Longtime ringside physician Dr. Chris Amann has reportedly retired from WWE.

According to PW Insider, Amann reportedly gave his notice some time ago and has officially retired from his position with WWE this month.

Chris joined the company in 2008 after working as a physician for the 2008 United States Olympic team. He was the senior ringside physician that worked with both WWE and NXT talent. Chris also oversaw the medical care of other ringside physicians and trainers on the staff.

Dr. Chris Amann sues CM Punk

Long before the meltdown following AEW All Out, CM Punk had issues with WWE and Dr. Chris Amann.

In 2014, CM Punk was interviewed on The Art of Wrestling podcast, hosted by Colt Cabana (or Scott Colton as referred to be Punk during his media scrum rant).

Punk claimed during the podcast that the doctor misdiagnosed a lump on his back as a “fatty deposit” and it was later revealed to be an MRSA infection. Chris Amann later sued both CM Punk and Colt Cabana for defamation. His argument was that the words said on the podcast called into question his ability to perform his duties as a physician.

The trial lasted about a week and found that neither CM Punk or Colt Cabana were liable for defamation.

WWE Hall Of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart was recently a guest on the In This Corner podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During his appearance the subject of CM Punk’s recent legal issues with WWE Doctor Chris Amann came up.

Amann sued Punk and Colt Cabana for their comments about him on their podcast together shortly after Punk’s departure from WWE. Hart said he sees a lot of himself in Punk, citing his issues with WWE shortly after the Montreal Screwjob where shortly thereafter he punched Vince McMahon backstage.

“The Hitman” feels that by Punk walking out on WWE the way he did in 2014, he stood up for not only himself but the entire WWE locker room:

“I think the same could have been said about CM Punk as an example. You know his standing up and saying, ‘hey I’m doing all the work around here, you’re gonna give Batista and Brock Lesnar and Triple H all these guys who are part-timers who are home every day, they’re getting all the main event matches at WrestleMania and I’m the one pulling the wagon around here and I wanna be in the main event.’ They tried to smooth it over and sugarcoat it and offer him everything but a main event spot so he quit like he held them up on that.

“I heard some guys talking bad about CM Punk in the car about he wasn’t one of the boys or something like that. I’m thinking, ‘he gave up so much to prove a point for the wrestlers.’ You know that the wrestlers are doing the work, put the wrestlers in the main event spot. He stood on those principals and he lost his job, gave up a lot to make that point but he was right and he took a bullet for the industry. I’m glad he won that case a few weeks ago because I’m sure that there was a lot of pressure on him to wear him down and break him in that case.”

You can listen to Hart’s interview on the In This Corner podcast by clicking this link here.

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

CM Punk is off the hook in a civil lawsuit that was filed against him by a WWE doctor for defamation following his exit from the company in 2014.

A jury in Chicago ruled in Punk’s favor after Dr. Chris Amann filed the lawsuit after the former WWE superstar spoke about the treatment he received while under contract and the misdiagnosis that could have resulted in a serious medical condition.

Dr. Amann filed a lawsuit in excess of $1 million against Punk and fellow wrestler Colt Cabana, who hosted the podcast back in 2014.

After testimony that started last week, the jury deliberated for only a couple of hours before handing down a judgment siding with Punk and Cabana in the defamation lawsuit.

Punk had been appearing in court during the trial with his upcoming fight at UFC 225 set to take place this weekend in Chicago.

Punk was reportedly very emotional after the verdict was read while hugging his wife and fellow former WWE superstar A.J. Lee, who was also in attendance for the trial.

CM Punk has just won his civil lawsuit against WWE Dr. Chris Amann. He was in court all morning here in Chicago. Hugging his wife and crying in the courthouse. All this, four days before UFC 225.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 5, 2018

With the trial behind him, Punk will now turn his attention to his fight on Saturday night against Mike Jackson on the UFC 225 main card.

Punk will be making his second appearance in the UFC after suffering a first round submission loss in his debut back in 2016.

While the trial undoubtedly took at least some of his focus away from the fight, Punk can now rest easy knowing that he won’t be on the hook for any kind of financial penalty as a result of the civil lawsuit filed against him.

There are some new developments in WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann’s lawsuit against former WWE Superstars CM Punk (Phil Brooks) and Colt Cabana (Scott Colton) stemming from comments made on the infamous “Art of Wrestling” podcast episode from November 2014.

To recap, Amann’s claim is that Punk & Cabana made statements about him on the podcast that were untrue and defamatory by improperly insinuating he lacked integrity and competence as a medical doctor. Specifically, Amann claims that Punk sullied his reputation by claiming Amann misdiagnosed a lump on his back as simply a ‘fatty deposit’ and ignored his requests to remove it, a deposit that Punk went on to claim ended up turning into life-threatening MRSA.

