As noted, Cassandra Frazier, widow of former WWE Superstar Nelson Frazier Jr. (Big Daddy V, Viscera) filed a wrongful death lawsuit against WWE yesterday, just one year after his death. The lawsuit was brought to light by Irv Muchnick of the Concussion Inc. website. The full 124 page lawsuit can be seen at this link via PDF. It mentions Chris Benoit's death and references CM Punk's comments from Colt Cabana's podcast where he called WWE's concussion policies "BS."
Cassandra alleges that Frazier died as a result of injuries he suffered as a result of working for WWE. She alleges that WWE's wrongful conduct gave rise to the long-term consequences of multiple concussions and other "serious, permanent, and disabling injuries" during Nelson's career with WWE. Cassandra is accusing WWE of holding back on important medical information and research, and misinforming Nelson and other WWE talents about the risks of working for the company.
The lawsuit says Nelson had large knots on his head due to the scar tissue on his skull forming into permanent lumps and he had evidenced indentations to his skull. It adds that Frazier had severe symptoms of neurological injuries and other physical trauma before he passed away, including severe migraines that he sought medical attention for. The suit also says Frazier suffered from severe depression, something else he sought medical attention for. The suit continues, "Frazier had sustained serious longterm brain damage from his WWE career. Frazier's broken spirit and body left him virtually penniless, and he was forced to pay cash for medical services in the months before his death."
Cassandra has made 9 claims against WWE including negligence, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, vicarious liability, fraud by omission or failure to warn, punitive damages, wrongful death and loss of consortium by herself.
Cassandra Frazier, the widow of former WWE Superstar Nelson Frazier Jr. (Viscera, Big Daddy V) filed a lawsuit against WWE on February 18th in Memphis, Tennessee.
The lawsuit lifts Cassandra and Nelson as plaintiffs and alleges that he passed away due to the cumulative effect of punishment he took in the ring, including concussions and brain trauma.
As of this morning, WWE had not been served with the lawsuit. They likely will be releasing a statement today and we'll keep you updated.
The Miz spoke with TMZ Wednesday night, who said he's the greatest actor in wrestling history, even better than The Rock.
"The Rock has done wonders with generating fans that say, "You know what? We can actually do what we do and better than everybody. He's number one. But am I a better actor than The Rock? Ab... I believe I am."
"In regard to all the emails we've received asking about what happened that led to Samoa Joe leaving TNA, we are told that in many ways, it was a similar situation to the one that led to AJ Styles leaving the company in 2013, i.e. the company was not going to be able to match what Joe had been making and in the end, Joe made the call that it was time, after nine years, to leave TNA.
We are told that the two sides negotiated and attempted to come to terms on a new deal all the way to the end, and that it remained friendly the entire time, but they weren't able to find a common ground that would have each side happy. The landscape of the company and what it could feasibly offer Joe this time around vs. the last time his contract came up has completely changed. The company, after making their final offer, left it to Joe to make his decision.
When Joe made the decision to leave, it was made clear to him there was absolutely no heat and that TNA was considering the door open so that one day, they could work with Joe down the line. I was told that the company has all the respect for Joe in the world and they are sorry to see him leave, but understand that in February 2015, it's the best move for both parties.
I was told that another, lesser factor involved was the company is seeking to invest more in newer talent coming in. Joe had been an awesome hand for the company for years, but for much of his tenure, was mishandled creatively by previous creative regimes. Although the current regime had tried to reboot Joe and get him back towards his strengths, they had been unable to overcome the scorched earth left by the past sins of their predecessors. The hope internally is that, down the line, if Joe returns to the company, the past will be washed away and all parties can start fresh.
I don't think anyone can argue that Joe's handling over the years by TNA has been nothing short of terrible and the idea of Joe in a fresh environment is something that, based on emails we've received, has gotten a lot of fans excited.
The reality is that much like AJ Styles in 2013, Samoa Joe now finds himself in the driver's seat with the ability to recreate himself and excite fans with lots of fresh matches, just as Styles has in New Japan, Ring of Honor and elsewhere. If you are a fan of Samoa Joe, it's going to be a very interesting year."
There is said to be discontent on WWE's main roster right now over how NXT talents are given the chance to go out and put on great matches while most main roster talents are restricted to shortnothing matches on TV, especially if they are Divas.
Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter added to the story on his message board:
"So story is accurate but it's inherent. It was the same thing in the OVW days, well not exactly the same, but similar. I get DMs from people on the main roster always after those specials. It's a common frustration. The top NXT performers are frustrated they aren't on the main roster making money. Then they will get more frustrated when they realize their dream. WWE guys are frustrated they aren't having the matches guys in NXT are when they know if they can perform before 400 fans in longer matches they can tear the house down."
WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett spoke with TheNational.ae while in Abu Dhabi this weekend. The full interview is at this link. Below are highlights:
Some wrestlers have been known to be frustrated when they get cheered as a bad guy, but you have been comfortably the most popular bad guy with Abu Dhabi crowds. What was your reaction to get cheered as well as the inevitable boos from the audience?
I have always said I dont care if I am cheered or booed. I tend to be booed because of my personality and character but as long as I am getting a reaction I am happy and I have had a really good reaction both nights from the fans. I think there must be a lot of British expats out here and I think that was one of the reasons I was getting cheered.
The next WWE pay per view coming up is Fastlane on February 22. You do not have a match confirmed yet for the event, but Dean Ambrose has been pretty vocal on TV about wanting to challenge you for the Intercontinental title you hold. What are your thoughts on that?
He is sniffing around at the moment. As far as I am concerned he is not a worthy champion in WWE, but I might end up accepting it [Ambroses challenge] just to teach him a lesson. We will see about that. If I do get in the ring with Dean Ambrose I promise you I am going to smash his head in with a bullhammer. I mean I am going to be Intercontinental champion for a long time, dont worry about that.
Bad luck with injuries has meant you have yet to have a real WrestleMania moment in your career? Is that something you are looking to put right this year at WrestleMania 31?
I am always down for being on WrestleMania. It is kind of a tough spot to get on to as we have a lot of legends that comeback for matches and it is sometimes very difficult to get on the card. But I would love to have a match. I think my ideal WrestleMania match would be me against Sheamus in a retirement match. I would get him out of the WWE for good so we would never have to look at his stupid face again.
Is there anyone on the WWE roster you have not fought yet that you really want to face?
I always used to say Dolph Ziggler was the guy that I wanted to wrestle, but we have had a bit of a run together lately and I have really enjoyed wrestling him and so that is that itch scratched I suppose. I think Roman Reigns is someone I have been in the ring with once before and he was very good. He beat me very quickly unfortunately, but he is someone I think is going to be a big star in the future in the WWE. Bray Wyatt is another one. I know were both bad guys at the moment, but one day I think Id definitely like to do some work with him.
With young guys like yourself, Bray Wyatt, the Shield guys now doing there own thing, it feels like a changing of the guard in the WWE at present. How is it viewed in the locker room?
I think it has been that way now really since 2009 when you saw guys like Sheamus coming up, then it was my group, with the Nexus guys. I think there has been this transition going on for a little while now. It has only stepped up more since Triple H took over the developmental territory in WWE and set up the NXT school and I think the level of guys coming to the WWE now is getting better and better. You have to look at guys like Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville and a couple of others who are down there in NXT and I think the next couple of years in WWE are looking very exciting.
Update on WWE NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber Posted by Steve Carrier on 02/15/2015 at 10:31 AM
It appears there are no issues between Seth Rollins and WWE NXT Zahra Schreiber after their nude photos were leaked last week on Rollins' Twitter. Zahra "favorited" a Rollins tweet about watching a movie while he was on tour in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
She tweeted the following to a friend, apparently commenting on the situation:
"Because people love to talk about stuff they know nothing about #knownofacts."
Former WWE Superstar Yoshi Tatsu has provided an update on his health after breaking his neck in the ring back in November. He wrote the following on Twitter:
To tell the truth I have worn halo vest since 10 weeks.
And I have 4 holes on my skull. I was
bleeding from 2 of them last night.
So...
As noted earlier, the injury occurred when Tatsu landed wrong while taking a Styles Clash from AJ Styles at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Power Struggle internet pay-per-view event back on November 8th.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ring of Honor is currently dealing with a lot of financial issues that basically come from Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns ROH, not getting more behind the company.
