It’s not a secret that Gawker’s future is at stake in their legal battle with Hulk Hogan. Hogan is suing for $100 million in light of Gawker publishing excerpts of a sex video that was shot without his knowledge, and a judgment of anywhere close to that size could mean the end of the company or bringing on outside financing. Even though legal experts believe that Gawker would win on appeal if they lost at trial, Florida law requires posting a bond amounting to the award plus interest if you’re appealing the figure.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that International Business Times reported today that Gawker is calling for an “extraordinary general meeting” this Thursday to approve a new class of shares in the company that would be sold to raise money. Citing their editorial independence, founder Nick Denton had never sought any outside funding before, but the game has changed thanks to the lawsuit.
With the Hulk Hogan trial beginning in early March, Gawker Media is fortifying its finances to ensure full resources are in place for the continued cost of litigation. Gawker Media is the most heavily trafficked digital media company that has not raised institutional funding and continues to grow at double-digit rates, with significant untapped opportunity across its seven core brands. Until now, Gawker Media has been funding the Hulk Hogan legal expenses from general revenues and given the expenses of continuing to defend our First Amendment rights, the management of Gawker Media has concluded that additional financing should be locked in before the trial begins.
Gawker refused to provide further comment, but the Wall Street Journal is reporting that “person familiar with the situation” told them that “the process of securing outside funds has reached an advanced stage.”
WALB TV in Albany, Georgia is reporting that the WWE house show a week from Friday (January 29th) in Albany has been cancelled. Building officials at the Albany Civic Center told WALB that WWE cancelled the show to give the talent a day off (presumably because they’ll be coming off one of the biggest pay-per-view events of the year) and that there were no issues with ticket sales. While the Civic Center is working with WWE to reschedule, there’s no date set yet and ticket holders are being refunded at the point of purchase. This would have been WWE’s first live event in Albany since 2012.
Civic Center director Joel Holmes told WALB that they have other family-oriented sporting/sports entertainment events coming up for those who are disappointed with the cancellation. “[Arena football will] start in March. We also have Harlem Globetrotters coming in February so another family event. Here in the next couple months, we’ve got several events coming up that we feel will be good activities for the family.”
One of the biggest ongoing pro wrestling stories of the last two years may finally be coming to a head this week. PWInsider.com’s Mike Johnson is reporting that Bryan Danielson, best known by his WWE name of Daniel Bryan, will be heading to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this week, presumably to visit Dr. Joseph Maroon. Bryan is appearing at the World of Wheels convention in Pittsburgh this weekend, so it’s not clear how much of what Johnson is saying is speculation vs. hinting at something he can’t say outright. Seth Rollins was the originally scheduled WWE guest for the convention and the change was made fairly late (WrestlingInc.com’s Raj Giri reported it just eight days ago on January 11th), so this could be a situation of “killing two birds with one stone.” That’s entirely speculative, though.
Maroon, who’s based in the city, heads WWE’s Talent Wellness Program, and when prospective WWE talent gets medical testing done, it’s done in Pittsburgh.Danielson has been out of action since early last spring, when he was sidelined with a concussion. Since then, while he’s been cleared by his own neurologist, who was the neurologist for last year’s Super Bowl, as being good to wrestle. Reportedly, Maroon is concerned that he’s suffered too many concussions over the course of his career to clear him.
Danielson has, at bare minimum, suffered seven diagnosed concussions during his career. That’s going by his book and other public reports. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer recently pegged the number as ten diagnosed concussions, but the number is likely more if you include undiagnosed trauma. While probably the most well-adjusted human being in the business outside of the ring, Danielson is a risk taker in his matches and has a bit of an obsessive streak about being able to wrestle.
When he was out of action in 2014 from neck and elbow injuries that caused weakness in his arm, he started learning every kind of pro wrestling and grappling move that he could do one-armed. He figured that he could get cleared and change his style to be “that wrestler who’s able to be great only using one arm.” Most famously, he lost his temper for the only time in his whole career to scream at Triple H for stopping a 2013 Randy Orton match he was set to win cleanly because he suffered a stinger. It’s not entirely unreasonable for WWE to feel the need to protect Danielson from himself.
There’s also the issue of the lawsuits against WWE alleging that WWE hid the dangers of head trauma among other things. These lawsuits are still ongoing, and the plaintiffs got a major victory last week when, in one of the cases, the judge lifted a stay that barred discovery, or WWE having to produce documents. That means that the lawsuits aren’t going away for at least a little while, and if that’s a factor, then I wouldn’t expect Danielson to be cleared as long as the cases are outstanding.
It looks like one of the more pleasantly surprising storylines from WWE in 2015 is going to be continuing. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson is reporting that this Saturday at the Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in Secacus, New Jersey, WWE has plans to send a crew to shoot video of a confrontation between Stardust and Arrow star Stephen Amell. It would seem as if there are now plans to do a singles match between them, and since it’s a celebrity match, you have to wonder if it’s earmarked for WrestleMania 32 in Dallas, Texas.
Amell and Stardust had a brief feud last year culminating in a tag team match at SummerSlam, where Amell and Neville defeated Stardust and King Barrett. Amell showed pretty impressive athleticism in his appearances, even hitting a big dive off the top rope to the floor at SummerSlam, and generally got high marks from fans for his performances. However, he was clearly being protected by the tag match booking at SummerSlam and a singles match is a much taller order for a non-wrestler.
Deadline and Variety are reporting that Sony Pictures Television is teaming up with Mexican TV broadcast giant Televisa based on the life of lucha libre legend Blue Demon. Demon was a gigantic star in his heyday, going into movies like, El Santo who he’s just behind when it comes to his place among the biggest names in the history of pro wrestling in Mexico. The series will follow him from his childhood as Alejandro Muñoz Moreno in Nuevo Leon, where he dreamed of living a life bigger than anything he could achieve in his hometown.
Angelica Guerra, senior vice president and managing director, production, Latin America and U.S. Hispanic for Sony Pictures Television, said that “There is a growing demand in the region for stories about real people and events, a trend which started in Colombia and has now made its way to Mexico. Blue Demon will offer audiences an intimate look at one of Luche Libre’s greatest legends, exploring a complex and turbulent world that very few knew about.”
