Court Dismisses Wrestlers' Case Against WWE

Those of us at OSG HQ have been fans of the squared circle for a long time. But the writing is so bad in recent years, that we have to pick our spots to have an interest...

Last year's Ric Flair match at Wrestlemania 24, f'rinstance...

Monica Potts of the Stamford Advocate newspaper tells us that a lawsuit was dismissed with three former WWE players- Raven, Mike Sanders, and Kanyon. They claimed that they were "cheated out of health care" by the WWE since they were independent contractors.

From the Advocate piece:
The wrestlers -- Scott "Raven" Levy, Christopher "Kanyon" Klucsarits and "Above Average" Michael Sanders -- said the level of control exerted over them by the WWE qualified them as full-time employees.

They said they signed contracts that dictated their compensation, physical training regimens, dates and sites of matches, costumes and storylines for their wrestling personae. WWE also reserved the right to use their images and submitted them to drug screenings, the wrestlers said.

The WWE avoided withholding federal taxes from their paychecks by not classifying them as full-time employees, the suit said. The company did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, nor did it pay for performers' benefits such as health care and vacation time, the suit said.

The suit was filed in July in state Superior Court and then was moved to U.S. District Court for Connecticut. The plaintiffs also sought class-action status.

On Monday in New Haven, Senior U.S. District Judge Peter Dorsey granted a WWE motion asking for dismissal. The suit was dismissed Tuesday.

The wrestlers' attorney, David Golub, said they would pursue the case and were considering their options. They could ask the judge to reconsider the decision or file an appeal, Golub said.

The WWE did not offer a response.

This is the kind of stuff that Raven himself has gone through in the ring.


We can see his point, and while this is old ECW footage, no one told him it HAD to be done as part of the deal. The three seemed to be willing participants the entire time. We know that all three love their work and have had various stages of success in the industry.

While we empathize and sympathize, it's not Jazzercise...
Everything should have been taken care of personally earlier in their careers to avoid the end result today. This is, clearly, a last result. And that's sad...
Get it in writing and be more than a 1099 at the end of the year...