10 Wrestlers Who Were Sued By Fans

Litigation and pro wrestling are no strangers to each other, with wrestlers suing promotions, promotions suing wrestlers, and wrestlers suing each other for various reasons for decades. Somewhat rarer, though, is when a fan will decide to take a pro wrestler to court, though such cases are far from unheard of. 

This is 10 Wrestlers Who Were Sued By Fans. 

10. 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan

Mid-South Wrestling booker ‘Cowboy’ Bill Watts had a rule that said any wrestler who lost a bar fight would be fired, since it would diminish the wrestler’s credibility in the eyes of the fans once word got out. 

‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan took that one step further, though. While working as a heel during a tag team main event at a show in Monroe, Louisiana in 1984, Duggan was struck in the face by a cup of ice. Identifying 17-year-old fan Victor Caldwell as the culprit, Duggan vowed to ‘get the son of a b*tch’ and made a beeline for him, only to be cut off by Caldwell’s brother-in-law, the 40-year-old Donald Sills. 

According to eyewitness accounts, Hacksaw rocked Sills (who had adopted a defensive position) with two punches to his eye, causing an orbital bone fracture. 

Sills sued Duggan and Mid-South, with a Louisiana court ultimately finding Duggan responsible, surmising that he had instigated the confrontation and used excessive force. The court ordered Hacksaw to pay Sills $25,432. Duggan appealed the ruling but his appeal was denied. 

9. The Rock & Triple H

Most fans remember the Judgment Day 2000 Iron Man match main event between WWE Champion The Rock and Triple H for its frantic ending, which saw the return of The Undertaker in his new ‘American Badass’ guise. For one fan who was there that night, however, the match was remembered for something else entirely. 

In 2011, 17-year-old Ronald Basham sued WWE, The Rock, and Triple H for an injury he allegedly suffered while the two men were brawling in the crowd that night.

Accusing the three parties of ‘reckless, wilful and wanton conduct’, Basham claimed the in-crowd brawling caused a chain reaction that resulted in a woman falling on top of him, resulting in the then-seven-year-old sustaining leg and knee injuries that cost his family $37,000 in medical bills. Basham, and his attorney Harris Berman, accused WWE of failing to properly stage the match or provide adequate security for fans. 

Only days after the suit was filed, however, TMZ reported that Basham not only played high school football but also raced stock cars, a hobby that was well documented on his Facebook page, including with a photo of him in a stock car crashed into a wall. 

It appears the case never progressed and there is little on the internet about it following January 2011. 

8. Paul Wight

Following the June 15, 1998, edition of WCW Nitro at the Nassau Coliseum, Paul Wight – AKA The Giant – went to check in at a nearby Marriott Hotel when he was approached by an unruly fan. 

Robert Sawyer, who was six foot six and close to 225 pounds, confronted The Giant in the hotel bar and repeatedly insulted the WCW talent. Wight asked Sawyer to stop and when the fan - who had already been drinking at the WCW show - shoved Wight, The Giant punched Sawyer, breaking his jaw. 

Wight was charged with third-degree assault but the charges were dismissed after Judge Thomas Feinman reviewed CCTV footage and concluded Sawyer was ‘irrational’ and ‘out of control’ on the night of the incident. Sawyer – who had tried to start a fight with Kevin Nash earlier that night – was found to have caused the confrontation and Wight had simply acted in self-defence. 

7. Ron Garvin

While wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling on a show in Wheeling, West Virginia, on August 8, 1983, Ron Garvin got into a heated confrontation with Argel Johnson, a 19-year-old fan who he ended up head-butting. Johnson claimed that other fans and wrestlers witnessed the attack, which gave him no major injuries but left him in considerable pain.

The case arrived in court four years later and a judge found Garvin liable, at which point he was ordered to pay Johnson $455,000 in damages, plus court fees. However, Johnson’s lawyer at the time expressed doubt that his client would receive any of the money, since Garvin didn’t show up to the trial or respond to any notices regarding the case. 

The lawsuit also did nothing to halt Garvin's career as he debuted with the World Wrestling Federation in 1988 as "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin. The veteran continued wrestling until 2014.

6. Rob Van Dam

Prior to wrestling Bobby Duncum Jr. at an ECW show in Allentown, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1997, RVD was cutting a promo when a fan dumped a bottle of water over his head. Van Dam, who was then portraying a heel defector who occasionally appeared on WWE TV, ripped the fan's shirt and spat in his face in retaliation. The fan, feeling he had been assaulted, subsequently sued ECW and RVD. 

