Konnan's got issues

[Guest Ransik]

from gerweck [quote]As previously reported, Konnan has filed a lawsuit against TNA Wrestling claiming among other things racial discrimination, drug usage among top people and failure to pay for surgery. He underwent a hip replacement in 2007 and was loaned the money where as the company paid for Scott Steiner's throat surgery which he suffered during a show in Puerto Rico. After surgery, he still appeared on TNA television on a wheelchair. In July of the same year, he underwent kidney transplant after a fan decided to help out and donate his own kidney. The lawsuit says that TNA has 30 days to respond or reach settlement out of court. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)[/quote] What the hell is wrong with Konnan? LAX was turning into the hottest thing in TNA until he started throwing his tantrums when he got sick and walked out... Joe is walking out with the TNA Title at Lockdown... they signed the most decorated African American wrestling name in history in Booker T.... where the hell does he think he has a case? And I'd like to think Scott Steiner being a couple hours away from death would be a good reason that TNA paid for the surgery since they sent him down there to wrestle. This'll never reach court nor will Konnan ever see a dime... I've lost all respect for him.

[Akki]

I agree. And I could be wrong, but I believe that neither of his surgeries had anything to do with injuries sustained in the ring. It was just his body wearing out. Steiner got kicked in the throat in a wrestling ring. On the issue of drugs, TNA is slowly implementing a WWE Wellness Policy-style program. And I thought that it wasn't just ONE fan who donated money, it was a lot of people. And I guess it says a lot for how many friends he has in the business. When Sabu needed money for surgery, many of his friends and co-workers held a show (promoted by Raven, I think) that raised money for him. I don't think anything like that happened with Konnan.

[DreamGoddessLindsey]

I'd like to know, where'd all the money he make over the years go? I'm sure he got paid pretty decent in WCW, and prolly fairly well in TNA as well. Maybe he was spending it on drugs or something, or living beyond his means. All I know is, I don't think TNA has any responsibility since this didn't happen as a result of wrestling in TNA.

[Guest Ransik]

Konnan should EASILY be a millionaire. He was the "Hulk Hogan" of Mexico LONG before he came to the US. I think he blew all his money reading these responses and juding his kidney was failing I'd personally like to know WHY it was failing and if it was drug related. And exactly... Konnan wasn't injured in the ring, which is why TNA didn't pay for it. They loaned him the money... something he shouldn't have even needed from them considering his status in Mexico and that he was paid 6 figures in WCW like everyone else was that wasn't a jobber... no reason for it. And yes it was several fans that donated... no one person would put up for the surgery. A fan donated the kidney though. TNA was more than willing to pay Konnan while he was recovering from the surgery and bring him back... he just wanted to make a scene and storm out... probably just to go back to Mexico for a bigger paycheck.

[Imarevenant]

[QUOTE=Ransik;393391]juding his kidney was failing [B]I'd personally like to know WHY[/B] it was failing and if it was drug related. [/QUOTE] LOL, Just wondering why it's any of your business, to be coming off so righteous; were you paying his salary?

[BurningHamster]

Oh man, is this for real? As much as I like Konnan's ranting I think there is not that much difference between his character, a selfish race-obsessed militant pro-Hispanic lunatic heel and his real life personality. You'd think someone who got given a kidney after they destroyed their original one (probably by taking something they shouldn't have in pretty large doses) then they would be a bit you know .... less bitchy and whiny and grateful to the world for keeping their no good arse alive. But oh well, sue away K-Dawg. I hope he realizes that once he burns this bridge he'll have to head back to AAA in Mexico and rant about how much he hates the way Mexican society oppresses Latinos etc.

[masterded]

[QUOTE=Imarevenant;393393]LOL, Just wondering why it's any of your business, to be coming off so righteous; were you paying his salary?[/QUOTE] To be fair when this all went down, Konnan was the one talking to all the different wrestling dirt sites and telling the story. He (Konnan) put it the open and talks about it all the time on his internet radio shows. If someone is going to make something public and go through the process of trying to demonize not just a company but people within the company (listen to some of his shows) asking the question of how he truly got to this point is fair. Konnan made the choice to make this public business.

[BIGJOSH]

What's hillarious about Konnan citing the drug things is the fact that he is very open about the fact that he is a pot head and has done ecstasy with "divas".

