Former professional wrestler Marcus “Buff” Bagwell sued World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) on Tuesday, August 9, alleging Bagwell and other wrestlers were denied royalties by WWE. Specifically, the proposed class action suit claims WWE sold pay-per-view content and matches through the WWE Network, a Netflix-type streaming service for fans, and breached contracts with the wrestlers by not paying royalties.
Bagwell claims his World Championship Wrestling (WCW) contract stated he would receive royalties for pay-per-view videos he appeared in through video cassettes, discs, and CD-ROMs, as well as through “technology not yet created.” When WWE absorbed his contract from WCW, Bagwell claims the contract language retained its force, and that WWE owes the plaintiff wrestlers millions of dollars in royalties stemming from widespread viewership of the WWE Network.
Bagwell’s counsel, from Connecticut-based Tooher Wocl & Leydon and Chicago-based Krislov & Associates, recently made similar claims on behalf of former professional wrestler Rene Goguen. Those charges were dropped on April 11 of this year, supposedly because Goguen signed a waiver which ruled him out from receiving royalties of any kind from the WWE.