COO Joe Koff met with head officials at Sinclair back in December to try and get them to expand the budgets for 2015 and 2016, pushing the idea that ROH could become the #2 wrestling promotion in the country. Koff brought Adam Cole and The Briscoes to the meeting for them to do pro wrestling style promos on how TNA was losing steam moving to Destination America and that ROH could become #2 in the US. The pitch reportedly failed.
ROH's December pay-per-view, their second show on standard PPV, did just 8,000 buys and that didn't help things either. The 8,000 number is said to be under the company projections but not by a large number.
Sinclair officials told Koff to be more disciplined with spending this year. There's a feeling that Sinclair wants ROH for consistent programming on their network but are not interested in investing a lot or taking chances to build them.
These financial issues are the reason why talents like Roderick Strong, Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett aren't under contract. As noted before, TNA, Lucha Underground and New Japan Pro Wrestling all have interest in signing the duo of Kanellis and Bennett.
Rumor On Returning Knockouts Status With The Company
Following an absence of nearly two years from the company, Mickie James made her return to TNA at the Maximum Impact tour UK tapings in Glasgow, Scotland this past weekend. However, things may not be so permanent. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Mickie was brought back as part of a short angle and James stay with the company could very well be short lived. The report goes on to state that the two may be working on extending the deal.
Tonight, Drew Galloway, once dubbed The Chosen One, debuted at the IMPACT Wrestling tapings in Glasgow! This comes right after ImpactWrestling.com announced the return of Mickie James. Stay tuned for more!
Galloway was previously married to current TNA Knockout Champion Taryn Terrell. The couple divorced in 2011 after a fight which led to Terrells arrest. She was released from her WWE contract soon after.
iMPACTWrestling.com is promoting Mickie James TNA return that took place in Glasgow today. @V2Journal on twitter shared the image below. James returned to TNA back in 2010, and departed the company in 2013. Since then she got engaged to TNA star Magnus and had a child with him back in September.
Aberto Él Patron appeared on the PWI Podcast at ProWrestlingIllustrated.com and spoke about a number of topics including TNA and their offer to him;
I dont have anything but respect for TNA. They made a really good offer to me, and Im really grateful for that. The reason I didnt go there is because those guys at Lucha Underground helped me in all my legal proceedings against WWE. So I owed them that. It was not a matter of not wanting to go to TNA. Its just that Lucha Underground and AAA, they paid for my legal services. They introduced me to my lawyer. And the reason Im working right now is because of them. WWE wanted me to stop working in the United States for a year. And that was going to happen if it wasnt for these guys. Im a stand up guy. If you help me, Ill return the favor one day. Thats what Im doing with them. Plus, they made me a good offer.
More on Angry Rumble Fans In Arena Parking Lot Posted by Steve Carrier on 01/26/2015 at 03:15 PM
We noted before that a fan sent word that other fans were blocking the parking lot at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia last night, not allowing WWE talents to exit after the Royal Rumble. Fans were upset over the Rumble show. Another fan, Nate Albright, was in the back parking lot after the show and passed along his account of what happened:
Most fans were very excited and happy to catch a glimpse of the talent. Unfortunately, there were a few morons who ruined it, the type who give wrestling fans a bad name.
One such guy was banging on the Usos car with his souvenir metal folding chair from the floor seats. The driver slammed on the brakes and an Uso got out from the passenger side while the heckler TOOK OFF. The Uso yelled, "Come on, man! This ain't no wrestling shit! Let's go!" People cheered for this and laughed as the idiot with the chair ran away.
There was one doofus in particular who was really making a scene, and the car carrying Fandango caught the worst of it. This "fan" set up his souvenir chair directly in front of Fandango's SUV and wouldn't let him pass. Some other idiot was slamming a Hulk Hogan poster against the passenger side windshield and yelled, "Welcome to Philly! Hulk Hogan rules the universe! This is Philly and you ain't shit! We don't like WWE's bullshit!" Fandango, to his credit, stared straight ahead, but he looked really annoyed.
The same guy with the chair set up in front of the car JBL was driving, but JBL swerved and went around him, blaring his horn. Byron Saxton was in the passenger seat laughing.
Paige was super cool. Her driver beeped the horn as Paige rolled down the window and slapped hands with fans.