Sean Morley, best known for his WWE run as Val Venis, was the latest guest on the increasingly prolific Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. In the last few years, Morley has become an advocate for the legalization of cannabis, even taking up the alter ego of “Kaptain Kannabis,” so that was one of many topics covered in the interview. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Using Medical Marijuana In Light Of his Friends Dying From Pain Meds:
“I was still taking pharmaceutical drugs and was always on pain pills and every time I got injured, whether it was my elbows, my neck, my shoulder I would always go back to what the doctor would prescribe me and that was anti inflammatories and still my friends were dying from it. As time went on I started to notice that we have been lied to about this plan and my friends are dying left, right and center from big pharmaceutical pills and I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was when one of my best friends, Andrew “Test” Martin passed away from pharmaceutical pain meds.
That’s when I said okay enough is enough and that’s when I really took a stand, came off the pills and I didn’t have to go to rehab. My body was addicted to the pills and did have to go through two weeks of horrible withdrawals. But the second week of those withdrawals I started utilizing marijuana on the advice of a friend. It didn’t get rid of the sickness of the withdrawals but what it did was make the withdraws bearable. It made it easy to just wait out the withdrawals and when I came out on the other end I never looked back and that was in 2008.”
How WWE’s Talent Wellness Program Handles Marijuana vs. Prescription Narcotic Painkillers:
“To me it’s not a stringent Wellness Policy at all. I could drive a Mack Truck through their Wellness Policy. The reality of the situation is I was on those pills and I was testing positive for those pills yet I passed my drug test every single time. The reason I passed my drug test every single time was because as soon as I’d test positive for Hydrocodone, Dr. Black from [Aegis Sciences] who is the main Doctor at the testing facility would call me up and ask for a valid prescription for Hydrocodone pills. I would send him a valid prescription and two weeks later I would get a letter in the mail saying CONGRATULATIONS you passed your wellness exam.
The fact that you have a valid prescription for these pills doesn’t change the fact that people get addicted to them and die. Test had a prescription for them. Almost every wrestler has had a prescription for them. They don’t test for it, they say they test for the quantity of hydrocodone in your system. That’s bullsh*t, they don’t test for the quantity they test for the presence. Even though you may have a prescription for 90 (pills) you may have 1000 sitting in your house right now. The testing policy is a step in the right direction, but still we are allowing WWE talent to utilize Heroin in a pill, yet we will fine them $2,500 every time they test positive for THC.”
Why WWE Fines Talent For Using Marijuana:
“What they tell me is that they have to fine guys for pot because they are a corporation and they have to follow federal law. But what their actions are telling me is that WWE thinks it’s more important to follow federal law than the health and well being of it’s talent and that is a sad situation. Is it WWE’s fault? Probably not. I think the federal government has a huge hand in this. The federal government has to take a step forward and change the policy in regards to cannabis prohibition.
However, that being said, WWE is like the NFL and who is starting to explore the usage of marijuana as medical for the NFL players and I was hoping that WWE would stand up and take the lead on that. It’s WWE that’s lost more talent with these pills and it’s one of those things that WWE could easily stand up and say we understand cannabis is against Federal Law, however we’ve lost a lot of athletes to these big pharmaceutical drugs and if athletes want to use cannabis we are not going to punish them for it.”
On people in the pro wrestling business rejecting the movie:
I do find it funny and as I was listening to your intro that it’s stuff they didn’t want you to see and after the movie they showed everything and went much further than I would go in showing stuff. I don’t know what I brought is a good thing or a bad thing. People would go; “It’s fake” and I’d say well it’s predetermined but the fans know that and it’s a suspension of disbelief. Wrestling fans are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. I go to watch an Action movie or a James Bond movie and I know a car can’t fly off a building and someones survives but I suspend my [dis]belief so I can enjoy it. I know that a lot of what I am seeing is planned, pre determined and everything but I know how much these guys get hurt and also the psychological implications of pretending to be somebody you are not and sometimes becoming that person.
Seeing “the real Vince McMahon” and Vince turning on the movie:
We were done shooting and the cameras had gone away, we were shooting in Sacramento and it was at a RAW taping and Vince came back and it was after he started his feud with Steve Austin and had been beaten up. He was battered and they were taking down the ring and he had a beer and was wearing a sweatshirt and he said “I LOVE this business”. That’s the Vince that I wanted to capture on camera because he does love this business. He has an incredible passion for it and I think Vince is great.
When the movie came out Vince had called me a couple months before and said this is nothing personal, I like you but I am going to do everything to stop this movie from being seen. It was simply because he wanted a piece of the movie and Universal didn’t want to give him a piece of the movie. He hated that a film company was profiting off his characters he created and I understood that and he kept saying he didn’t care and I could make as much money as I want and I said Vince you can say whatever you want and I’ll come back at you and none of it is personal.
Scouting for which younger wrestlers to feature:
I knew Droz’s history before hand. I was given a bunch of wrestlers and I said I wanted to follow a young wrestler as he was given his break. I was given him (Droz), Matt Bloom, who is now a trainer at NXT, and Edge. I remember talking to Edge and he was uncomfortable with being in it. People who were uncomfortable and I would always tell the wrestlers if you don’t want to be in it please tell me and I am not going to put you in it and Darren seemed the most comfortable.
Did I expect Vince to ask him to show up and throw up, NO. Was I surprised? No, because Vince is a performer. Like most actors who are performers you have a hard time telling the difference and the showman in him made him want to teach him to throw up. Sometimes I say, I should have gone with Edge but he was uncomfortable and I don’t know how good he would have been on camera at that point.
On still watching WWE in 2016:
Wrestling is this weird hybrid of entertainment and athleticism and that’s why I really like it. I still watch it, still watch it avidly and most of the time I can’t believe I am watching it and I can’t believe I like it but there is that 10% of me that says I can’t believe everyone doesn’t see what I see in this. I was watching RAW the other week that Vince came back to confront Roman Reigns and I thought this is great and he is such a great hammy performer. How do people not love this?
