10 Wrestlers Who Sued WCW

Being a top-level professional wrestling organisation in the United States of America often leads to a lawsuit being filed against you by a former wrestler. WWE certainly know this and AEW are starting to find out, while WCW’s legal department were never short of a lawsuit to deal with. 

From wrongful termination and racial discrimination to trademark infringement and defamation, the Turner-backed organisation often needed to be the place Where The Big Attorneys Played. 

These are 10 Wrestlers Who Sued WCW. 

10. Ricky Steamboat

Ricky Steamboat was, by all accounts, a model professional who put in the effort every single night and did whatever he could to make his opponents look good, sometimes making them much better than they actually were. 

The former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion’s glittering career came to a sudden end when he suffered a devastating back injury in defeating Steve Austin for the US Title at the 28th Clash of the Champions special in August of 1994. 

In a cruel move, WCW decided to terminate The Dragon’s contract 10 weeks before it ran out. Incensed by this, Steamboat decided to sue the promotion for wrongful termination, since he was injured while they did it. 

It’s unclear exactly how this played out, though it did prevent Ricky and the company from doing anything together before WCW went out of business in March of 2001. 

In April of 1998, Steamboat then threatened WCW star Ultimo Dragon with a lawsuit for using the name ‘Dragon’, which Ricky had trademarked for usage as a pro wrestler in the United States. No word on how this played out either, but Ultimo kept the ‘Dragon’ part of his name, so it doesn’t look like it went very far.

9. Kevin Nash

Around the time he signed a lucrative contract to return to WWE as part of the rebooted New World Order, Kevin Nash filed a lawsuit against Time Warner (the parent company of WCW) claiming that he had failed to receive the proper amount in royalties during his almost five-year run with the company. 

The suit, filed in Fulton County State Court, claimed that WCW engaged in practices to deliberately avoid paying wrestlers millions of dollars owed from merchandise. Mid-card talent had already found out that their merchandise was being scanned in stores as purchases for Hogan, Sting and Dennis Rodman. 

Nash was specifically looking for unpaid royalties on nWo, Outsiders and Wolfpac merchandise – plus interest. Big Sexy’s big contract had stipulated that WCW provide him with quarterly royalty statements, something the suit claimed the company never did. 

Two decades later, Nash revealed that he received a 16.7% royalty on any nWo t-shirt sold. Given their evergreen popularity, the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion is, to this day, able to use this as retirement money. 

8. Sid Vicious

For all intents and purposes, the professional wrestling career of Sid Eudy came to an end at the WCW Sin pay-per-view on January 14, 2001 when The Master and Ruler of the World suffered a horrific leg injury while attempting to perform a jumping kick off the middle rope. 

The spot wasn’t a Sid idea, but rather backstage agent John Laurinaitis, who was tasked with helping to piece the main event together. Sid was hesitant to perform the move (which he’d never done before), but ultimately caved to the pressure and paid a heavy price. 

Sometime later, Eudy - whose pay was reduced after the incident prior to his contract being terminated in June of 2001 - filed suit against WCW and Laurinaitis, citing breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent infliction of emotional distress, tortious interference with contractual relations and unjust enrichment (because WCW had teased footage of the incident on Nitro the next night). 

The court ultimately sided with WCW, while Sid (who also wanted his attorney fees paid for) had an appeal rejected in 2005. 

7. Missy Hyatt

After being fired by WCW in February of 1994, manager, interviewer, backstage personality and 900-number host Missy Hyatt filed a lawsuit against the promotion. 

Her claims (which were investigated by Georgia’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) included sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliation. As well as unwanted advances, lewd remarks and groping, Missy also claimed that she was being severely underpaid in comparison to male talent in similar roles and had not received proper royalties as it pertained to merchandise or her work on the lucrative WCW hotline. 

WCW, Turner Broadcasting Systems, Eric Bischoff and WCW EVP Bob Dhue were listed in the suit, with Bischoff contending that he fired Hyatt due to her unprofessional behaviour, in particular her apparent jealousy of the recently arrived Sherri Martel. 

Turner ultimately settled out of court in late ‘95, which they were known to do when it came to lawsuits in this era. Many years later, Missy noted that she filed suit not so much due to the sexual harassment, but because she knew for a fact she wasn’t being compensated fairly. 

6. Mr. Fuji

While Mr. Fuji didn’t technically sue WCW, the professional wrestling enterprise was very much involved in his litigation. In 1999, Harry Fujiwara filed a $1.5 million lawsuit in the US District Court in Knoxville against Nintendo and THQ, because in the WCW Vs. nWo World Tour video game there was a character called Master Fuji, a name he had at times used in WWE. 

