When CM Punk left WWE in 2014, he and friend Colt Cabana published a no holds barred podcast where Punk held an exposé of backstage WWE blunders. At the time it was just good fodder, but in 2018 he’s going to have to retell that story to a judge.
The Wrestling Observer reports that the lawsuit filed against Punk and Cabana by WWE doctor, Chris Amann is headed to trial. This is a rather serious development as most believed the parties would settle out of court.
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Amann is suing Punk and Cabana for $1,000,000 in damages, plus additional punitive damages for knowingly fabricating statements, publishing statements with negligence, and failing to investigate the veracity of the statements made on the podcast. Amann said he suffered the injury to his reputation as a doctor due to the defamatory claims.
In the original podcast, Punk said that Amann dismissed a “fatty deposit” in Punk’s back and prescribed an ineffective antibiotic regime that caused extreme illness. The growth was identified a potential case of MRSA, a very serious infection.
Even more, Punk alleged that Amann was blasé about a concussion Punk suffered during the 2014 Royal Rumble.
Those claims ignited the internet, and Amann, who was already being painted in a negative light, had his name drug their the muck of social media.
However, it’s Amann who is in the position of power as he now has both Punk and Cabana on the proverbial ropes.
Punk has since insisted that WWE is bankrolling Amann’s lawsuit while Punk and Cabana hemorrhage money in hopes of keeping monetary pace. While Punk seems annoyed by the extra expenditures, its Cabana who lacks the WWE success of Punk, who’s sweating the ballooning legal fees.
“The update is that it’s still going on, it’s costing me a lot of money, and that’s the extent that my lawyers will allow me to talk,” Cabana told LAW. “So nothing breaking here, but just do know that it’s always on my mind, it’s always a very sad thing. And I’ve talked to other podcasters… it’s kind of changed the way that he’s worked and realizing that this is a reality that you can host a show and get sued for it.”
We’ll keep you posted as this one develops.
[H/T Cagesideseats, PWInsider]
