Pictured: "Superfly" Snuka and "Mr. Wonderful"
WRESTLERS SUIT DISMISSED AGAINST WWE FOR CTE
A federal judge in Connecticut has dismissed a lawsuit by 60 former professional wrestlers, many of them stars in the 1980s and 1990s, who claimed World Wrestling Entertainment (the "WWE") failed to protect them from repeated head trauma including concussions that led to long-term brain damage.
A U.S. District Judge threw out the lawsuit, saying many of the claims were frivolous or filed after the statute of limitations expired.
The attorney for the wrestlers fought back saying the allegations were not frivolous and that the judge was wrong about the claims being filed too late, because many wrestlers' ailments -- including dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE -- were diagnosed years after they left the ring or after they died. Unlike other sports including football and hockey where players have suffered similar injuries, WWE matches involve specific moves scripted and choreographed by the WWE -- thus making the company directly responsible for wrestlers' injuries, the lawsuit said.
Among the plaintiffs were Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Joseph "Road Warrior Animal" Laurinaitis, Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff, Chris "King Kong Bundy" Pallies and Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara, known as Mr. Fuji. Snuka and Fujiwara died in 2017 and 2016, respectively, and were diagnosed with CTE after their deaths, Kyros said. Other plaintiffs have dementia and other illnesses.
(ABC News)