More lawsuit information

[Guest wildpegasus]

Here's the link:

 

 

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=9417&p=1

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

For those who don't wish to suffer the pop-ups:

 

World Wrestling Entertainment filed a 29 page response to Brock Lesnar's lawsuit against them on 4/1, noting that in their opinion, his lawsuit is without merit as he agreed to the terms of his release last year.

 

They also claim Lesnar violated their agreement for his release by appearing at a New Japan Tokyo Dome show this past January. WWE has asked the court to rule that Lesnar has breached their agreement, that he has forfeited any money owed to him for royalties, that the courts bar Lesnar from competing for any sports-entertainment or "ultimate fighting" companies, that the court prevent Lesnar from further breaching their release agreement, and any "further relief" the court might declare.

 

Major points from WWE's response:

 

*Brock Lesnar voluntarily agreed to the terms of his release when he decided he wanted to play professional football. WWE claims that Lesnar was aware of the usage of the term "ultimate fighting" when he asked for a release and that it would include Mixed Martial Arts competition. They also claim Lesnar knew he wouldn't be able to work for a "sports-entertainment" company. Their settlement agreement ends on 6/10/10 and shouldn't be forced to change because Lesnar was unsuccessful at football. They also claim that the release settlement allowed them to retain his licensing rights, with the exception of NFL-related endeavors.

 

*The company admits that they haven't paid Lesnar from his booking contract since he asked for a release to pursue his NFL career, but noted he had been paid $125,000 in royalties since that point.

 

*WWE contends that Lensar's appearance at the January 2005 New Japan Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome event (where he was introduced and came to a ringside seat with Brad Rheighans and Rena Mero during the show from backstage) was in violation of their agreement terms for his release. Lesnar's appearance at the show and it airing in Japan, were both in violations of his release.

 

*WWE believes that Lesnar entered into negotiations with New Japan to participate in a May 2005 event.

 

*WWE has suffered "irreparable harm" from Lesnar's breach of their agreement.

 

*WWE contends that by appearing at the New Japan event, he has forfeited all due and future royalty payments and has not paid him since that time. It appears WWE ending the royalty payments in January may have paved the way for Lesnar to file the lawsuit the following month.

 

*WWE admitted to not bringing Brock Lesnar back into the company after washing out on his NFL aspirations, but noted Lesnar "has attempted to use the settlement agreement against WWE, and has made exorbitant financial and other demands which would grant Lesnar, as compared to his 2003 Booking Contract, much more favorable terms."

 

*WWE has also rejected his terms for wanting to return due to actions have diminished his value, noting "vulgar, derogatory and disparaging hand gestures" to the fans at Wrestlemania XX in Madison Square Garden. WWE claims they would need to invest extra money in order to build Lesnar back up as a performer after that incident, disparging comments made about the company, and Lesnar's previous decision to walk away from his old contract.

 

*WWE claimed they felt the need to enforce the terms of their settlement contract with Lesnar after he appeared at the New Japan Tokyo Dome event and in response to a threat by Lesnar to file a lawsuit against the company.

 

*WWE shoots down Lesnar's contention that anyone could be in his position as champion because 13 other performers had held the belt since his departure. WWE noted that they use the championships as a way to promote their talents and increase their popularity and worth to the WWE fan base.

 

At this point, it's in the hands of the courts (if the two parties do not settle before stepping into a courtroom) to see what happens.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

WWE claims they would need to invest extra money in order to build Lesnar back up as a performer after that incident, disparging comments made about the company, and Lesnar's previous decision to walk away from his old contract.

Bullshit. He's be the most over heel simply by showing his face. WWE wouldn't need to do anything out of the ordinary to build him up.

 

WWE has suffered "irreparable harm" from Lesnar's breach of their agreement.

Ha!

[death_by_burrito 0]

13 other performers have held the belt? I know they mean the Smackdown! titles (I think), but didn't Lesnar just hold the WWE Championship? I don't remember him holding another.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Perhaps its a typo and it's "3" and not "13". Those 3: Eddie, JBL, and Cena.

[AndrewTS 0]

*WWE has suffered "irreparable harm" from Lesnar's breach of their agreement.

...

 

*WWE has also rejected his terms for wanting to return due to actions have diminished his value, noting "vulgar, derogatory and disparaging hand gestures" to the fans at Wrestlemania XX in Madison Square Garden. WWE claims they would need to invest extra money in order to build Lesnar back up as a performer after that incident, disparging comments made about the company, and Lesnar's previous decision to walk away from his old contract.

 

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

[Guest Quik]

Bullshit? Hell yeah they suffered harm. The company was doing shitty as it was, but their top ME heel ditched them out of nowhere. Did you see the booking scramble? They ended up throwing the belt on JBL (who, I will admit, improved over the course of his reign).