[Guest Ransik]

[QUOTE=BIGJOSH;393398]What's hillarious about Konnan citing the drug things is the fact that he is very open about the fact that he is a pot head and has done ecstasy with "divas".[/QUOTE] Does this answer the question Imar? And it's my business because I'm in the business... and when someone of Konnan's calibur is pitching a fit like a 5 year old because of what he's done to his own body... it makes the wrestlers and the business look bad. My best guess is TNA didn't hand him over the money for the surgery with no strings attached because he drank or smoked himself for so long that his body started shutting down and they knew it.

[BIGJOSH]

[QUOTE=Ransik;393401]Does this answer the question Imar? And it's my business because I'm in the business... and when someone of Konnan's calibur is pitching a fit like a 5 year old because of what he's done to his own body... it makes the wrestlers and the business look bad. My best guess is TNA didn't hand him over the money for the surgery with no strings attached because he drank or smoked himself for so long that his body started shutting down and they knew it.[/QUOTE] My understanding is that they loaned him money for it.....here's the kicker.....he's yet to pay it back. Also this isn't the first time Konnan has cried racism. He also did it in the WWE and in WCW.

[Guest Ransik]

You gotta be kidding. The idiot never repayed the loan and part of his lawsuit is that they wouldn't pay for the surgery without him having to pay it back? Wow... he's so far beyond screwed that the light from screwed will take 10 million years to reach him. If TNA were run by evil people... Konnan would never own another dime the rest of his life. I'm amazed there are people stupid enough to book him. EDIT: I think this is rather amusing... taken from this link; [url]http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBiosK/mar19_konnan-can.html[/url] "My father is a private investigator. He has offices in Columbia, Venezuela, Miami, in Mexico. He always told me to get out of wrestling and to get into that with him. I'm studying criminology right now. So I do have a plan in case I get fed up with the whole situation."

[alden]

I think it shows alot for tna to loan him the money. I mean come on, it's not like tna has a ton of money to just be loaning out to people. I know alot of people who got hurt in the ring and the promoter basicly said good luck and pointed towards the door. and if his father has that many offices don't you think he could drop a few bucks his sons way?

[syndicate]

[QUOTE=Ransik;393375]from gerweck What the hell is wrong with Konnan? LAX was turning into the hottest thing in TNA until he started throwing his tantrums when he got sick and walked out... Joe is walking out with the TNA Title at Lockdown... they signed the most decorated African American wrestling name in history in Booker T.... where the hell does he think he has a case? And I'd like to think Scott Steiner being a couple hours away from death would be a good reason that TNA paid for the surgery since they sent him down there to wrestle. This'll never reach court nor will Konnan ever see a dime... I've lost all respect for him.[/QUOTE] i am not saying konnan is right, but i will just point out that crap about joe winning the world title and them signing booker t was decided well after konnan had made those statements it reminds me of how wcw used to operate when they were being sued for racial discrimination they ended up giving a midcard guy like ron simmons the world title as soon as they were going to court and did the same crap when sonny ono sued wcw over racial discrimination that lead to booker t becoming the second black guy to hold the world title since ron simmons just something to think about

[Guest Ransik]

Ummm... not really cause Jay Lethal was on the rise well before Konnan quit. And honestly... can you even name anyone who is African American in TNA who should be elevated other than Lethal and Booker? The sad truth about it is every time someone yells out racial discrimination... it's because they don't have the skills to make it to the top to begin with. Look at Elix Skipper... I love the guy, he's a great talent... but he's never gonna be a top draw with any company no matter how he's pushed. His Primetime gimmick which he's had for close to a decade has never drawn, and it never will. He's done some spectacular moves and is a good wrestler, but he doesn't have that IT factor to draw money. What's stupid is Konnan is yelling racism but LAX was the #1 tag team in TNA while he was managing them... and when he walked out creative didn't know what the hell to do with them because the mouthpiece walked out throwing a temper tantrum. Booker didn't win the WCW Title because of Onoo suing WCW... a young star was chosen to break the glass celing by Russo when he went behind Bischoff's back and screwed up a worked plan with Hogan and Jarrett. The amount of caucasian wrestlers to other nationalities outweighs easily... you never see any of them file racial discrimination suits and there's a reason for it... I've yet to see a racial suit filed in wrestling that holds any merit to it. Remember Bobby Walker? Yeah... hardly anyone else does either... he sucked, he could barely wrestle and couldn't run a mic. But his lawsuit talked about how WCW wouldn't push him to the Main Event because of his skin color when his obvious lack of skills were the reason for it.

