Just when you thought you had heard the last of CM Punk’s name being tied to the WWE, another story has popped up. According to a report by the Cook County Record , WWE doctor Christopher Amann has filed a defamation lawsuit against CM Punk (Phil Brooks) and Colt Cabana (Scott Colton) for comments made on a podcast last fall.
Punk appeared on Cabana’s popular podcast, The Art Of Wrestling , in November and vented many of the frustrations he had with WWE during his final days with the company. One of the bombshells (or pipebombs, if you will) that Punk dropped during the show was that he had a lump on his back that was misdiagnosed by WWE’s head doctor, Amann, as a fat deposit. Punk claimed that the lump grew to the “size of a baseball” and eventually garnered a staph infection.
This wasn’t the only misdiagnosis that CM Punk claimed Amann made concerning him during his run with WWE. Punk said that at one time he was suffering from concussion symptoms, yet Amann refused to treat Punk’s situation as a concussion and prescribed him antibiotics instead.
According to the report from the Cook County Record , Amann is seeing $1 million in damages (plus an unknown amount of punitive damages) for the comments made by Punk on Cabana’s show. Amann has worked for the WWE since 2010, and he has been prominently featured many times during the E! Network’s hit WWE reality show Total Divas . According to Amann’s lawsuit, the comments made by Punk were false and defamatory. The suit goes on to contend that Punk’s words were damaging.
“…highly offensive in that they accuse [Amann] of a gross lack of integrity as a medical doctor, an inability to perform his professional duties as a medical doctor, and in placing the financial interest of his employer above life-threatening health conditions of his patients.”
Regarding the specific instances where Punk claimed to have been misdiagnosed, Amann’s lawsuit says that he “was not requested by Brooks to treat and/or excise a lump, let a lone a purple, baseball-sized lump.” Further, regarding Punk’s claim that he had a concussion that was misdiagnosed, the lawsuit contends that Amann directed Punk to leave the ring after a preliminary diagnosis of concussion. Amann argues that it was recommended for Punk to seek further tests in the training room.
Regarding the inclusion of Colt Cabana in the lawsuit, the lawsuit itself addresses the fact by saying that Cabana’s podcast helped Punk incorrectly characterize Amann as a lazy and incompetent doctor.
CM Punk and Colt Cabana have yet to respond to the lawsuit.
[Photo via Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images]