WWE chairman Vince McMahon is facing a massive headache today after being served notice than more than 50 retired professional wrestlers have joined forces to pursue a legal claim against the company for what they say is an 'exploitative business model' which has led to many of the former performers suffering from debilitating brain injuries.
.@WWE was sued on Monday by Jimmy Snuka and dozens of other retired wrestlers over neurological injuries https://t.co/fBrCStMWxz
— GMA News (@gmanews) July 19, 2016
Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka, Paul 'Mr. Wonderful' Orndorff and Joe 'Road Warrior Animal' Laurenaitis are three of the former wrestling superstars making the claim against McMahon and the WWE. They accuse McMahon of deliberately classifying his performers as independent contractors instead of employees to avoid having to pay the type of benefits that full-time employees would be entitled to.
The complaint says:
WWE placed corporate gain over its wrestlers' health, safety and financial security, choosing to leave the plaintiffs severely injured and with no recourse to treat their damaged bodies and minds.
WWE, as you might expect, will fight this lawsuit vigorously. The lawyer representing the former wrestlers has previously pursued two separate actions against the WWE - both of which ended in failure. In a statement, WWE said that they were confident that this new suit would "suffer the same fate".
The claim itself accuses the company of not disclosing the risks that their performers were putting themselves in while in the ring. In the claim Snuka, Laurenaitis and Orndorff claim that their health has been severely compromised as a result of their years performing for WWE and they suffer from headaches, memory loss, depression and mood swings.
In an unrelated case, Jimmy Snuka was deemed "unfit for trial" due to his mental lapses earlier this year after he was suspected of murdering his girlfriend in 1983.
