost no details as to what they actually suffered as a result of working with WWE.”

He said no WWE wrestlers complained they suffered brain damage or dementia before lawyers began to contact them. He added that the WWE will win the legal battle.

UPDATE: PWInsider has more details about the lawsuit filed against WWE by Ryan Sakoda, Luther Reigns and Russ McCullough. It was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. All three are residents of the state. The 47 page filing is nearly word for word the same lawsuit filed by others against the WWE.

MuCullough claims he was knocked unconscious during a live event in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was hit with fifteen chairshots after that and WWE medical staff didn’t interfere. He said when he tried to report it, WWE claimed it was “not our problem”. He said he suffers “from numerous symptoms including but not limited to headaches, severe migraines memory loss, and severe depression and panic attacks which have required over forty emergency room visits since he retired.”

Sakoda said that the WWE is run by “intimidation and abuse”. He said that the WWE ignoring his health and safety were ignored and he was left traumatized. He said he and others were “forced to wrestle injured or you lost your job.” Sakoda claims that concussions weren’t treated or discussed. After being knocked out by a superkick in 2003 and having a concussion, medical staff told him not to go to sleep or he may die. They didn’t do anything else. He said he has “numerous symptoms including but not limited to headaches, severe migraines, memory loss and severe depression.”

Reigns said there was a “code of silence” about head injuries and he had several untreated concussions and injuries in the company. He said he was knocked out by Big Show and while he vomited after, there was no treatment. He’s had a stroke in the past and said that he “suffers from post-concussion symptoms including but not limited to severe fatigue, dizziness, and severe short and long term memory loss. Mr. Wiese is unable to remember much of his life.”

They are looking for a jury trial.

Original: TMZ reports that Big Russ McCullough and Luther Reigns are suing the WWE on behalf of current and former wrestlers who have had brain damage and other injuries due to “egregious mistreatment” by the company. They say that WWE has known for years that in-ring action results in dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and more.

They claim WWE, “under the guise of providing ‘entertainment’ …. has for decades subjected its wrestlers to extreme physical brutality.” They mention that wrestling is scripted but still hard on the performers. The suit said that “WWE is in the business of selling violence.”

They mentioned several matches in which wrestlers were beat up. This includes the 2014 Royal Rumble, in which one wrestler “demolished another with a series of brutal steel chair attacks” due to “the carnage created by the match’s victor.” It said that the goal of WWE is to create “heat” through violence with various props like chairs, ladders and tables. It also mentions moves like the Brain Buster, Bulldog, Cobra Clutch Slam, Facebreaker, Jawbreaker and Powerslam. The suit mentions chair shots to the head, which were banned in 2010.

The suit stated: “The WWE coerces its wrestlers to work while they are injured by, among other methods, threatening to strip them of their position within the organization if they refuse.” It says wrestlers are “universally encouraged to ‘wrestle through the pain.'”

The lawsuit Chris Benoit, who was “routinely hit in the head with a chair”. When Benoit was autopsied after his death, a doctor said his brain was so damaged from CTE that it “resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.”

The wrestlers want an injunction to stop WWE from forcing its wrestlers to hurt themselves. They are also seeking damages.

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