Summary: Former World Wrestling Entertaimnet wrestlers have filed a class action against the organization for long-term brain damage and the lack of care given by the WWE.
Long-term brain damage is just beginning to be studied but there is still a lot to be learned about what sports are most affected. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE is a neurodegenerative disease that resembles Alzheimer’s in some ways that is associated with repeated hits to the head. Over 50 former wrestlers have filed a class action lawsuit against the World Wrestling Entertainment for the brain injuries they have received.
Read Dan Marino Joins Concussion Lawsuit Against NFL.
The suit alleges “…the head trauma that has resulted in injury is the accumulated effect of many impacts to the Plaintiffs’ heads that occurred on a regular, routine basis during their WWE career. WWE placed corporate gain over its wrestlers’ health, safety and financial security, choosing to leave the Plaintiffs severely injured and with no recourse to treat their damaged minds and bodies.”
The WWE is not taking the lawsuit seriously stating, “…this is another ridiculous attempt by the same attorney who has previously filed class action lawsuits against WWE, both of which have been dismissed. A federal judge has already found that this lawyer made patently false allegations about WWE, and this is more of the same. We’re confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate as his prior attempts and be dismissed.”
See Ex-Players Sue NHL over ‘Extreme Violence’.
Some of the listed plaintiffs are WWE Hall of Famers “Road Warrior Animal” Joseph Laurinaitis and “Mr. Wonderful “Paul Orndorff. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, a former Hall of Famer, is also listed. Snuka was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in the death of his former girlfriend in 1983 on charges of murder and manslaughter. His defense attorneys argued that he suffered from dementia caused by the concussions he received during his career.
Do you think CTE is something that can be prevented without radically changing the way sports are played? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
To learn more about CTE, read NFL Continued Denying Brain Injury Risks While NFL-Retirement Board Was Paying Millions.
Photo: sports.yahoo.com