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I still say that Brock should have had legal counseling before signing a contract potentially worth millions of dollars but I think WWE is petty for witholding money from him.

[2GOLD 0]

The WWE lawyers should be the writing staff. They come up with more interesting crap than the professionals do.

 

I expected to read the Chewbacca defense in their statement.

[Guest Quik]

I think Brock should just admit that he was an idiot and didn't understand what he was signing. It's not much of a defense, but it's pretty much the only thing he can do. He's obviously not the brightest crayon in the box (see some of his ESPN interviews). It could hold up.

[Precious Roy 0]

Bullshit? Hell yeah they suffered harm. The company was doing shitty as it was, but their top ME heel ditched them out of nowhere. Did you see the booking scramble? They ended up throwing the belt on JBL (who, I will admit, improved over the course of his reign).

I agree, when Brock left for the NFL it hurt the company. Except, if you read the language, that's not what the WWE is saying.

 

They allege that they've "suffered irreparable harm" from him breaching the agreement, not from the circumstances that led to that agreement being reached. The lawsuit, and the E's countersuit, stems from the New Japan appearance and the WWE subsequently withholding agreed upon royalties from video games, DVDs etc. with Lesnar's likeness.

 

So basically, what the WWE is saying is that Brock showing up in the audience at a New Japan show caused them great damage, which is bullshit. Obviously, if he were to take future bookings, and actually work for another company, that's a different issue, but that's all hypothetical for now. If he didn't recieve payment for that New Japan appearance, and was merely comped, it's hard to prove that he breached the agreement.

 

As for the shit about Lesnar "damaging" his character at WMXX, COMPLETE BULLSHIT, if anything it makes him a bigger star. WWE saying "we'd have to invest more money in him to build him back up" is their way of saying, "we don't want to build him back up, and would rather job him out," because if he returned the guy would be a HUGE heel if the E wanted him to be, which they obviously don't.....

[AndrewTS 0]

Bullshit? Hell yeah they suffered harm. The company was doing shitty as it was, but their top ME heel ditched them out of nowhere. Did you see the booking scramble? They ended up throwing the belt on JBL (who, I will admit, improved over the course of his reign).

Uh--no. That wasn't the agreement Lesnar breached. Leaving the WWE was a mutual agreement and any harm resulting directly from that is WWE's own doing.

 

Lesnar's "breaches," while they may have indeed gone against the contract he signed, are outlined above.

 

The WWE lawyers should be the writing staff. They come up with more interesting crap than the professionals do.

 

I expected to read the Chewbacca defense in their statement.

 

At least it would prevent them fucking up so much when they use legal terms in their storylines.

 

Also, I love how not only how WWE's either a sport or not a sport depending on when it's convenient to then, but also OTHER things like bona-fide pure wrestling companies and ultimate fighting are "sports entertainment."

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

[2GOLD 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

 

Which leaves the World Champion where?

On Smackdown it can work cause they have the time to go around. RAW doesn't have the time with Triple H and the midcard and Batista to even consider something like that. Smackdown, yeah I can see it and it would work well if they don't botch it.

 

As long as he plays middle of the field and just eliminates at random. Until eventually, one of them catches him with a move and they make some kind of agreement "Contract vs career" match. If he wins, he gets a WWE contract but if he loses then he can never be in the wrestling business for as long as the WWE decides. And with Lesnar, you actually can't predict how that one would end.

[BorneAgain 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

I like this. Maybe even have Lilian Garcia/Tony Chimmel refuse to announce him to the ring and when he does wrestle in the first few months the WWE officials have an obvious bias against him, but since everybody in the company (including the commentaters) despise him, there's nothing he can do.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

I like this. Maybe even have Lilian Garcia/Tony Chimmel refuse to announce him to the ring and when he does wrestle in the first few months the WWE officials have an obvious bias against him, but since everybody in the company (including the commentaters) despise him, there's nothing he can do.

Another good touch. The ring announcers can't introduce him because, in kayfabe, they don't have his details at hand because he's not under contract, and they can't introduce people who just hop over the guardrail.

[Promoter 0]

Maybe the wwe is pulling the greatest angle of all-time with all of this Lesnar crap Seriously, if Russo was on board I would be suspicious of this whole thing. Didn't they do something like this with the courts in wcw with Hogan?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Maybe the wwe is pulling the greatest angle of all-time with all of this Lesnar crap Seriously, if Russo was on board I would be suspicious of this whole thing. Didn't they do something like this with the courts in wcw with Hogan?

It's not an angle.

 

And the Hogan-Russo deal that ended up in court also wasn't an angle. It started out as one, but turned into a shoot on Hogan.

[AndrewTS 0]

Maybe the wwe is pulling the greatest angle of all-time with all of this Lesnar crap   Seriously, if Russo was on board I would be suspicious of this whole thing. Didn't they do something like this with the courts in wcw with Hogan?