I think they lost a lot of people to the Network. People feel like it’s not that important to watch RAW. But every TV show has gone down and down and down. With internet, video games and all different sources of communication I don’t know if the wrestling ratings have gone down more proportionally compared to other TV shows proportionally. When I started at Saturday Night Live if we had the ratings that the show has now we would have been cancelled. You can’t judge (ratings) on what they were ten years ago because it’s changed and the different media available to watch is just so much more.
His thoughts on WWE Breaking Ground on WWE Network:
I like that show but it’s very reality show-ish for my taste and is a little too life and death and William Shatner.
In light of recent speculation that WWE might be desperate enough to bring him back for WrestleMania 32, fans have been asking Hulk Hogan about a potential WWE return. This morning, he replied to several tweets to shut that down, not only saying that he wasn’t in talks with WWE, but that he hadn’t spoken to anyone there since he was fired in July:
@marvin_massey sorry Marvin but I don't work for@WWE anymore and I have not had a conversation with anyone about WM,I'll be there inSpiritHH
Hogan was released back in July when The National Enquirer release transcripts of racist comments that he made while secretly being filmed in 2007 sexual encounter. Hogan has alleged that Gawker, who he sued for publishing excerpts from another sex video, leaked the comments, but Gawker claims they didn’t have access to everything that the Enquirer published. This past week, Gawker unsuccessfully tried to get the case dismissed on the grounds that Hogan had defrauded the court various things, including that his emotional distress was over the potential release of the racist comments and not video of him having sex.
As we noted earlier in the week, it was reported by Dave Meltzer that Rusev had tweaked his knee at the Bossier City house show a week ago. Rusev then proceeded to head to Twitter and deny that he had injured his knee in any way:
It's stupid American propaganda. I'm not injured. Just because I didn't go beat up Brock It doesn't mean I'm injured. I go to India now.
Yes, the tweet was in character, but it still continued the recent pattern of WWE performers making a point to try to debunk reports that they were injured. Well, this photo popped up from the ongoing WWE tour of India courtesy of popular wrestling Twitter account Death to All Marks:
Remember: Meltzer said it was a minor injury in the first place and that Rusev should be back before the Royal Rumble. There he is, back before the Royal Rumble and working with a pad/support sleeve on his knee. Clearly, there is nothing wrong with his knee that would lead to him wearing this on only one of his knees…at least according to Rusev.
Both Lehigh Valley Live and the Allentown Morning Call are reporting that Jimmy Snuka’s murder trial for the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino is no longer set to begin on March 22nd. Instead, there’s no trial date for the time being, as Snuka’s lawyer, Robert Kirwan II, is arguing that he’s not competent to stand trial. Apparently, Snuka was diagnosed with both post-concussion syndrome and dementia in 2010, and last year, a forensic psychologist also said he would not be competent to stand trial.
The prosecutor, Charles Gallagher, accused Snuka of faking, saying that “Mr. Snuka has had a career in entertainment,” but Judge Kelly Banach cut him off, adding that “He’s also had a career in head trauma theater.” The prosecution wants an independent expert to examine Snuka, but the judge, not wanting to spend extra taxpayer funds, is OK with going by what the defense and prosecution’s own experts say. The judge will rule on March 18th after a hearing where each side’s expert has to say.
According to Kirwan, Snuka:
Doesn’t recognize him as his lawyer or know why he’s there.
“Has not been able to communicate with me on any appreciable level”
“Had no idea what charges he faced”
“Has no recollection of the incident”
Argentino died in 1983 after hitting her head in her and Snuka’s hotel room. Snuka is charged with causing her death by way of abusing her and then not making any effort to get her medical attention after she was injured. Snuka’s initial statements (to hospital personnel, etc.) were consistent with that, but after she died, he changed his story to Nancy falling by the side of the road after exiting the car to urinate.
On the way here, we stopped on the side of the road to use the bathroom. She was desperate to use the bathroom, so she went a little into the bushes and squatted..In the meantime there were a lot of trucks coming by. So I said to hurry up and she jumped across the grass on to the road. And then she slipped and fell backwards and hit her head. Right on the concrete on the side of the road, she just slipped backwards.
According to Argentino’s autopsy report, there was no dirt, gravel, etc on the body consistent with falling outside. The case remained open for decades, but police mysteriously stopped working on it after just a few weeks. For decades, Argentinos death was believed to have been ruled inconclusive, but the autopsy makes it very clear that the coroner thought it was a homicide.
Just over an hour ago, there was a major development in one of the concussion-related lawsuits filed against WWE. Back on October 30th, WWE had requested a stay on discovery (document production) and it was granted on November 10th. Today, that all changed, as Judge Vanessa Bryant lifted the stay, granting limited discovery as it pertains to the claims of Vito Lograsso (Big Vito) and former developmental talent Evan Singleton. Besides the discovery being confined to Singleton and Lograsso’s claims and not the other lawsuits, the judge limited it to these questions:
(1) whether WWE had or should have had knowledge of and owed a duty to disclose to those plaintiffs the risks of long -term degenerative neurological conditions resulting from concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries to wrestlers who performed for WWE in the year 2005 or later,
(2) whether and when WWE may have breached that duty, and
(3) whether such a breach, if any, continued after Singleton and LoGrasso ceased performing for WWE.
While the scope of the discovery could change if pending the outcome of WWE’s motions to dismiss, this is a huge win for the wrestlers’ side and their lawyer, Konstantine Kyros. The complaints in the lawsuits have heavily pushed the idea that WWE, like the NFL, hid information about developments in concussion science from the talent. While no real proof of that has surfaced as of yet, if anything like that were to exist within WWE’s archives of internal communication, that would deal a huge blow to their defense. That’s a big “if,” though.
The NFL class action lawsuit could very well have ended differently without the existence of such “smoking gun” evidence. Besides the league trying to quiet links between football and brain damage, they had privately given credit to such neurological trauma ending some players’ careers. Again, there’s no known evidence that WWE has engaged in anything like this, but at least the LoGrasso/Singleton lawsuit is now at the point where the plaintiffs can dig to find out if there is.