Ryback was also awesome. He rolled down the window of his truck and pumped his fist as the crowd chanted "Feed me more!" He was laughing and smiling.
Cameron was driving a red Camaro. She rolled down the window while stopped in traffic to talk to fans. Very cool gesture.
Other superstars and divas waived politely and smiled as they drove by, including Cody Rhodes and Eden, Lilian Garcia and Tyson Kidd and Nattie.
Some were just stone faced and stared straight ahead, including Luke Harper (who was traveling alone), Erick Rowan (Mizdow was in the passenger seat using his phone), Ziggler (ignoring the chants of "You got screwed!), Kane (who looked hilarious in a tiny Mazda) and J&J Security.
For the most part, everyone (fans and talent) were pretty cool, but there were some bad apples in the bunch causing a scene and annoying the superstars and divas.
Kane Sets a Record - Kane set a new Royal Rumble record during tonight's 30-man main event as he now has 40 career Rumble eliminations. Shawn Michaels previously held the record with 39 eliminations.
- WWE began the feud between Rusev and John Cena o tonight's WWE Royal Rumble Fallout post-show. John Cena opened the post-show with Renee young but an irate Rusev interrupted and the two got into it but were separated. We noted before that Rusev vs. Cena is expected for WrestleMania 31.
- The Rock and Roman Reigns also appeared on tonight's Rumble post-show with Tom Phillips. Rock talked about how he came to Philadelphia to support his family. Reigns addressed WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and said he's going to heal up and then study some tape. Reigns said he has one goal for WrestleMania 31 - to walk out as the new champion. Rock said Reigns is going to whoop Lesnar's ass at WrestleMania and become the new champion.
It was announced that Lesnar will respond to Reigns live on tomorrow night's RAW.
We noted before that Velvet Sky was "fired" by TNA after receiving a Feast or Fired briefcase from Robbie E this past week. It turns out that Velvet is legitimately gone from the company as her contract was expiring.
Could Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett be on their way to Impact Wrestling?
According to Wrestling Observer (via Lords of Pain), their contracts with Ring of Honor have expired. With negotiations still on going, it is said the couple is looking at other options: either TNA or Lucha Underground
It is interesting to note that TNA has expressed interest in signing Maria twice before. Both times Maria was with ROH, and declined the offer. Though, she did say that she would never say never.
*Backstage at the TNA Impact Wrestling/Lockdown taping last night in New York City, there were some upset about the audience number that was reported among some wrestling websites (263,000 viewers, although, a 359,000 viewership number is also floating around). One top TNA executive said that the number is wrong and is actually the demographics number. They also stated that Destination America would be issuing a press release for the rating this week, possibly as soon as Monday.
*Destination America will be doing heavy promotion for this Fridays Impact Wrestling debut in their regular timeslot, which is being considered the official debut by the Network. There will supposedly be a half-page ad in USA Today soon as well as heavy promotion for the 1/16 broadcast on all the Discovery networks starting this weekend.
*Although she did not appear on camera, TNA President Dixie Carter was in attendance last night, watching the show from one of the balconies of the Manhattan Center.
*The March TV tapings are currently slated for Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. There was talk last night that if they can get dates there, the company will tape at Universal in April and May as well.
*There was a lot of material filmed backstage and even in the streets of New York over the last few days. There was talk of a Street fight having been filmed in NYC but no knowledge of who might have been involved.
*There were no major injuries coming out of the Impact tapings this week, but a lot of guys were banged up and bruised from the tapings. Even Jeremy Borash, who was physically involved in several segments for the next few episodes, was said to be hurting.
- Randy Orton's return is now scheduled for the WWE live event on January 17th in Abilene, Texas. Orton likely got the nasal surgery he needed this past week. The surgery was timed so Orton would be back in time for the Royal Rumble later this month.
- We noted before that there was a lot of rumors going around saying Rey Mysterio could actually be granted his WWE release before WrestleMania 31 after it appeared he was coming back. There are no current creative plans to bring Rey back and writers have been told not to worry about coming up with a storyline for Rey.
Ik ben Boon Kenneth, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Sting.
Ik ben een man en woon in Dworp (Belgie) en mijn beroep is .
Ik ben geboren op 05/06/1989 en ben nu dus 35 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Worstelen en films.
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