It's not an angle.

 

And the Hogan-Russo deal that ended up in court also wasn't an angle. It started out as one, but turned into a shoot on Hogan.

In one of my rare bouts of optimism, I was expecting Lesnar leaving to be a work. The way it was leaked seemed too convenient.

 

However, WWE should realize that situations like this are prime opportunies to make it work.

 

I suppose the new agreements decreeing that wrestlers not even make non-wrestling appearances in other companies likely is a result of things like Hall/Nash appearing on Nitro, Rick Rude twice in one night, and Bret Hart being a central part of WCW angles long before his face even appeared on camera.

[Promoter 0]

Oh, I know it's not an angle just like the wcw issue. It's just the hogwash done by both Lesnar and wwe in this whole situation. Starting with his "dream" to play football and leaving last year with that horrid match with Goldberg to all the crap he was saying and doing such as not signing any wrestling stuff.

 

Then suing the wwe and the wwe suing back. This all just seems like some convoluted storyline which we know they are capable of. In terms of the courts, I think it's just a waste of damn time for the justice system. Lesnar is an idiot and the wwe's response is laughable when you consider they got a goldmine of an angle if he returns, so saying they would need to build him back up because of his actions is ridiculous. It's like Hogan suing Russo and wcw for name-calling. It's all in the game.

[Guest Ransome]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

It'd be funnier if they handled it like George Constanza at Play Now; all the workers hate him, but he can't get fired provided he shows up to work every day, so the other wrestlers put wooden planks over Brock's locker room (now relocated to a downstairs bunker) and try to sandblast him out...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Bullshit? Hell yeah they suffered harm. The company was doing shitty as it was, but their top ME heel ditched them out of nowhere. Did you see the booking scramble? They ended up throwing the belt on JBL (who, I will admit, improved over the course of his reign).

That's a combination of putting all their eggs in one basket and very bad booking. They could have put anybody over there and given them the belt, and there were a ton of choices better than JBL. They were just trying to keep the brand extension intact without any sudden jumps, and their resilience to put one of Raw's bigger draws over there to carry the slack causes things like JBL title reigns.

 

If they had simply dumped Jericho's long-assed Christian feud and moved him over to SmackDown as a heel for Eddie Guererro, SmackDown would have kept rolling along, as Jericho is better than Lesnar on the mic and at least as good in the ring.

 

The only damage done by Lesnar's departure was depriving Vince of the moneymaking machine that is Lesnar shirts and hats and shit. And then, because Vince is Vince, he deprived himself getting that back because he feels Lesnar hurt his image (as a heel, btw) by flipping people off at MSG.

 

Everyone who gets near this company seems to go braindead. The lawsuit was Lesnar's brain fade, and Vince passing up re-hiring Lesnar as a petty "No thanks, I don't need you" gesture was fucking insane.

[BUTT 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

I like this. Maybe even have Lilian Garcia/Tony Chimmel refuse to announce him to the ring and when he does wrestle in the first few months the WWE officials have an obvious bias against him, but since everybody in the company (including the commentaters) despise him, there's nothing he can do.

Another good touch. The ring announcers can't introduce him because, in kayfabe, they don't have his details at hand because he's not under contract, and they can't introduce people who just hop over the guardrail.

But how exactly would they explain him wrestling despite supposedly not having a contract?

[Precious Roy 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

I like this. Maybe even have Lilian Garcia/Tony Chimmel refuse to announce him to the ring and when he does wrestle in the first few months the WWE officials have an obvious bias against him, but since everybody in the company (including the commentaters) despise him, there's nothing he can do.

Another good touch. The ring announcers can't introduce him because, in kayfabe, they don't have his details at hand because he's not under contract, and they can't introduce people who just hop over the guardrail.

But how exactly would they explain him wrestling despite supposedly not having a contract?

UNSANCTIONED MATCHES!11!!11111

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that whole "HE'S NOT UNDER CONTRACT!" idea, it's too hokey, and everyone with a computer will know the outcome of the lawsuit, which, like MSG and the Lita stuff, will spread to the mark audience.

 

Better to just do the bidding war thing between the GMs with Lesnar as the "hot free agent" and have the lockerrooms divided over his presence. More realistic, and not as insulting to the hipper fans.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

When this gets resolved, as it surely will, they need to make it part of his return. Have him enter and leave through the crowd. Have the announcers go crazy about Lesnar not having a contract with WWE, and have them say something like, "Eric/Teddy would be nuts to give this guy a contract after what he did to the last one he got." Make a point to bring up that he can't even enter the locker room because he isn't under contract, and even show him changing somewhere in the back. They could even play up the resentment that the other wrestlers have for him by showing some of them 'standing guard' outside the locker room area, in case Lesnar 'tries to get in'. Don't give him entrance music, or any fancy bells and whistles. Just have him enter through the crowd, and have the cameraman scramble to shoot this 'unplanned interruption'. This could turn into a heck of an angle.