While most of the documents that Kyros, LoGrasso, and Singleton get in discovery will probably never be made public, some could show up as exhibits in various filings down the line. That’s how, for example, Hulk Hogan’s 1998 WCW contract was made public: The plaintiffs in the racial discrimination lawsuit against WCW got it in discovery and later attached it as an exhibit to one of their pleadings.
Here’s the full text of the judge’s order (I did not touch the actual text, but I did adjust the line spacing to make it more readable):
ORDER PARTIALLY LIFTING STAY OF DISCOVERY:
The parties are Ordered to proceed with discovery as to the claims of Singleton and LoGrasso only until further order of the Court. Discovery is to be bifurcated, with an initial liability phase extending no later than June 1, 2016. During this initial liability phase, discovery should be limited to facts relevant to the question of
(1) whether WWE had or should have had knowledge of and owed a duty to disclose to those plaintiffs the risks of long -term degenerative neurological conditions resulting from concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries to wrestlers who performed for WWE in the year 2005 or later,
(2) whether and when WWE may have breached that duty, and
(3) whether such a breach, if any, continued after Singleton and LoGrasso ceased performing for WWE.
Dispositive Motions, if any, on the issue of liability are to be filed by August 1, 2016. A decision on the merits of the pending Motions to Dismiss is in progress, and the parties should expect that the scope of discovery may be adjusted based on the outcome of that decision. The parties are further Ordered to read and comply with Chambers Practices regarding discovery disputes during the pendency of this action.
Signed by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on 1/15/16. (Shechter, N.)
Yesterday, the official Twitter account of MLW, former WWE writer Court Bauer’s podcast network which has broken various stories in the past, posted a pretty important piece of TNA news:
https://twitter.com/MLW/status/687659702218526720
https://twitter.com/MLW/status/687659994527969281
This helps explain the item from a couple days ago about TNA increasing talent spending again, which came on the heels of Ryan Satin of ProWrestlingSheet.com reporting that TNA had offered James Storm two and a half times what WWE offered him for NXT. TNA had made cuts last year after the move from Spike TV to Destination America, having reportedly gotten a big cut in rights fees, though not as much as you’d expect given the disparity between the networks. Various contracts were dropped, there were numerous reports of production contractors and wrestlers being paid late, and the Impact Wrestling show itself had a noticeable drop in production values.
With the move to Pop, while there had been reports that they weren’t being paid, there was no further drop in production quality and Mike Bennett leaving both ROH and NJPW indicated that TNA’s financial situation was improving. You also have to wonder if Pop TV president Brad Schwartz publicly being so optimistic that Impact could get Spike level numbers for Pop (so far, they haven’t come close) is indicative of Pop maybe overpaying relative to Impact’s actual value.
Some good news for TNA: Variety is reporting that Pop TV, the home of Impact Wrestling, will be increasing its footprint to the tune of 8 million additional homes over the course of the next few months. These new homes will come from the network signing deals with Cablevision (also known as Optimum), AT&T U-Verse, and Wide Open West (also known as WOW!). As someone who lives in Cablevision’s service area, if their history is any indication, this move is to add homes that got cable companies’ own listing services in the pre-interactive guide days in lieu of carrying Pop’s predecessors, The TV Guide Channel and The Preview Channel.
According to the Variety article, this will give Pop a universe of 88 million homes, but they still have a lot of hurdles to overcome as they average just 170,000 viewers in prime time. The conundrum for Pop is that while its past as just a TV listing channel meant it was in a fairly large number of homes, it doesn’t have the history as a destination that other long-standing networks like USA Network, TBS, TNT, and Spike have.
Pop president Brad Schwartz told Variety that the addition of Cablevision is key because so many advertising executives live in their service area on Long Island in the New York City suburbs. “A lot of our advertisers haven’t been able to watch the channel.”
Total Divas is back this Tuesday (January 19th) at 9:00 p.m. ET on E! Entertainment Television, which means that WWE has started to push out all sorts of promotional material for the show’s season premiere. For example, Paige revealing that she has a concussion was part of an interview promoting the premiere, E! is running more Total Divas content on their website again, and even In Touch Weekly’s website got in on the act by featuring a Rosa Mendes baby bump photo. Of course, it also means that WWE has released preview clips for the episode on their YouTube channel.
In the first clip, Brie Bella/Brianna Danielson (remember, Total Divas is weird about names) and husband Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson talk to someone about some business proposal of her’s. Somehow, Bryan’s gardening and jelly/jam-making hobby play into this. In the brief clip, he does talk about how there’s now the possibility that he may be done wrestling.
Then there’s the resolution to last season’s cliffhanger, as Dolph Ziggler/Nick Nemeth says he could give Nikki Bella/Nicole Garcia-Colace babies and marriage if they got back together. Then he tries to kiss her in front of her and John Cena’s bus. This does not go well.
Later, she finally tells Cena. It looks like it may not go well, but they cut it off before “it gets good.” I guess we’ll have to tune in to find out what happens next, unfortunately.
With the biggest ongoing story in pro wrestling right now being NJPW talent leaving for WWE, NJPW’s “ace” and top star, Hiroshi Tanahashi, has opened up to Tokyo Sports (translation by E. Key Oide on Twitter) about Shinsuke Nakamura making the jump. Tanahashi and Nakamura were in-ring rivals for years and stuck with NJPW during the company’s nadir a decade ago, so he they know each other better than most. Here’s what Tanahashi had to say along with the context of each comment:
On Nakamura making the decision to leave NJPW: “Personally? I understand his decision. It’s the path he chose in life, always blazing new trails. If I had to give him some words of support? I’d have to go with ‘YeaOh!,’ heh heh.”
On Nakamura shaking his hand after their G1 Climax final match in August: “Looking back now, that handshake might’ve had a deeper meaning to it.”
What does losing Nakamura mean for NJPW?: “He’s got a strong sense of responsibility. He probably thought ‘Right now, the company’ll be fine (without me).’ And I agree – after all, they’ve still got me.”