According to Van Dam, the fan wildly embellished his story in court, claiming the wrestler picked him up over his head, spun him around and slammed him into the guardrail. The fan ultimately ended up being awarded damages, which ECW paid. The fan then later showed up at ECW shows holding an ‘I SUED RVD’ sign. 

In 2007, Van Dam was once again sued by a fan who claimed that he had spat at her during his entrance at WrestleMania 23, though it appears this lawsuit didn’t go anywhere. 

5. The Sandman

With a cigarette between his lips and a beer in hand, The Sandman’s epic entrance to Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ was often the high point of his entire act. The entrance led to issues in 2006, however, as Karlene Boutwell, a fan at an ECW on Sci-Fi taping on August 8, claimed The Sandman assaulted her during his entrance. 

Boutwell claimed in a lawsuit she filed against The Sandman and WWE in April 2007 that the wrestler picked her up and threw her down, which was not only humiliating but injured her. WWE denied the claims and offered video evidence of the entrance as proof, while also stating they were not liable for any ‘attack’ since The Sandman was an independent contractor, not an employee.

Boutwell sought $100,000 in damages but she ended up being ordered to pay all court costs when her case was thrown out in April of 2008.

4. Jerry Lawler

In the Summer of 2019, Jerry Lawyer’s former podcast host Glenn Moore was accused of scamming Lawler’s fans out of thousands of dollars by selling them artwork done by The King and then never sending it out. 

Jason Laurie was one such fan who paid around $1,500 for a piece he never received (a painting of his beloved cat) and filed suit against Lawler and Moore. Lawler said he was shocked by the accusations and unaware of Moore’s scam. He offered to do the painting Laurie had paid for, but claimed Laurie was only interested in getting his money back. 

Jerry’s legal team advised him to settle for $1,500, but Lawler decided to listen to what the judge had to say and was pleased when they ruled that Moore did not act as an ‘agent’ but as a loose ‘facilitator’ for Lawler and that Laurie’s suit did not meet the burden of proof. Moore, meanwhile, disappeared off the grid and was a no-show in court. 

3. Randy Savage

Randy Savage was known for his intensity in the ring but that intensity spilled over on April 30, 1986 ahead of a WWE Intercontinental Title defence against Tito Santana in Fresno, California. 

According to reports, Randy was hit with a flying soda when he suddenly turned around and threw a punch at who he suspected were the offending fans. Unfortunately, they ducked and he ended up hitting 14-year-old Barbara Cope - whose stepfather worked as event security and was friendly with many of the wrestlers - by accident. 

She was knocked out cold, had her two front teeth knocked out and suffered a concussion. Decades later, she still had issues with her right eye. 

Cope’s family subsequently filed suit against WWE and Savage, who felt terrible about the incident. They eventually settled for $6,000, though Barbara herself never saw any of the money after fees and costs. Her family also used some of the money on a failed business venture.

2. Stan Lane

On May 29, 1987, The Rock N' Roll Express defeated the Midnight Express in the main event of a house show for Jim Crockett Promotions at the Civic Center in Beckley, West Virginia. The match was a routine piece of business for two teams that had met countless times, but the post-match scene did not match the nightly script.

After a fan had thrown a wooden aisle marker that struck the shoulder of ‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton into the ring, ‘Sweet’ Stan Lane jumped into the crowd to defend his tag partner’s honour. 

Regrettably, Lane got the wrong guy and ended up punching Roy Massey – a disabled coal miner in his sixties – in the face. The blow fractured Massey’s orbital bone, along with injuring other bones in his face, landing him in the hospital for eight days. 

Massey and his wife duly filed suit against Lane, Jim Crockett Promotions, and the security company hired for the event. The case ended up going to the West Virginia Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of Massey while finding all defendants responsible to a certain degree. 

In a 2001 shoot interview, Lane claimed to have paid Massey $450,000 to settle, rather than go to court and be held liable for substantially more.

1. Kevin Nash

It was a common sight during the Monday Night Wars to see the villainous New World Order showered with paper, cups and other debris as they ran roughshod over WCW. 

It was a sign that the nWo had strong heat, but Kevin Nash didn’t appreciate it when he, Scott Hall and Syxx Pac ‘invaded’ MTV’s coverage of Spring Break in 1997. After one unruly fan threw a rock at his head, Nash jumped off the stage, ran after him and threw him down hard in the sand, while Hall chastised the lax security presence and threatened to leave if it didn’t improve. 

The teenager was arrested for throwing the rocks (and spent nine months in jail for it, per Nash), but he and his parents decided to file legal action against Nash and WCW afterwards. Nash called the plaintiff’s lawyer, who had not been made aware of his client’s arrest, and agreed to settle for a single dollar, as the lawyer was afraid of his client being countersued. Nash also sent the college student a letter written in red crayon.