I like this. Maybe even have Lilian Garcia/Tony Chimmel refuse to announce him to the ring and when he does wrestle in the first few months the WWE officials have an obvious bias against him, but since everybody in the company (including the commentaters) despise him, there's nothing he can do.

Another good touch. The ring announcers can't introduce him because, in kayfabe, they don't have his details at hand because he's not under contract, and they can't introduce people who just hop over the guardrail.

But how exactly would they explain him wrestling despite supposedly not having a contract?

For his first few matches, have wrestlers come to the ring to try and get rid of Lesnar because they don't want him around. Lesnar beats them up and tosses them out of the ring; no referee to count a pinfall because he's not an official member of the roster yet. Lesnar can say that the only reason the wrestlers don't want him around is because they know that they can't beat him, and they're scared of him. After a few weeks of this, have Theodore Long, because this really needs to happen on Smackdown, confront Lesnar outside the arena and tell him that he can't keep doing this because it's disrupting his program, so Long reluctantly offers Lesnar a contract, on condition Lesnar stops disrupting Smackdown. Even after Lesnar has signed the deal, still have him have to get ready for matches in a part of the arena away from the locker room, which plays off of the fact that the wrestlers don't want him around them anymore, which is something everyone can buy as the truth, because it pretty much is the truth.

 

Yeah, I'm not a fan of that whole "HE'S NOT UNDER CONTRACT!" idea, it's too hokey, and everyone with a computer will know the outcome of the lawsuit, which, like MSG and the Lita stuff, will spread to the mark audience.

 

Everyone with a brain also knows that matches, feuds and angles are predetermined. That doesn't stop them, nor should it, from trying to create a believable storyline around something that the people do know is the truth. The people know Lesnar walked out. The people know that Lesnar isn't liked by the other wrestlers. The people know that Lesnar filed a lawsuit. Well, some of them do. So why not use that truth to build a storyline around. Yes, the people will know deep down that it's a storyline, but it's not one that insults their intelligence, because it's one that’s believable and credible. After all, with what the people already know about how the wrestlers feel about Lesnar for what he did, it’s not that big of a stretch to picture them not even wanting the guy to dress anywhere near them.

 

Better to just do the bidding war thing between the GMs with Lesnar as the "hot free agent" and have the lockerrooms divided over his presence. More realistic, and not as insulting to the hipper fans.

 

How are two people, who the fans know don’t really run things, bidding over the services of a wrestler who they already know has signed for the company, any more realistic ? For one thing, the people know the wrestlers don’t like Lesnar and don’t want him around, so why would either GM want him around ? In your scenario, they are actively wanting to bring in to the locker room someone that everybody knows nobody wants around. It makes more sense to have them reluctantly bring Lesnar back. If either GM brings back someone that everyone knows the rest of the locker room doesn’t want back, it’s far better that they be seen to do so reluctantly, and for the good of Smackdown/Raw, by stopping the interruptions.

[Guest MikeSC]

One question about all of these fantasy bookings:

 

How is it different than the angle that buried Public Enemy in the WWF?

-=Mike

[2GOLD 0]

One question about all of these fantasy bookings:

 

How is it different than the angle that buried Public Enemy in the WWF?

-=Mike

 

Brock is tall.

And not a former ECW/WCW worker.

[Guest MikeSC]

Vince never buried ECW workers for no reason. Many of them, simply, were not terribly good workers. He pushed Rhyno until Rhyno injured his neck and went to crap afterwards. Tajiri is a solid mid-carder. Raven was an uninspired worker. Tazz was short and crap in the ring. RVD has been uninspired almost from the get-go.

-=Mike

[Guest jumpingbombangel]

Say what you will about the words and terms the letter uses, but Brock just got made a jobber by lawyers without even having to step foot inside an arena.

 

He oughta blame Sable...if she hadn't have sued the first time around, WWE probably wouldn't have invested in good litigation support that could ream even the slickest of cons out to make a buck.

[Precious Roy 0]

How are two people, who the fans know don’t really run things, bidding over the services of a wrestler who they already know has signed for the company, any more realistic ?

 

Because that's the way the brand extension is set up. It's a two tiered system. Everything is under the WWE umbrella, with RAW and SD! as competing subdivisions, both of which are ultimately controled by WWE authority. In the storylines a degree of authority has been delegated from Vince/Linda to the respective GMs. So, the way I see it, if Lesnar were to return it would be under contract to the WWE as a complete entity, and he would then be entered into the pool of talent available to the GMs, thrown to the wolves so to speak, who would compete over his services exclusive to one brand.

 

Personally, I just think the outsider angle is dated. It's been done to death.