Losing to Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 10 on January 4th: “It was an all-or-nothing, 0-or-100 battle, where I lost everything. Right when I was a shell of myself, Nakamura (leaves). I choose to take that as [Nakamura’s] way of cheering me on, telling me ‘Tanahashi, you still got more work to do.’” [While Tanahashi does break kayfabe to a point in some interviews, it doesn’t look like he sees Tokyo Sports as an appropriate outlet for that.]
Tanahashi’s final thoughts: “The New Japan ring has to become a stage that wrestlers all around the world dream of competing in – and that’s exactly what I’ll make it.”
As a reminder, NJPW on AXS TV returns tonight after a brief hiatus. Since the commentary was recorded before Mauro Ranallo signed with WWE, the voice of SmackDown is still the American TV voice of NJPW for the next cycle of episodes.
For those who aren’t familiar with Lip Sync Battle, it’s a show on Spike TV hosted by LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen where celebrities…do battle in a lip syncing competition. Produced by John Krasinski (Jim on the American version of The Office) and Stephen Merchant (one of the creators of The Office), it’s become a legitimate hit for Spike both in the Nielsen ratings and in terms of videos from the show going viral online.
Last night’s show featured a showdown between Kevin Hart (doing “Slam” by Onyx) and Olivia Munn (performing “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift). As part of the show’s wacky choreography (which everyone learns that day, amazingly enough), The Big Show wandered out as part of her dance troupe for some reason. As you can see at about the 2:09 mark of the above video, he didn’t really do anything other than wear a goofy outfit, but it was all in good fun and a nice surprise.
Hulk Hogan secured another victory in Pinellas County Court today in the latest hearing in his lawsuit against Gawker. As you may know, back in October 2012, Gawker was anonymously sent a copy of a sex video (shot on a security camera without Hogan’s knowledge) showing Hogan and Heather Cole having sex in the bedroom she shared with then-husband Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Gawker edited the video into a “highlight reel” mixing sex and banter, released it accompanied by an article about the video and celebrity sex tapes in general, and promptly got sued by Hogan.
Today, they were in court for a hearing where the judge would rule on a number of motions, most importantly Gawker’s latest motion to dismiss the case outright. As I covered in both the December 28th and January 4th issues of Figure Four Weekly for F4WOnline.com subscribers, the motion to dismiss was filed under seal because it was confidential according to the terms set by the judge. All we really knew was that the motion was arguing that the case should be dismissed on the grounds of fraud by Hogan and his attorneys. This is what Gawker’s motion to determine the confidentiality of the court record said:
Concurrent with this motion, Gawker is filing its Motion to Dismiss, and the Exhibits attached thereto. The Motion to Dismiss argues that plaintiff Terry Bollea has engaged in a systematic fraud on the Court to conceal the existence of additional sex tapes depicting him having sex with Heather Clem, including one that shows him making racist statements. As explained in the Motion to Dismiss, the effect of plaintiffs fraud was to cover up key evidence on many core issues relating to liability, credibility, and damages. In particular, plaintiffs year long fraud suppressed evidence of the existence of an alternative and intervening cause for Bollea’s alleged distress following Gawker’s publication of brief, grainy excerpts from one tape, and an alternative explanation for why the tapes depicting him and Ms. Clem had value and what that value actually is. The full extent of plaintiffs fraud only became clear on November 30 and December 2, 2015, when the FBI produced hundreds of unredacted records to Gawker’s counsel.
It seemed like they were alleging that Hogan and his lawyers had lied about a number of things. Today, in court, Gawker’s lawyers got deeper into this, though a lot of it was not in open court due to the restrictions. Among the misrepresentations that Gawker’s counsel listed were Hogan’s lawyers saying that:
Gawker was the target of the FBI’s investigation into the sex videos (They weren’t; it was an alleged extortionist).
The FBI investigation was still ongoing in 2014 (It wasn’t; the investigation had been closed in 2014).
There was only one sex video long after they had learned there were three, with there being two that Gawker didn’t have and one of those two having Hogan’s racist comments.
Nobody had tried to sell the sex videos back to him. (Allegedly, “sex tape broker” Keith Davidson had on behalf of his clients)
There was no way of knowing if there was actually an additional video containing racist comments and that even if it did exist, the audio could have been manipulated by the extortionist hiring a Hogan impersonator.
Gawker’s lawyer stressed that the judge had made rulings based on these misrepresentations. Hogan’s lawyer was very bombastic when he responded, but mostly said that the misrepresentations (both sides were barred from using the word “lie”) were just disagreements and that they applied to damages, not issues central to the case. Gawker then cited caselaw showing that fraud with regards to damages can be grounds for dismissal.
Judge Pamela Campbell denied the motion to dismiss, started to explain why, and then decided to announce it was time for a lunch break. It wasn’t clear what she was about to say or why she stopped.
More later, as the hearing is still ongoing with regards to other motions.
Over the weekend, a rumor that WWE was releasing Daniel Bryan picked up some steam when it was floated by longtime wrestling writer/reviewer Scott Keith at his blog. The nature of it (an anonymous email from a supposed WWE human resources employee) was more than suspicious enough that most sites, including SEScoops, didn’t pick it up. However, since a similar situation led to Keith getting the story about John Cena’s hiatus to film a TV show right, some sites did decide to pick up the story.
It should come as no surprise, then, that WWE issued the following statement to WrestlingInc.com’s Raj Giri this morning:
There is no truth to this letter from a supposed WWE employee.
That should be that for now, I guess. Bryan has not been cleared to wrestle since suffering a concussion during the spring European tour last year. While he tests normally, there is concern that he’s suffered too many concussions during his career to keep wrestling, with Meltzer having speculated on his podcast last week that the number is around 20.
Since the initial post yesterday, some more details have come out with regards to the huge news that various wrestlers have given notice to New Japan Pro Wrestling and appear to be WWE-bound. As noted yesterday, the story first broke publicly via a paywalled posting to former indie promoter and WWE writer Court Bauer’s podcast network, MLW Radio, where Bauer announced that Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, and two or three of Styles’ Bullet Club stablemates had given notice to the company. Being that the Bullet Club’s Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Rocky Romero have a podcast on MLW Radio, they seemed like the obvious candidates.
