Wrestling Group Tries to Piledrive Complaint By One of Its Own

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Ever wonder what a professional wrestler's contract looks like? Here's your chance to check out the injury indemnifications and other contract riders typically agreed upon, thanks to a new lawsuit filed by TNA Entertainment against one of its wrestlers, Charles Ashenoff (known as "Konnan").

Konnan agreed to accept responsibility for any injuries from wrestling, and also agreed not to file any lawsuit for damages arising from his participation in professional wrestling, but that didn't stop him from planning a lawsuit against TNA for racial discrimination, according to TNA.

Beating Konnan to the punch, TNA filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Texas yesterday, seeking a declaratory order that the wrestler can't pursue a complaint. According to the lawsuit, the defendant alleged that he had a hip injury, that TNA negligently failed to produce proper trainers resulting in chronic renal failure due to his ingestion of performance enhancing drugs, and that he suffered from racial discrimination in connection with his Hispanic wrestling character. TNA says it received a demand letter and a draft complaint from Konnan's lawyers.

Read the rest of the very interesting complaint here .

Comments

[Fred]

This further proves that the guy playing Konan is nothing more than a roach that needs to be stepped on. He signed the papers and he was portraying the same character he was given in 1995 in WCW. He's a waste of time and I hope TNA takes him for every cent he's got.

[Zack]

whoever wrote this is a moron. TNA is not suing Konnan, Konnan is suing TNA. TNA should have given Konnan proper health care after his life-threatening injury. TNA ARE BASTARDS.

[Luke]

"Zack" - If you could comprehend English over a third grade level, you'd realize that it says that Konnan was attempting legal action and that TNA are countersuing BECAUSE he is suing.

Read, buddy.

[Mike]

TNA doesn't owe Konnan a thing. They gave him a no interest loan when he was faced with a life threatening illness, one that he brought on himself with a life full of drugs. That's not TNA's fault, it's Konnan's. TNA has no legal or moral responsibility to pay for someone's mistakes in life.

[Bud]

I believe TNA is just filing suit to BLOCK Konnan from being able to sue them. Has it been proven that the reason he needed a new kidney was because of steriods and drugs? People need kidney transplants EVERYDAY, not all are on drugs.. TNA wanted Konnan gone the minute they signed him, he is too outspoken and the only reason they signed him was because of the hookup in Mexico.. Do they owe him a free kidney? Hmmmmm, if the guy had a 5 year contract, I would want to make sure my talent stayed healthy so maybe I could at least triple the money back that I'm paying him off of merch. and gaining the latino fan base because he is KONNAN, he is a legend in Mexico!! They should have paid at least 75%..

Thanks,
Bud

[E.G.]

Just to make things clear, NO wrestling promotion covers health costs - which is why there are no unions in that form of entertainment. Never has been, probably never will be. Konnan, for one, is lawsuit happy. He attempted to pull the race card in a lawsuit against WCW roughly 10 years ago.

As TNA -DID- pay for one operation that he NEEDED (which was the hip replacement), Konnan is pissed because they apparently wouldn't pay for the kidney replacement he needed as well. They DIDN'T NEED to pay for anything! And unfortunately, Bud, you don't seem to have any grasp of what the business is like. Not everyone can be a Vince McMahon and offer rehab to current and former employees of WWE. It's half good deed and half good publicity. That's all it is. If you read the parts of the contract shown in TNA's legal paperwork, the employees are independent contractors. You do everything at your own risk (unless there are serious extenuating circumstances).

Now...if you believe wrestling dirt sheets Konnan's had drug issues for years, including steroids. In fact, it's pretty common knowledge among the smarks. Read any medical information about steroid use and you'll find many examples of things KONNAN ALREADY HAS. Konnan also spent a lot of time bitching about the company, and when his contract was up, he was not offered a new one. Why create a poisonous situation backstage? He didn't really want to be there anyway, so why make him stay?

TNA did a nice thing by paying for one operation. They didn't even need to do that, but they did.

On a side note - Konnan wasn't wanted in WWE. He was offered the opportunity to run the AAA promotion in Mexico, which, he is still doing. I'm sorry, is he not making enough money down there that it warrants another lawsuit?

Some of us have seen this movie before, unfortunately. The case will get thrown out in the long run.