TNA V. WWE Lawsuit Dismissed

[Jack-Hammer]

According to a report first put out by F4WOnline.com, TNA's lawsuit against WWE was dismissed yesterday. The report states that TNA's attorneys filed a motion stating that all sides had come to some sort of terms that led to TNA withdrawing the lawsuit. The logical assumption is that some sort of settlement was reached, though the report itself doesn't mention any sort of specific settlement. It's possible more on what this agreement is will come to light as the days and weeks go by. If it was some sort of financial settlement, we'll probably never know the exact number. Such issues are usually confidential.

For those that aren't sure what the suit was over or have forgotten, TNA basically accused WWE of obtaining confidential contract information for the purpose of poaching talent signed to the TNA roster. The information included the salaries of all the wrestlers on the TNA roster and when their contracts were due to expire. This information was taken from TNA by former employee Brian Wittenstein, who was released by TNA in August 2011. Wittenstein did go onto later work for WWE. TNA asserts that Wittenstein violated a portion of his own contract with the company by downloading confidential information. WWE did fire Wittenstein and contacted TNA about the information that Wittenstein had taken but TNA alleges that WWE waited three weeks before contacting them and used the info to court contracted TNA talent to come work for them.

TNA's primary reason for their stance involves Ric Flair as he requested to be released from the company in order to return to WWE. Flair's request came right at the time in which all this was going down so, naturally, TNA became highly suspicious. At the same time though, there'd been several issues between Flair & TNA long before all this came about, including not showing up to events and behavioral problems out on the road.

We'll likely never know the whole story about this whole deal. Based on what I've heard about Vince, I could buy into him doing this. At the same time though, many people who have painted unfavorable pictures of Vince almost always have some sort of personal agenda going on. However, I can't for the life of me see why WWE contacted TNA and told them about what Wittenstein had done if they intended to use the info. To me, that's the one thing that really throws everything into turmoil as far as TNA's claim goes. It's not corporate espionage if company A turns around and tells company B that they have this confidential information. If WWE did wait three weeks before informing TNA, I have to wonder if they were consulting their own legal team on how to handle this and what the law stated.

I believe the writing has been on the wall for the end of this suit due to Ric Flair appearing on Raw a couple of times. Given that Flair was mentioned so prominently in the suit, WWE had to be confident in their position.

 

[Last Man Standing]

Wow that crazy if it's been dropped! Thanks for being one of the first to pass the word along. Hopefully both sides are pleased with the results. And hopefully this means some former TNA talent may be aloud to sign a WWE contract.

 

[Rayne]

A request to withdraw? They've almost certainly come to a settlement with the WWE. (The only other possibility I can think of is that TNA is in financial straits dire enough for their attorneys to be quitting on them, but I highly doubt that. It would be a very unorthodox legal maneuver to boot.)

We will likely never know the terms of the settlement, which would shed light on the legitimacy of the lawsuit. Did the WWE offer TNA a very small amount- for instance, enough to cover legal costs- to avoid the ever-present possibility of finding a sympathetic jury who believes ludicrous claims? Or did the WWE agree to implement certain business practices regarding the recruitment of talent?

The TNA performers who had been teasing moves to the WWE are all back in the TNA fold now. This very well could have been an action not directed at the WWE, but at TNA's own employees; prevent major stars coming out of contract from going to the competition, by removing the competition's desire to hire them. If that was the case, it would be an underhanded but brilliant move on the behalf of TNA, and I've never made the claim that professional wrestling is an honorable business. Not only do you send a message to the employees seeking other work, but you send a message to anyone coming out of contract; "we can make it so the WWE won't want you."

I'm curious to see what will happen on the transaction front over the next few months. Seeing who gets hired where (and who doesn't) could be a way of reading the tea leaves of this lawsuit.

 

[bxbigshow]

With Angle, Morgan, Bully, Devon, and RVD already locked up. The only two players I see here are Hardy and Pope. I doubt Pope will be brought back to the 'E', but Hardy might move...he sells shirts.

 

[Rabbid Wolverine]

I really doubt wwe cared about TNA performers, yeah they will look at TNA for talent but they look at all promotions. I think TNA was trying to get some money out of wwe, maybe they were sucessful maybe not. If TNA talent wants to jump ship, then they will contact wwe to see if there is any interest in their services, wwe doesnt need to call them unless they REALLY want them.

 

[Rayne]

I really doubt wwe cared about TNA performers, yeah they will look at TNA for talent but they look at all promotions. I think TNA was trying to get some money out of wwe, maybe they were sucessful maybe not. If TNA talent wants to jump ship, then they will contact wwe to see if there is any interest in their services, wwe doesnt need to call them unless they REALLY want them.

TNA and the WWE aren't people. They're corporations. Suing someone for money is the act of an individual who doesn't have much of it but can hire someone on contingency; or the act of an individual who is a serial litigator by profession. You aren't going to get enough money to operate a global company based on one lawsuit, or even enough to make a meaningful contribution to that.

The reason why corporations sue each other is to settle the terms of how they will compete economically. It is the exception, rather than the rule, when there is a very large cash settlement in a case where one corporation is suing another. (It's far more common when an individual or group of individuals sues a corporation.) There is a strong impetus to settle, because every once in a while, you get that idiot jury that returns a $300 million verdict.

That being said, the WWE is financially capable of performing a talent buyout of TNA; not necessarily because they'd want the talent for themselves, but to keep that talent out of TNA, weakening them in the process. (Because the people that operate the WWE are fools who think that marketing is a zero-sum game, but that's another tale.) The WWE can offer more money, and board, please don't make me explain again why Panda Energy isn't TNA's limitless piggy bank. The only defense TNA would have against this strategy would be to stagger the expiration dates of the contracts of their stars- and to bring an unrelated action against the WWE, reducing their desire to hire the WWE's stars.

I'm not saying I think that's what happened. But the least likely possibility is that TNA was looking for a financial payout. This was a lawsuit about settling the rules for how the WWE can come after TNA's performers- not just for the WWE, but for the performers in TNA as well.