The first update came from Wrestling Observer Radio behind the paywall at F4WOnline.com, with some additional details coming on last night’s traditional weekly post-Raw show. On the shows, here are some of the key details laid out by Dave Meltzer:
The wrestlers who gave notice are Nakamura, Styles, Anderson, and Gallows, and yes, they’re seemingly WWE-bound, though nobody has signed yet. All but Styles, who had no contract, were working on NJPW’s traditional one year deals, which always expire at the end of January. This is not the first exodus of this kind, as Hiroshi Hase helped engineer Keiji Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima, and Kendo Ka Shin jumping to AJPW in 2002 when their NJPW deals were up. Styles had already been removed from ROH advertising and stopped accepting new indie bookings before Wrestle Kingdom, so it was kind of known within wrestling that he was done. He was seemingly written out of storylines at New Year Dash (full spoilers here) earlier today, with Mike Johnson at PWInsider confirming it was his last NJPW booking.
Meltzer made it clear that Nakamura won’t be leaving immediately, instead sticking around for a few months. He shot an angle setting up a new program for his IWGP Intercontinental Championship today at New Year Dash (again, the full spoiler details are here) so at the very least, it looks like he’ll see that through. There’s also the chance that NJPW could make him an offer to stay.
Meltzer made a point of saying that it looks like Styles and Nakamura aren’t earmarked for NXT, in part because of the money that they have to be paying to get them. Nakamura was believed to be making somewhere from a quarter to half a million dollars U.S. each year and Styles had a full calendar of well-paying indie dates (where his road expenses were also covered by promoters, unlike in WWE) on top of his NJPW tours. Whether making that kind of financial commitment means anything as far as WWE’s main shows changing stylistically is harder to tall. Also, as pointed out by Mike Johnson at PWInsider yesterday (before Meltzer’s confirmation that WWE was the destination of the wrestlers), Nakamura also needs to have a work visa secured by WWE so he can wrestle here legally, and that will take time.
Meltzer noted that rumors of Anderson leaving had been well known for a while (he’s right) but didn’t say much more about he and Gallows. While it was speculative on his part, he did throw out the idea of Anderson and Gallows being earmarked for a “Balor Club” heel stable, though that’s not necessarily the most wild guess. As for Gallows’ WrestleMerica indie promotion out of Barnesville, Georgia, which has become increasingly successful, there’s been no word on its status yet. Being that his wife, Kimberly Davis (Amber O’Neal/Amber Gallows/The Bullet Babe) is a wrestler, one would think she could take over the promotion unless it would still be seen as a political issue with WWE.
Earlier today (tonight, Japan time), New Japan Pro Wrestling ran what has become an annual tradition, the New Year Dash show at Korakuen Hall in the Tokyo Dome City complex. If Wrestle Kingdom is their WrestleMania, New Year Dash is their Monday Night Raw the night after WrestleMania, complete wth major angles to kickstart the year, and they definitely delivered on that front.
FINAL SPOILER WARNING:
If you haven’t watched the show yet on NJPW World (and for what it’s worth, Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker did stay in Japan to do English commentary on it) and you don’t want to know what happens, don’t read beyond this point.
Last night, the big angle was that AJ Styles was kicked out of The Bullet Club after Styles and Kenny Omega defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and YOSHI-HASHI when Omega pinned Nakamura clean with the One-Winged Angel. At first, Omega was celebrating the win, which should put him in line for a shot at Nakamura’s IWGP Intercontinental Championship, but then he attacked Styles and hit the One-Winged Angel on him. Next, most of the rest of The Bullet Club ran in. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Cody Hall tended to Styles, while The Young Bucks were holding back Omega in the corner. They teased a split of some kind, only for the Bucks to both super kick Styles, leading to everyone else joining in on the beatdown.
Omega then announced that Styles was officially fired from The Bullet Club and now “had nothing” after “giving everything.” He then announced that he was tired of “pretending to b a junior heavyweight” and would be coming for Nakamura’s belt. Being that Styles was already removed from advertising for Ring of Honor dates already before giving notice to NJPW (we’ll have more on that in a bit), this appears to be NJPW’s way of writing him out of storylines. Earlier this morning, Mike Johnson reported at PWInsider that this is indeed the case, with New Year Dash being Styles’ last scheduled NJPW booking.
Ricochet & Matt Sydal defeated David Finlay Jr. & Jay White
Jay Lethal defeated Juice Robinson
King Haku, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & KUSHIDA
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & Mascara Dorada (BUSHI challenged KUSHIDA for a shot at his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after the match)
AJ Styles & Kenny Omega defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI
Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Barreta @ 13:19 via pin
Toru Yano, Jay Bricoe & Mark Briscoe (c) defeated Bad Luck Fale and The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) to retain the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship
AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and multiple members of the Bullet Club have ‘given notice’ to New Japan Pro Wrestling that they’re done with the company, according to an exclusive report by former WWE writer Court Bauer over at MLW Radio.
While in theory you can give notice without leaving for sure, he made it clear that they’re done with NJPW. While he didn’t say so, one would think they’re leaving to bolster the NXT touring roster in WWE, but obviously that’s mostly conjecture.
The key here is likely what Styles and Nakamura are being paid. Nakamura was making excellent money as one of NJPW’s top natives and Styles was probably making the most money of any American freelancer the last two years. The question is what exactly the trade-off would be: Styles needs some security in the event his back problems shelve him for an extended period of time, while there may be some allure of being an American/western star for Nakamura.
As for Styles’ friends in the Bullet Club, Bauer didn’t name any names, which is interesting because the Talk’n Shop podcast with Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Rocky Romero is part of Bauer’s MLW Radio. That’s simultaneously an indicator to the truth of this (besides that Bauer’s had a strong track record when he’s broken big stories) and a possible hint as to who else is leaving, one would think.
NJPW has done annual contracts up in January seemingly since the beginning of time. In the past, rumors of talent leaving before January have usually been deemed false because of the timeline.
