According to a report by Mike Johnson, WWE has petitioned for the lawsuit being brought against the company and Paul “Big Show” Wight by former employee Andrew Green to be removed from the Arizona State Court and moved instead to federal court. Attorneys for WWE argued on 5/9 that since the lawsuit revolves around a video that was posted on the internet on WWE.com, it would fall under federal law.
In the complaint, Green states his job with WWE was to film post-match interviews with wrestlers that were later posted to WWE.com and YouTube. When Big Show refused to take part in an interview, Green informed him that former WWE Senior Vice President Eric Pankowski wanted the interview.
The compaint lists the following incident in detail adding, “In response, Big Show stated with the use of profanely indecent language that if Green wanted an interview then he would give him one, and to turn on the camera. Big Show toward Green enraged, shouting obscenities, and waving his fist in Green’s face. Big Show then grabbed Green by the collar and throat, striking Green in the face and backing him up against a trunk while declaring ‘You son of a bitch … Are you having fun right now … Don’t even come up to me again … I don’t give a shit who you are’.”
The entire incident was filmed and later added to WWE.com and YouTube. It is claimed the clip had over 100,000 views and was later removed on 1/29 by WWE. The complaint noted, “Upon information and belief, Big Show was not feigning his emotional outburst at the time of the attack.” Green was later told to reshoot the interview by Paul “Triple H” Levesque. According to the complaint, “Triple H asked Big Show to muster the same emotional level for the third interview as he had with the original shoot, that being the attack. In response, Big Show said that he did not think he would be able to do that because his emotions in the original shoot had been real.”
Green said he was unable to work with WWE following the incident because he “was uncomfortable working around Big Show and the other wrestlers, nervous, and had ‘a ton of anxiety’ as a result of the attack.” Green also added that WWE “encouraged its wrestlers, including Big Show, to act in a violent and threatening manner both inside and outside of the wrestling ring relative to their appearances and participation in staged wrestling events as a means of entertainment.” Green and his wife are seeking damages for assault and negligence. WWE has yet to publicly respond to the lawsuit.
Source: PWInsider.com, Courthouse News Service