Though it turned out that the game was an Americanised version of the Japanese Virtual Pro Wrestling game and that Master Fuji was actually based on Yoshiaki Fujiwara (who bore no similarity to Mr Fuji), the suit was apparently settled in Fujiwara’s favour. 

No word on how much he got, but Fuji – who had retired from the business in 1996 – continued to work as a part-time usher at a cinema afterwards.  

5. Rick Rude

On May 1, 1994, Rick Rude’s in-ring career came to an end. 

The WCW star was wrestling overseas for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, successfully defeating Sting for the WCW International Heavyweight Title in a match that took place in front of 50,000 fans. During the bout, however, Sting hit Rude with a dive to the outside and Ravishing Rick’s back fell on the edge of an elevated platform, causing a career-ending injury. 

That October, Rude (who had been fired by WCW) filed a $630,000 lawsuit against the company. Rude, who was bitter about how his career ended and personally blamed the Stinger for it, also sued his opponent from that fateful night. 

It was known that there was a lot of heat between the two men, which apparently didn’t get any better due to some of the things that Sting had said about Rude during his deposition in Rude’s suit against WCW. 

Rick ultimately opted to settle the suit in November of 1997 when he decided to jump to WCW in the wake of the Montreal Screwjob.

4. Ranger Ross

Playing off his experience as a paratrooper in the United States Army, Robert Lee Ross Jr. decided to give pro wrestling a shot in the mid-1980s. 

After a few years of gaining experience in various territories, Ross got a gig with Jim Crockett Promotions and was a regular presence on television, notably wrestling the likes of Kevin Sullivan, Terry Funk and The Great Muta.

His bookings dwindled as he became an enhancement talent, however, and Ranger Ross made his last WCW appearance in a battle royal at the 16th Clash of the Champions in September of 1991. 

Feeling he hadn’t been given a fair shake due to the colour of his skin, Ross filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against WCW in June of 1993. Ross claimed he wasn’t pushed as hard or paid as well as his Caucasian co-workers and suggested that his firing was racially motivated.

The courts disagreed and, in October of 1994, sided in favour of WCW after the judge determined Ross, as an independent contractor, couldn’t sue for discrimination. The court also noted that Ross wouldn’t be considered discriminated against anyway, since he made more money than about two-thirds of the roster and was released alongside nine other white wrestlers for budgetary reasons.

3. Charlie Norris

Charlie ‘Thunderblood’ Norris was at one point under consideration to be signed by WWE, but they went with Tatanka instead and Norris had to settle for a fleeting WCW push in 1993. 

WCW had high hopes for the Native American, but he wasn’t very good in the ring and didn’t get over as they had envisioned and he left after just four months.

In November of 1994, Charlie filed suit in the US District Court of Minnesota, suing both WCW and road agent Greg Gagne specifically for breach of contract and racial discrimination. Norris claimed he was asked to perform stereotypical and demeaning Indian actions as part of his routine and that, though he initially placated his superiors, he was fired when he refused to continue.

He claimed that Gagne referred to him as ‘Big Chief’ and tried to teach him how to do a ‘war dance’, while also alleging that WCW cut his pay from $1,500 per week to $800.

Norris later blamed Eric Bischoff for not honouring the contract he worked out with Ole Anderson when Bischoff took over and noted that Jesse Ventura and Sid Vicious were two of his star witnesses in court. Norris ultimately made out with a reported $50,000.

2. Sonny Onoo

Japanese manager Sonny Onoo was the lead plaintiff in the most famous racial discrimination lawsuit filed against WCW, which saw 10 performers sue the company in 2000.

Onoo – who was compelled to sue for unfair dismissal when Vince Russo fired him around the same time he openly admitted he didn’t want to use Asian or Mexican talent – was joined by the likes of Hardbody Harrison, Thunderbolt Patterson and Hardwork Bobby Walker in suing WCW for racial discrimination. 

The lawsuit documents alleged a tonne of unsavoury behaviour when it came to how company higher-ups treated Asian and African American performers. WCW may have kicked the bucket in March of 2001, but the lawsuit dragged on for another couple of years before being settled in arbitration during the summer of 2003. 

1. Hulk Hogan

At the 2000 Bash at the Beach pay-per-view, Vince Russo cut a shoot promo on Hulk Hogan after The Hulkster had ‘beaten’ Jeff Jarrett to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title in a worked-shoot match-come-angle.

Since Russo had gone into business for himself and criticised Hogan’s character, Terry Bolea went to the courts and sued WCW for breach of contract – for not making him the featured performer at the show and for not allowing him to exercise his creative control clause – while also suing for defamation and false light invasion of privacy because of Russo’s promo. 

WCW countersued, claiming breach of contract as Hogan did not work the rest of his six contractually obligated pay-per-view matches for the year. 

In the end, a court sided with Russo as far as the defamation claim went, while Time Warner and Bollea settled their beef confidentially.