January 4th has been home to one of the biggest shows of the year in pro wrestling since 1992, with tomorrow marking the 25th annual January 4th Tokyo Dome show in the history of New Japan Pro Wrestling. It’s the tenth annual use of the Wrestle Kingdom name, and as always, it’s a loaded card. This year, it’s available in English for the second year in a row, but it’s being handled differently this year. Last year, the English feed with Jim Ross and Matt Striker was available on traditional pay-per-view, while this year, it’s being called by Striker and Kevin Kelly on the NJPW World streaming service, which costs less than $9 per month. While the site is still in Japanese, sign-up (and potential cancellation) is aided by both this guide and the “Select Language” drop-down box (which is a Google Translate front-end). Striker and Kelly will also be calling the January 5th New Year Dash card that serves as the equivalent to NJPW’s “Raw after WrestleMania.”
As for the card itself, it starts at 3:00 a.m. ET tonight/tomorrow morning. The pre-show starts at 1:45 a.m. ET and includes the New Japan Rumble battle royal. This match includes NJPW wrestlers not on the main card as well as surprise outsiders (including legends and more). Here’s the lineup with some notes on what to expect:
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW’s legendary feud of the current generation. The big hook is that while Okada has beaten Tanahashi in major matches, he’s never done it at the Tokyo Dome. So essentially, this is Steve Austin vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 19, but but with The Rock as the champion. Last year, they had a tremendous main event where Tanahashi dominated the latter part of the bout en route to retaining the title and sending Okada staggering to the back in tears.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. AJ Styles
The big dream match of the show, as this is their first singles match together and they’ve only faced off a handful of times in tags. Styles is hurting and his back problems must be horrific if he left the tag tournament early to try to recover, but he’s turned it on against Jay Lethal at ROH Final Battle. That makes you think he’ll do it again here, even if it’s not the wisest move. This is a matchup of the consensus two best wrestlers in the world, and Nakamura stole the show last year against Kota Ibushi, so expectations are sky-high.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfkOFRLbJ9w
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. KUSHIDA
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: reDRagon (c) vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs. Roppongi Vice vs. The Young Bucks
From an athletic standpoint, these are going to be the most impressive matches on the show. The division is somewhat stagnant since KUSHIDA is the only pushed native, but the addition of Sydal and Ricochet has livened things up a bit.
ROH World Championship: Jay Lethal (c) vs. Michael Elgin
The biggest match of Lethal’s career by far, and you could argue the same for Elgin, who’s become a big fan favorite in NJPW. His style, both physically and in terms of his personality, just clicks better in Japan, where he feels like a star.
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Bullet Club/Guns & Gallows (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) (c) vs. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)
Honma, the lovable loser character, got the biggest win of his career in the tag tournament last month, which got he and Makabe the title shot. Honma got a big win last year at the Dome and this feels like the match where he finally wins a title in NJPW.
NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
These two will beat the hell out of each other in ways that will shock you if you’ve never seen them before. Shibata has never held any titles in the promotion in spite of a long career, so this feels like another title change.
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles: Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Takahashi) vs. Toru Yano & The Briscoes (Mark & Jay)
This is a new title and a big match for the Briscoes starting in NJPW, but it feels like a title for the Bullet Club to have if they’re going to add something as extraneous is this. That said, this should be a fun, short, energetic brawl.
Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuyta Naito
This is part of the feud between Goto and Shibata (Meiyu Tag) and Naito’s Ingobernables group, and feels like it might be used to continue the storyline more than be the climax you’d expect on this level of show. They could have a hell of a match together, but it depends on if Naito brings back his old tricks, which have fallen out of favor since he turned heel.
New Japan Rumble: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jado, Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask IV, and Yuji Nagata are the announced participants.
The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast interviewed Hector Guerrero on their latest episode, and in addition to discussing his brief run as the Gobbledygooker in WWE, he covered a number of other topics, with some key quotes excerpted below.
On giving back to the pro wrestling business:
I’ve been giving back to it all the time and all my life my friend. That’s what wrestling is all about. You say how do I give back? I’ve given it all I’ve got. My body, my thoughts, my mind and every time I wrestled, I wrestled with my heart. I gave it all. I was reading a blog from Kurt Angle and it was about how when he was ready to give up and went home for three months and he said he was going to give it all he had and the rest was history. He won a gold medal and then he came back and got into professional wrestling and look at what he’s done in professional wrestling. It’s kind of like the way my Dad taught all the Guerreros. When we went out to the ring we gave it all we had. If it wasn’t good enough for the people or wasn’t good enough for the promoter or good enough for myself I still would have that satisfaction that I gave it all I had. That has been the main thing that I think all of the Guerreros have had. Everyone of us, Gory who taught us to Chavo Jr. who is holding the name up right now.
How has the pro wrestling business evolved?
Wrestling has changed but it always evolves. But it always comes back. It’s like a circle. It says on the marquee wrestling. It doesn’t say circus or it doesn’t say Soap Opera or it doesn’t say football game. It says wrestling. It’s always had it’s own following and it’s a big following here in the United States and a big following in Japan and a big following in many other places too. Europe has always been big on wrestling but I didn’t think it would evolve to this situation but it will cycle again. Every time, it was always go to wrestling again.
Learning about pro wrestling from growing up in a wrestling family:
There is always going to be people out there who think they know everything about the business. That includes me too. We don’t always know everything but me, I started when I was a kid learning how to fall in a backyard ring. We learned how to do all the Lucha drills when we were 5, 6, 7, 8 years old and that is including Eddie. He was doing arm-drags and head-scissor takeovers with us when he was a baby. So it’s something we grew up in. It all depends on the circumstances of how life evolves. With us, it evolved because we took it as something we loved. We lived it and we would mastermind the shows around our dinner table at dinner. That was just the way my Dad had us. Even my Mother would give her input and even Eddie I remember giving his input as a little baby. Everybody was laughing but Dad had always said he was right.
