Credit: Bleacher Report
\n By Bethany Krajelis <\/p>\n
A ringside doctor for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) hit two former wrestlers with a defamation lawsuit Thursday.<\/p>\n
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, focuses on statements Phillip Jack Brooks and Scott Colton\u2013 known to WWE fans as CM Punk and Colt Cabana, respectively \u2014 made about Dr. Christopher M. Amann last year on Colton\u2019s \u201cThe Art of Wrestling\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n
Amann, a Will County resident who has worked as the senior ringside physician for WWE since 2010, claims the duo\u2019s statements were false, defamatory and put him a false light by improperly insinuating \u201ca lack of integrity \u2026 and\/or inability or lack of competence to perform his professional duties as a medical doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claiming his reputation has suffered as a result of the former WWE wrestlers\u2019 comments, Amann is seeking more than $1 million in compensatory damages, as well as an undetermined amount of punitive damages.<\/p>\n
During the Nov. 26 episode of Colton\u2019s weekly podcast, Amann says Brooks \u201crepeatedly and falsely impugned the integrity\u201d of him as a doctor by saying he misdiagnosed a growth on the wrestler\u2019s back as a fatty deposit and disregarded requests to remove it.<\/p>\n
Brooks went on to say \u201cthe lump grew to the size of a baseball, was purple and morphed into a life-threatening, \u2018full-blown\u2019 MRSA staph infection,\u201d according to Amann\u2019s suit, which includes a lengthy transcript of the episode as an exhibit.<\/p>\n
Brooks, who has transitioned into world of Mixed Martial Arts since his departure from the WWE last year, said it wasn\u2019t until he went to his wife\u2019s doctor that he learned the lump was a serious infection and was told he could have died from it.<\/p>\n
That doctor, according to Brooks, cut and squeezed out the lump\u2019s contents in what he described to listeners as \u201cthe most painful experience of my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the episode, Brooks also said Amann didn\u2019t know how to treat a concussion, saying the doctor once prescribed him antibiotics for a concussion. He explained that when he was struck by his opponent during his Royal Rumble match last year, he motioned to Amann and told him he had a concussion.<\/p>\n
\u201c[A]nd he was like, \u2018What do you want me to do?\u2019 And I just started laughing and I was like, \u2018Doctor, you are one of the most worthless piece of s**t I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d Brooks said on Colton\u2019s podcast.<\/p>\n
Amann says all of the statements Brooks and Colton, both of whom live in Cook County, made, literally and in their implications, are false.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmann was not requested by Brooks to treat and\/or excise a lump, let a lone a purple, baseball-sized lump,\u201d the suit asserts, further alleging that Brooks never sought treatment for or showed him a lump and that he never prescribed Brooks antibiotics for a lump or concussion.<\/p>\n
Contrary to the former WWE wrestler\u2019s statements, Amann says he followed proper protocol by directing Brooks to leave the ring after a preliminary diagnosis of a possible concussion and even requested further evaluation and treatment in the training room.<\/p>\n
In regards to Colton, who left the WWE in 2009 and hosts the weekly podcast that features interviews with professional wrestlers, the suit alleges he helped Brooks falsely depict Amann as a lazy and bad doctor by urging listeners to \u201chear the struggle\u201d in what Brooks was saying so they could understand why he retired.<\/p>\n
Amann claims Brooks and Colton \u201cknowingly fabricated the false and disparaging statements\u201d about him, knowing they would be heard by third parties, such as WWE fans and the media, given their celebrity statuses.<\/p>\n
The suit says the Nov. 26 episode of Colton\u2019s podcast has been streamed more than 1 million times on YouTube and more than 10,000 times on SoundCloud, in addition to downloads on iTunes and other websites.<\/p>\n
The statements they made were also picked up and reported on by media outlets, including the Washington Post, as well as online sites like Buzzfeed and several sports and WWE-related blogs.<\/p>\n
In his complaint, Amann says the statements made the defendants \u201care highly offensive in that they accuse [him] of a gross lack of integrity as a medical doctor, an inability to perform his professional duties as a medical doctor, and in placing the financial interest of his employer above life-threatening health conditions of his patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amann is represented by Phillip J. Zisook and Brian D. Saucier of Deutsch, Levy & Engel in Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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