Former WWE Announcer Defends Vince McMahon, Rips Lawsuit Filed By More Than 50 Wrestlers (Video)
As noted, more than 50 former WWE wrestlers have filed a lawsuit against the company accusing them of hiding long-term effects of neurological injuries, failing to care for the wrestlers' repetitive head injuries and more. Some of the wrestlers in the suit include Road Warrior Animal, Paul Orndorff, Jimmy Snuka, Ax, Smash, Kamala, Sabu, Ahmed Johnson, Jazz, Shane Douglas and King Kong Bundy. Get details on the suit at this link.
Former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman defended the company on ESPN's First Take this week, as seen in the video above. Coach said:
"This is a very, very close topic for me. 2003 was the first time I got in the ring to train to be an in-ring participant. The very first day I was in there I suffered a concussion. There's a very good chance, I didn't get them all evaluated, but probably between 10 and 20 concussions during my time from 2003 – 2008. The one thing I've always said about Vince McMahon is this: he is more loyal than any person, boss or human being I've met in my life. and it's not just because he signed my paychecks for nearly a decade. I don't like it, in fact I hate it, when a certain group of people... and this was always the case when stars would leave to go somewhere else or they'd get fired because of something stupid they did, then they would blame Vince for whatever issues they had."
Coach continued:
"Vince has recognized that, so he has paid all these guys for years and years. And all he asks, all he asks, is once a year at WrestleMania they show up, sign some autographs, shake some hands and then he pays them enough to live. In response to this, what do these 50 guys do? They go out and file a lawsuit that he was not there for them and the company was not there for them when they had all these concussion issues."
"This drives me crazy because for a lot of these people this is a dream, a dream come true. It's not an easy business, it's a tough business but to come out and say the company didn't take care of you because of these concussions is just wrong, it will go away and as a former employee and a person that loves that business, it just drives me crazy and I don't like it."