Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted July 18, 2016 Paid Members Posted July 18, 2016 Now I expect this to go nowhere, as they usually dont, but its always fun to see the list of people who will be on WWE's black list. Animal and Orndorff are the big surprises. NEW LAWSUIT BY HUGE NAMES FROM THE PAST FILED AGAINST WWE AND THIS ONE MENTIONS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR STATUS By Dave Scherer on 2016-07-18 18:22:00 A class action lawsuit against WWE was filed by a number of former professional wrestlers today, including lead plaintiff Joseph "Road Warrior Animal" Laurinaitis, in the Federal Court in New Haven, CT alleging that the company hid their knowledge of medical conditions, such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, from the wrestlers because the then WWF "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 minds and bodies."  This follows similar lawsuits filed against the NFL and NHL. A large number of former wrestlers, including King Kong Bundy, Jimmy Snuka, Paul Orndorff, Sabu, Ahmed Johnson (think about that irony) and more are suing WWE.  I will have a list of the plaintiffs below. The suit alleges that WWE (then WWF) "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 minds and bodies."  The suit also alleges that 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 minds and bodies." It should be noted that conditions such as CTE, or even the depth of the damage that standards concussions inflict, weren't known when most, if not all, of these people wrestled.  Where the suit gets interesting is this claim: Despite WWE’s ironclad control over the Plaintiffs, WWE refused and continues to refuse to classify its wrestlers as employees. WWE maintains the untenable position its wrestlers are independent contractors, requiring its wrestlers to sign unconscionable “Booking Contracts,” employment contracts of adhesion intended solely for the benefit of WWE and VKM.  These contracts were drafted by WWE and its army of attorneys to restrict and abolish all of Plaintiffs’ rights and to fraudulently misrepresent and deceive both Plaintiffs and the federal government. The misclassification of wrestler-employees as “independent contractors” effectively eliminated WWE’s wrestlers’ knowledge of any employment rights they had under federal and state law, including OSHA, FMLA, and the NLR Act. The Booking Contracts are nothing more than an unconscionable scheme to save money in violation of public policy and the legal rights of So this lawsuit is bringing the independent contractor status into play. Here is the list of plaintiffs in the case of Joseph M. Laurinaitis v. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. JOSEPH M. LAURINAITIS, a.k.a. | Road Warrior Animal JIMMY “SUPERFLY” SNUKA, by and through |his guardian, Carole Snuka PAUL ORDNDORFF, a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful SALAVADOR GUERRERO IV, a.k.a. Chavo | Guerrero, Jr. CHAVO GUERRERO, SR., a.k.a. Chavo Classic BRYAN EMMETT CLARK, JR., a.k.a. Adam Bomb ANTHONY NORRIS, a.k.a. Ahmed Johnson JAMES HARRIS, a.k.a. Kamala DAVE HEBNER EARL HEBNER CHRIS PALLIES, a.k.a. King Kong Bundy KEN PATERA TERRY MICHAEL BRUNK, a.k.a. Sabu BARRY DARSOW, a.k.a. Smash BILL EADIE a.k.a. Ax JOHN NORD, a.k.a. The Bezerker JONATHAN HUGGER a.k.a. Johnny The Bull JAMES BRUNZELL, a.k.a. Jumpin’ Jim SUSAN GREEN, a.k.a. Sue Green ANGELO MOSCA, a.k.a. King Kong Mosca JAMES MANLEY, a.k.a. Jim Powers MICHAEL “MIKE” ENOS" BRUCE “BUTCH” REED, a.k.a. The Natural CARLENE B. MOORE-BEGNAUD, a.k.a. Jazz SYLVAIN GRENIER OMAR MIJARES a.k.a. Omar Atlas DON LEO HEATON, a.k.a. Don Leo Jonathan TROY MARTIN, a.k.a. Shane Douglas MARC COPANI, a.k.a. Muhammad Hassan MARK CANTERBURY, a.k.a. Henry Godwin VICTORIA OTIS, a.k.a. Princess Victoria| JUDY HARDEE a.k.a. Judy Martin, MARK JINDRAK BERNARD KNIGHTON as Personal Representative of the Brian Knighton, a.k.a. Axl Rotten, Estate, MARTY JANNETTY JON HEIDENREICH TERRY SZOPINSKI, a.k.a. The Warlord SIONE HAVEA VAILAHI, a.k.a. The Barbarian LARRY OLIVER, a.k.a. The Crippler BOBBI BILLIARD TIMOTHY SMITH, a.k.a. Rex King TRACY SMOTHERS, a.k.a. Freddie Joe Floyd MICHAEL R HALAC, a.k.a. Mantaur RICK JONES, a.k.a. Black Bart KEN JOHNSON, a.k.a. Slick GEORGE GRAY, a.k.a. One Man Gang FERRIN JESSE BARR, a.k.a. JJ Funk LOU MARCONI ROD PRICE DONALD DRIGGERS RODNEY BEGNAUD, a.k.a. Rodney Mack RONALD SCOTT HEARD, a.k.a. Outlaw Ron Bass BORIS ZHUKOV
Moderators PowerButchi Posted July 18, 2016 Moderators Posted July 18, 2016 Don Leo Jonathan's still alive? Wow, I thought we was well in the ground. Fair fucks to him.
