The legal battle between CM Punk and Dr. Chris Amann, the chief physician for WWE at the time, caused chaos in the wrestling industry in 2014. This lawsuit brought to light the medical procedures used in professional wrestling and examined tensions behind the scenes.
Dr. Chris Amann sued CM Punk and Colt Cabana, alleging defamation over comments made on a podcast in 2014 and demanded damages of nearly $1 million. CM Punk and Colt Cabana recently won the case, and Punk won the hearts of millions making a surprise return this year.
CM Punk revealed his unpleasant predicament on SmackDown
CM Punk, an integral part of WWE from 2005 to 2014, garnered more attention than The Brahma Bull when he returned this year. There was a lot of controversy surrounding Punk’s 2014 WWE departure, which was publicly revealed in an interview with Colt Cabana for his podcast “The Art of Wrestling.” He leveled accusations of abuse against WWE and its medical personnel, naming Dr.Chris Amann in particular.
Punk stated in the podcast, “After the European tour, the whole European tour I’m dry heaving after every match … I’m on all fours after every match, and I’m either puking for real or I’m just dry heaving because I don’t have anything in my stomach. I have no appetite. I don’t know what is up and what is down. I can’t sleep, I can’t [expletive] train. Doc—Doc is giving me—Doc’s like, ‘Oh you’re sick, here’s a ZPak.’ They Z-Pakked me to death, so much that in December I [defecated] my pants on a SmackDown because that’s what antibiotics do to you, right?”
This prompted Amann to take legal action in February 2015 by suing CM Punk. Amann thought his reputation took a hit, even though it was hardly mentioned in the podcast. He said that fans were bothering and making fun of him, and that the show hurt his business, though it was hard to say exactly how much it hurt him financially.
The podcast only referenced Amann twice, but he nevertheless claimed mental pain, referring to “negative catcalls at wrestling matches” and an inflow of “negative tweets” after it aired.
CM Punk’s lawsuit with former WWE Doctor Chris Amann
CM Punk has prevailed in court after defending himself against a defamation claim brought by WWE doctor Chris Amann. The case was filed in 2015 after comments made in a podcast in 2014 prompted it, and it sought almost $4 million in damages. The November 2014 appearance of Punk and Colt Cabana on the Art of Wrestling podcast was the cause of Amann’s legal action.
Backstage at WWE is where the feud between Punk and Amann began. Before leaving WWE, Punk discussed his health difficulties, including a buttock lump he thought was a staph infection. Punk voiced his displeasure with the WWE medical personnel.
He also accused Amann of inadequately treating the growth; however, Amann denies ever seeing the abnormality. A physician’s assistant suspected a staph infection in the lump; however, further testing could not corroborate this.
