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LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST WWE, NXT AND OTHERS OVER COLLAPSED RING

By Mike Johnson on 2013-01-09 09:29:59
Brian Jack, the wrestler who filed a short-lived lawsuit against WWE last year in Wisconsin before it was quickly dismissed, filed another lawsuit against the company on 1/3 in Hillsborough County, FL, as well as Steve Keirn, Steve Keirn Inc. aka Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE NXT, and additional John and Jane Does to be named.

In the lawsuit, Jack alleges that on 1/7/09 he as an "experienced, professional wrestler who was an invitee" at FCW's training center in Tampa, Florida. He claims he was "specifically required" to train in one of the rings in the center, despite "the fact there were two other fully functional training wrestling rings" in the facility.

Jack claims that at 7:30 PM that evening, the ring he was working in collapsed in a "sudden and horrible measure" while he was training a "rookie wrestler" with 6-8 others in the ring, causing the "horrendously painful breaking" of Jack's knee. He claimed he suffered "without remedy" for four months following the injury.

In the lawsuit, Jack alleged, "Defendants failed and refused to render any kind of meaningful aid. Defendants failed and refused to contact emergency personnel for the Plaintiff regarding his injuries. Defendant Keirn, at the time of the injury, confidentially advised the Plaintiff that unless he wanted to work as a wrestler with Defendant WWE, Plaintiff was not to call an ambulance or report the occurrence of the injury."

The lawsuit also alleges that the Defendants showed "gross negligence", allowed a "dangerous structure" in the facility, failed to appropriately supervise the wrestling ring, manage the number of people inside the ring given their awareness of issues with the ring in question, failure to have an adequate response plan to the collapse and failure to inform the Plaintiff of the dangers of the ring.

In the lawsuit, Jack is asking for damages for "past and future medical and hospital expenses, mental anguish, emotional distress, past and future lost wages, loss of earning capacity as a professional wrestler, temporary and permanent injuries, pain and suffering, lose of ability to earn money, permanent disfigurement and scarring, loss of enjoyment of life and all other damages as provided by Florida law." He is also asking for pre and post judgment interest in those damages and for his legal fees to be covered by the Defendants.

Jack has requested a jury trial in the matter.

Jack's previous Wisconsin lawsuit, which featured a number of outrageous claims and also featured Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella as defendants, was quickly dismissed. Marella and Phoenix are not named in this filing.

The timeframe of the alleged incident with the collapsed ring would have been two years after WWE developmental was moved to Tampa under Keirn's FCW.

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