|
According to PWInsider, former WCW talent Marcus “Buff” Bagwell filed a lawsuit
against WWE in US District Court of Connecticut claiming he is owed royalties
from his matches airing on the WWE Network. The suit says that Bagwell was under
contract to WWE from 1991 to 2001 after WWE purchased his contract when they
purchased WCW. Bagwell was signed to a new deal with the WWE in June 2001, for
WWE’s WCW brand, but was released after a main event against Booker T when he
was considered in no condition to perform. His suit claims the WWE deal “merged”
with his WCW contract and that the WWE contract stated: “This Agreement contains
the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter
hereof and all prior understandings, negotiations and agreements are merged into
this Agreement. There are no other agreements, representations, or warranties
not set forth herein with respect to the subject matter hereof. . .” Bagwell
claims that WWE is bound by his June 2001 WWE contract as far as payment of
royalties for pay-per-view events and home video content. The suit claims that
WWE has ignored those terms from the contract. His deal stated that WCW agreed
to pay him 5% of the Net Receipts paid to WCW with respect to the direct sale by
WCW of WCW Pay-Per-Views to a talent royalty pool. He feels that if the WWE runs
PPV content on their network then he should be paid for that. Bagwell’s also
claims that when he was released in August 2001 the deal didn’t get them out of
paying him future royalties. He also claims that the deal meant he couldn’t sue
WWE unless they broke the deal. When he got a statement from the WWE it made it
clear he wasn’t owed any royalties. Bagwell did admit that he wasn’t getting
royalties for pay-per-view or home video under his 1998 WCW deal but since he
signed a WWE contact then that doesn’t matter. The lawsuit is set up as a
class-action suit for other talents. Talents who signed a WWE Legends deal from
2004 on are exempt from the class as terms in those deals specifically note that
WWE will not pay royalties for “Internet subscriptions or video on demand fees.”
Bagwell is asking for a trial by jury. |