Amann denies Punk asked him to treat or remove a lump or anything off of his back, denies he examined Punk nor did he prescribe him any antibiotics. Amann also says Cabana aided in falsely depicting him as a lazy and/or incompetent doctor. His position is that both men knowingly fabricated the false and disparaging statements about him and is seeking in excess of $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

In the closing months of 2015, the two sides were going back and forth addressing the plaintiff’s attempts to squash Punk and Cabana’s defense pleadings. The court had ruled that some of the defense’s claims were inadmissible, which led to Punk and Cabana’s defense responding to the lawsuit with amended responses on December 15th.

In this filing, Punk argued that his comments on the podcast were his opinion and therefore should fall under the First Amendment of the Constitution (Free Speech). Additionally, he argued that his statements were “substantially true” – doubling down on his claim that Amann neglected to drain the lump on his lower back Punk and failed to diagnose it as a “potential MRSA or staph infection.” This is the most assertive Punk has been during the course of the lawsuit in identifying Dr. Amann by name as the person who he alleges provided him with reckless medical care.

Punk also alleged that he suffered “severe head trauma” in the Royal Rumble match (Punk’s final WWE match), but “Plaintiff did not direct or encourage [Punk] to leave the ring” and that “Plaintiff had indicated [that Punk] had discretion as to whether to remain in the ring.”

Amann alleges in his lawsuit that his privacy was violated on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast, but in the 12/15 filing, Punk’s camp responded that Amann was a public figure as a result of his job with WWE (including appearances on TV, on WWE.com, etc.) and the statements made about him on the podcast are fair game as a result.

The defense is pushing for a jury trial to determine the fate of the lawsuit. The next hearing is scheduled for February 1st.

Credit to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com and our own David Bixenspan for assistance with the facts related to the December 15th filing.

WWE provided an update on the wrist surgery that Lana (C.J. Perry) underwent on Thursday following an injury she suffered last weekend while training in the ring.

“Lana underwent open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of a left distal radius fracture with a volar plate,” Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.com. “The fracture was stabilized and returned to its normal anatomic position during the surgery using the volar plate and screws.”

Amann continued, “Lana did very well without any complications and is expected to make a full recovery.”

Speaking of Lana’s condition, the WWE Diva posted the following tweets on her official Twitter page.

The broken wrist hurts but the disappointed heart hurts so much more. Time will heal but scars will be there to remind me of my pain

— CJ Perry (@TheCJPerry) September 11, 2015

#flashback to yesterday right after #surgery ? thank you all for your #prayers ?? & #support #WeWantLana @WWE pic.twitter.com/oUxiSB6ixZ

— CJ Perry (@TheCJPerry) September 12, 2015

• Well-Known UFC Star BADLY Breaks Hand, Posts GRAPHIC Post-Surgery Photos!

In the Dr. Chris Amann lawsuit case against Colt Cabana (Scott Colton) and CM Punk (Phil Brooks), the lawyers for Colton and Brooks have filed a motion to throw the case out, with the claim in the case of Colton being that he was acting as a media member doing an interview, and in the case of Brooks, that he never specifically named the doctor who was mistreating him.

During the interview there actually were two mentions of Amann, however he was never specifically named in connection with Brooks talking about the negligent treatment of a staph infection he had been dealing with. Brooks only ever referred to the person attending to him in those instances as “Doc,” without mentioning an actual name.

Regardless, the judge ruled that the case would continue and ordered both sides to go into “discovery.”

• Ronda Rousey Has An Affair With Married UFC Star Travis Browne?

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

AJ Lee’s departure from WWE was related to the fallout from WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann filing a lawsuit against her husband, former WWE Superstar CM Punk.

Despite CM Punk’s fallout with WWE last year and the explosive Art Of Wrestling podcast with Colt Cabana that dropped during Thanksgiving weekend, it appeared that AJ Lee and WWE would be able to keep the matter separate and not have it affect her own relationship with the company. When WWE’s head doctor filed a million dollar lawsuit against Punk (and subsequently AJ Lee), the dynamics of her relationship with the company understandably changed.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that AJ likely called her departure a ‘retirement’ to get out of the remainder of her WWE contract. By retiring from WWE, she’ll be unable to perform elsewhere in pro wrestling until her deal expires.

– Former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly officially got engaged to NHL star Sheldon Souray on Friday.

– Following the attack by Paige on this week’s edition of SmackDown, WWE.com provided the following update on AJ Lee’s “injury”:

“AJ was initially not responding when we got to her,” stated WWE physician, Dr. Chris Amann. “As a precautionary measure, we put her in a neck brace, put her on a backboard and escorted her to a local medical facility for follow-up testing. There, she was diagnosed with a whiplash injury.”

The official WWE website has published a new article that confirms our earlier reports regarding an injury Bad News Barrett suffered during the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann said Barrett “sustained an injury to his right shoulder when he was thrown into the barricade by Jack Swagger.”

Amann continued, “After Barrett felt an immediate pain and a pop, we brought him back to the training room and the exam showed a separated shoulder. We’re going to do some additional testing this week and then sit down with him and talk about options for treatment for this injury.”

The article goes on to note that Barrett’s status for this Sunday’s pay-per-view, where he is scheduled to compete in the Money In The Bank ladder match, is in question.

Check out the complete article at WWE.com.