Paid Members DCW Posted July 19, 2016 Paid Members Posted July 19, 2016 Rodney Mack married Jacqueline? She was about 50 when he debuted. Â Interesting to see how this plays out, I'd imagine Vince's high dollar team of lawyers will win the day eventually.
The Dart Posted July 19, 2016 Posted July 19, 2016 You mean Jazz? Â Jazz and Mack are roughly the same age. Â Jacqueline's only 10 years older than Jazz anyway.
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted July 19, 2016 Paid Members Posted July 19, 2016 Bang goes the Power Of Pain reunion. FFS lads.
Paid Members FLips Posted July 19, 2016 Paid Members Posted July 19, 2016 That's a list and a half. Helps to weed out who won't appear in the new brand split though.
Awards Moderator Onyx2 Posted July 19, 2016 Awards Moderator Posted July 19, 2016 Don Leo Jonathan's still alive? Wow, I thought we was well in the ground. Fair fucks to him. I thought exactly the same! Could've sworn he died in the 80s.  Good roster that. They could start up ECW, Encephalitic Championship Wrestling /carbomb  How likely is it this will go through? Will this finally be the thing to blow up the 'independent contractor' screwiness?
Moderators Astro Hollywood Posted July 19, 2016 Moderators Posted July 19, 2016 Sabu was a picture of health before he signed with WWE. Barely taken a bump.
WyattSheepMask Posted July 19, 2016 Posted July 19, 2016 Surely this will just go away like when Raven, Mike Sanders and others tried to do the a few years back. Same goes for that concussion lawsuit
FUM Posted July 19, 2016 Posted July 19, 2016 This independent contractors thing has to eventually change at some point eh? Surely some sort of law about not allowing them to work elsewhere therefore limiting their earnings or something will come into play?
bobby dazzler Posted July 19, 2016 Posted July 19, 2016 Jimmy Snuka. What an ingrate! After that "spot of bother" Vince got him out of!
Paid Members unfitfinlay Posted July 19, 2016 Paid Members Posted July 19, 2016 Some of those names are crazy. Did Axl Rotten's WWE career go beyond some jobber appearances and a few weeks in ECW? I don't remember Rod Price or Black Bart exactly having long, damaging WWF careers either. Bobbi Billard might've had a case since she *apparently* got forced to train with a broken neck but that was at least a decade ago and had nothing to do with concussions. Â I've got sympathy for some of them. I've had three concussions in a year and its caused me some major problems. Fuck knows what Sabu must be like. I can totally understand them looking at the money that the NFL is shelling out and going "I'll have some of that". Especially since they aren't going to get rehired anytime soon, and some of them don't exactly have much to lose. Â My guess is that it'll either get chucked out of court or WWE will stall them until they run out of money. Animal's probably loaded, like, but I doubt he's going to be happy to pay, say, Marty Jannetty's share of the legal fees for very long.
Jon-Carr_92 Posted July 19, 2016 Posted July 19, 2016 Doesn't some of that list make you think of the Where Are They Now? Threads we get for some British guys now and then? A few of those names is the first I've heard from some for a bit.
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