Michael Elgin is suing Impact Wrestling.
The lawsuit was filed by Elgin on February 8 in the Circuit Court of Davidson County, Tennessee. Elgin is seeking "not less than" five million dollars in compensatory damages.
According to documents obtained by PWInsider, Elgin is claiming Impact breached their contract by removing him from its programming in June 2020 following allegations made against him during the #SpeakingOut movement.
"A career in wrestling is not comparable to a normal employment opportunity. The wrestler's reputation and fame is dependent upon the entertainment and content company to deliver television programming to the mutual benefit of the wrestler and entertainment company," the lawsuit reads.
Elgin is also claiming that Impact prevented him from working for Pro Wrestling NOAH in December 2020, damaging his reputation in Japan.
On June 22, 2020, Impact announced the termination of Joey Ryan and Dave Crist following allegations against them as part of #SpeakingOut. The company also revealed that Elgin was suspended pending a further investigation.
Impact then released a statement on June 26, 2020 announcing that Elgin would no longer appear on its programming,
The lawsuit alleges that Elgin was told by Scott D'Amore that there "would be no investigation into allegations." It also alleges that D'Amore later confirmed there was no investigation, stating in an email to Elgin that "the company's decision not to utilize you in further programming was not based on any investigation beyond the public disclosures (and your responses thereto) at the time."
Elgin posted a statement on his social media this week stating that Impact made it appear as though he had been fired from the company.
"In June of 2020, Impact Wrestling made it seem to the public that they had fired me after an investigation," Elgin wrote. "I found 12 plus wrestling websites that reported Impact Wrestling had fired me due to allegations."
Elgin's contract with Impact was set to expire on April 15, 2022, but according to his social media post, he has not received payment from the company since February 15, 2022 due to the lawsuit he filed against Impact, leading him to be a free agent sooner than expected.
Elgin also released a 15-minute YouTube video this week explaining his reasons for filing the lawsuit.
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