TMZ reports that three former WWE talents have sued WWE on behalf of all current and former wrestlers who have suffered brain and other damage as a result of “egregious mistreatment” by the organization – Luke Reigns, Ryan Sakoda and Big Russ McCullough.
The lawsuit claims WWE “under the guise of providing ‘entertainment’… has for decades subjected its wrestlers to extreme physical brutality.” They say WWE has known for years that in-ring work they do has resulted in dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments. The suit claims WWE is in the business of “selling violence.”
The legal docs chronicle various matches in which wrestlers were destroyed. It mentions the 2014 Royal Rumble, in which one wrestler “demolished another with a series of brutal steel chair attacks.” and the doc refer to “the carnage created by the match’s victor.”
The suit claims, “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 thy refuse.” It says they are “universally encouraged to ‘wrestle through the pain.'”
The lawsuit also mentions Chris Benoit, who was “routinely hit in the head with a chair.” Benoit who killed his wife and son along with himself, was autopsied after his death. A doctor concluded that his brain was so damaged from CTE, it “resembled the brain of a an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.”
The suit is asking for damage and an injunction that could prohibit WW from subjecting its wrestlers to the physical punishment that is claimed in the suit.
Reigns was signed to WWE from 2003 until 2004 but worked WCW and the indies from 1997. He wrestled until 2006 and suffered a stroke. Sakoda was signed from 2003 until 2004 and was paired with Jimmy Wang Yang on the main roster. McCullough worked in developmental and was released in 2001, never making the main roster.
Source: TMZ and WrestlingINC.com
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