The whole family being such great workers:
Gory Guerrero was a brand name in Mexico. He was known as “The Phoenix Bird”. The reason they called him that was because he created riots. My Dad was not afraid. I’ve heard stories that my Dad would back down crowds of people that were coming at him and just wave his fists and they would back off. My Dad had such a respect of him in Mexico that you would have no idea but what you saw, you saw Eddie. Eddie has a lot of big moments but all of us had our big moments. I’ve heard about myself that I couldn’t have a bad match. My Dad taught us to wrestle like if we were wrestling with brooms. If we could wrestle with a broom, you could have a match. I’ve seen my oldest brother Chavo [Sr.] move the Olympic Auditorium in ecstasy in a match with him vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper. I’ve seen matches where my brother Mondo would wrestle and be in matches with Victor Rivera. I had great matches with John Tolos at fifty years old and I was in my youth and he would keep up toe to toe with me. Unfortunately my brother left us too soon. That is why there has been such an impact. If it was an impact on you, can you imagine the impact on us?
In the full interview, Guerrero talks about his time in TNA, working under a mask as Lazertron, and more.
WWE talent booking contracts have become almost commonplace online, thanks in large part to WWE’s own filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a public company, all of World Wrestling Entertainment’s executive officers need to have their contracts released in SEC filings. Since WWE has multiple executive officers who also happen to perform for the company, that means that their talent contracts are all public and we see the current WWE contract whenever they re-sign. Older contracts have also come out in lawsuits over the years, as well, along with other internal pay documentation.
But one thing that I don’t recall seeing before is an official WWE termination letter. In one of the ongoing series of concussion-related lawsuits from wrestlers and their families represented by lawyer Konstantine Kyros, one was filed by WWE last week. Specifically, it’s the 2008 termination letter for Nelson Frazier Jr., then known as Big Daddy V, also known as Viscera and (King) Mabel. WWE outside counsel Jerry McDevitt filed a motion where one issue covered was Frazier’s place of residence, so he filed Frazier’s termination letter to show where he lived when the two parties ended their relationship. Here’s the full letter, minus personal information that I redacted:
There are a few key takeaways here beyond just the curiosity of seeing one of these:
This is a notice of his termination being effective three months later. It’s tricky to figure out precisely how that relates to the conventional wisdom that there’s a 90 day “non-compete” period, as what WWE allowed during that period has changed at times. Here, it’s pretty clear that there are still 90 days left that the wrestler is still under contract and there’s nothing about being allowed to work elsewhere. These days, wrestler can usually pick up non-televised indie bookings while still being paid his or her WWE guarantee for 90 days, which can be fairly lucrative. One unique example is Daniel Bryan, who was re-hired before the 90 days were up after his abrupt firing in 2010.
The wrestler being told to pay “particular attention” to the “promoter intellectual property” section of their contract is essentially telling them not to use their WWE names. In the case of Frazier, page 25 of his 2007 contractsays that the WWE intellectual property is Viscera, Vis, Big Vis, Mabel, M.O.M., Men on a Mission, Ministry of Darkness, Corporate Ministry, and The World’s Largest Love Machine.The previous page says his IP is just his real name.
Wrestlers must return “any tangible property” of WWE that they took possession of during the course of working for the company, “including, without limitation, costumes, accessories, inventions, and any title belts.” Since the wrestlers buy their own costumes, it’s hard t figure out what any of those could be other than the title belts.
Overall, though, there’s nothing too surprising here. It just helps demystify the inner workings of WWE a bit, and that’s always fun.
Mike Johnson at PWInsider is reporting that WWE alerted the roster yesterday to a new bit of policy enforcement. Back in May of 2011, all of the talent had to sign a rider to their contracts that was then added to the standard talent booking contract. From section 9.12 (d) of Stephanie McMahon’s 2013 talent contract, which is the most recent contract publicly available (all caps formatting is in the original):
NOTWITHSTANDING PROMOTER’S CURRENT POLICY OF PAYING MEDICAL EXPENSES FOR INJURIES WRESTLER MAY INCUR WHILE PERFORMING UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, WRESTLER SHALL MAINTAIN, AT HIS COST AND EXPENSE, HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE. THIS HEALTH INSURANCE MUST REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE TERM OF THE AGREEMENT, AND WRESTLER SHALL PROVIDE PROMOTER PROOF OF THIS INSURANCE ANNUALLY. WRESTLER MAY AT HIS ELECTION OBTAIN HEALTH, LIFE AND/OR DISABILITY INSURANCE TO PROVIDE BENEFITS IN THE EVENT OF PHYSICAL INJURY ARISING OUT OF OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES; AND WRESTLER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT PROMOTER SHALL NOT HAVE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUCH INSURANCE OR PAYMENT IN THE EVENT OF PHYSICAL INJURY ARISING OUT OF HIS PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES.
Since then, WWE and Linda McMahon (who ran for one of Connecticut’s United States Senate seats in 2012) have been able to truthfully claim in the media that all talent has health insurance. That’s even though WWE does not provide the insurance or offset the cost in any way (unless WWE covering all on the job injuries lowers the wrestlers’ premiums).
What Johnson is reporting today is that WWE announced to the talent that as of February 21st (Johnson wrote 2/21/15 but that appears to be a typo in the context of what he wrote), they will be doing random checks with insurance companies to make sure that the wrestlers are fully compliant with the terms of their contracts. The memo stated that anyone without insurance must get everything in order in the next 60 days or else risk their status being that they would “not be available” to wrestle.
In other words: If you don’t have insurance, you’re being sidelined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEu6NGPA0Cg
If the details of the report are true, then WWE must have or be in the process of getting HIPAA waivers from each talent to contact their insurance companies. HIPAA refers to the terms set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which put the current American medical privacy laws into effect. Without a HIPAA waiver from each wrestler for their respective insurance company,the insurer is legally bound from telling WWE (or anyone else without a waiver) if the person in question is a member. It’s not entirely clear why WWE is doing this right now. The obvious inference is that some wrestlers found ways to game the system, perhaps by dropping the coverage for most of the year.
Outside of WWE,there is now widespread coverage of wrestlers in Mexico stemming from a deal made this past Summer. Around 2003-2004, TNA did provide group health insurance to wrestlers, but it didn’t last long and reviews of the coverage were mixed at best.
