X-Pac welcomes WrestleZone’s Ross Berman & Nick Hausman to the show. Berman and Hausman reported live on the recent trial between CM Punk, Colt Cabana and Dr. Amann.
Both Berman and Hausman inform that they felt an obligation to cover the trial live since they were based in Chicago and that’s where the trial took place. Berman considered the opportunity to cover this case a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity and he was excited to bring this trial to all the wrestling fans around the world.
Berman notes that the court room was quite small, and WrestleZone was basically the only media in the courtroom during the trial. He adds that at the end of the trial all the jury members wanted to take pictures and talk with CM Punk and Colt Cabana and this was eye-opening to him. He understood then that both these men are still quite popular.
Hausman notes that Dr. Amann seemed quite confident throughout the entire trial. He says that Amann seems like a nice guy and although he mightn’t be an extrovert like Punk or Cabana, he’s sure Amann is a good man and a good Doctor. The only thing that appeared to show Amann in a negative light was his medical paperwork history.
Hausman believes that Amann and his legal team simply asked too much in punitive damages. From what they understood, Amann was asking for roughly $4 Million each from Punk and Cabana, and Hausman thinks this was too much. He thinks a more realistic figure like $50,000 would have had a greater chance of success with the jury. X-Pac believes Amann had his feelings hurt by that podcast.
Hausman also thinks some older wrestlers might pick up on some of the medical revelations that came to be in this case, and form a case of their own against WWE or WWE’s doctors. He thinks there will be more cases similar to this one in the future.
He also notes that Amann’s case mightn’t have been the best case scenario for trying a situation like this in court. People have been ridiculed on podcasts before a lost their livelihood, jobs, marriages, and more over things that were said about them. In this case, Dr. Amann didn’t really lose anything. Hausman is actually surprised that Punk and Cabana didn’t counter-sue but X-Pac isn’t. He notes that this trial took up a lot of their time and energy, and counter-suing at that point is not something he’d recommend.
X-Pac notes that WWE has made huge strides over the years in terms of how they take care of their employees. He can’t really discuss what happens there now because he’s not around that often, but from the time he debuted there to the time he walked away they had made significant strides. He also can’t remember a situation where he wasn’t completely taken care of by WWE during his time working there.
X-Pac informs that WWE employees are insured if an injury happens in a WWE ring. He also notes that every performer there has enough money to buy their own health insurance and that’s something that they should do. He recalls getting a lot of heat prior to 2000 for asking about group medical in WWE. That was a little too close to Union talk for WWE’s liking and he got in some hot water over that.
Hausman thought Dr. Amann had a good lawyer, but the closing argument ran 90 minutes which he thought was too long. He also thought Punk and Cabana’s lawyers did a better job of talking to the working-class jurors.
X-Pac says he’s going to go out on a limb and say that it must have been absolutely impossible for Punk to focus on his MMA training when he had this court case hanging over his head as well. He thinks that negatively affected Punk’s UFC 225 performance.
Hausman informs that Punk’s first reaction after hearing the verdict delivered was saying, “I want to hit something.” Hausman could tell that Punk was eager to resume his MMA training. Hausman also spoke to Punk following the trial and asked him if he was All In, to which Punk responded, “No”. Hausman thinks that was a legitimate answer.
X-Pac thinks WWE would bring Punk back under the right circumstances. He also thinks it’s only a matter of time before Punk returns to the wrestling business in some form or fashion, whether it be in 2 months or in 10 years.
Regarding Punk’s friendship with Cabana, Hausman notes that as the trial went on they seemed to be having more friendly moments, and he partially recalls a handshake and an embrace between the two men after the verdict was delivered. Regardless, if there are issues between them they didn’t make that evident to the jurors.
Hausman notes that a very entertaining show idea for the WWE Network would be “Wrestler’s Court”. X-Pac informs that he actually invented Wrestler’s Court, and Billy Gunn was the first wrestler to go on trial.
X-Pac says he’s happy to see David Arquette get back involved in wrestling. Arquette was a pretty big star when he made guest appearance for WCW in 2000, and this was at a time when few big stars wanted anything to do with the wrestling business. He thinks it’s unfair that Arquette has become somewhat of a meme in the wrestling business due to his WCW World Heavyweight Championship run because Arquette wasn’t the one who wrote that.
X-Pac speaks about the recent murder/suicide at the hands of former ECW wrestler, Rockin Rebel. X-Pac received a text from another ECW original recently saying that Rockin Rebel’s wife lived in fear and tried to leave on multiple occasions, but he’d threaten to kill himself and this forced her to stay. He points out that it seems like a lot of people failed this woman and now their two kids have to grow up without a mom, and that really pisses him off.
That sums up this week’s episode of X-Pac 1, 2, 360. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