[DreamGoddessLindsey]

I have to agree with Ransik here. Bottom line is, a wrestler needs to be responsible for his or her own work. It just so happens that a bulk of the legendary wrestlers in North America are White. The only people who I ever see get underpushed generally are the Japanese, but that can be attributed to North American wrestler being heavily mic-based because of WWE, and the Japanese wrestlers simply have a tough time working a mic over here. Heck, this is the only country with wrestling that puts emphasis on the mic. Japan, Canada, and Mexico are generally better known for style, and thus all nationalities work out better there. WWE and TNA are not perfect by any means, but I would not call their practices racist. WWE is definitely sexist to an extreme, and TNA definitely has a thick glass ceiling these days, but I see no racism.

[Guest Ransik]

Exactly and you reminded me of my other point Lindsay. When's the last time an American wrestler went to Japan and sued a company over there? NEVER! They'd never be welcome back for any reason at all.

[syndicate]

[QUOTE=Ransik;394865]Ummm... not really cause Jay Lethal was on the rise well before Konnan quit. And honestly... can you even name anyone who is African American in TNA who should be elevated other than Lethal and Booker? The sad truth about it is every time someone yells out racial discrimination... it's because they don't have the skills to make it to the top to begin with. Look at Elix Skipper... I love the guy, he's a great talent... but he's never gonna be a top draw with any company no matter how he's pushed. His Primetime gimmick which he's had for close to a decade has never drawn, and it never will. He's done some spectacular moves and is a good wrestler, but he doesn't have that IT factor to draw money. What's stupid is Konnan is yelling racism but LAX was the #1 tag team in TNA while he was managing them... and when he walked out creative didn't know what the hell to do with them because the mouthpiece walked out throwing a temper tantrum. Booker didn't win the WCW Title because of Onoo suing WCW... a young star was chosen to break the glass celing by Russo when he went behind Bischoff's back and screwed up a worked plan with Hogan and Jarrett. The amount of caucasian wrestlers to other nationalities outweighs easily... you never see any of them file racial discrimination suits and there's a reason for it... I've yet to see a racial suit filed in wrestling that holds any merit to it. Remember Bobby Walker? Yeah... hardly anyone else does either... he sucked, he could barely wrestle and couldn't run a mic. But his lawsuit talked about how WCW wouldn't push him to the Main Event because of his skin color when his obvious lack of skills were the reason for it.[/QUOTE] i am not disagreeing with you at all in fact i agree with you 100% except the part about ono booker t won the world title right at the same time they were being sued for racial discrimination... now maybe bookers push had nothing to do with it but reality is that it happened to a black guy right as they were about to be sued just as it did before with simmons and unfortunately i do remember hardwork bobby walker...

[Guest Ransik]

I know people don't like anything sited from Wiki but; [quote]After being released by WCW in November 1999 (Bischoff was by then no longer with the company), Onoo and a number of African American wrestlers launched racial discrimination lawsuits against WCW in February 2000. Onoo claimed that he had been given a disrespectful gimmick and that his final salary—$160,000—was only half of the average pay for a wrestler at that time.[/quote] So he was suing... stating that EVERY wrestler in WCW made over $350,000 a year... and because he had half a dozen matches he was entitled to make as much or more than them. His gimmick? Evil manager. Yeah, his lawsuit held as much merit as the rest.

[syndicate]

[QUOTE=Ransik;394937]I know people don't like anything sited from Wiki but; So he was suing... stating that EVERY wrestler in WCW made over $350,000 a year... and because he had half a dozen matches he was entitled to make as much or more than them. His gimmick? Evil manager. Yeah, his lawsuit held as much merit as the rest.[/QUOTE] i don't think you are paying attention to what i am saying... i don't care about ono's lawsuit or how much validation it has my point is that the booker t push came at a time where they were being sued for racial discrimination

[PeterHilton]

[QUOTE=DreamGoddessLindsey;394869] WWE and TNA are not perfect by any means, but I would not call their practices racist. WWE is definitely sexist to an extreme, and TNA definitely has a thick glass ceiling these days, but I see no racism.[/QUOTE] Listen, not to make a big issue over this, but you see NO racism in the WWE? Or wrestling in general? It's better now, but this is the same industry that over the years has had a Mexican wrestler dressed as a matador, any number of asian wrestlers perform as ninjas or martial arts characters all while having thick and sometimes phony accents, and a whole slew of native american wrestlers who wore headresses and said "how!" And god help me if I start talking about the gimmicks that black wrestlers have had to endure: Pimps and hustlers like Slick and The Godfather. Out and out criminals like Cryme Tyme and the N.O.D. Voodoo priests like Papa Shango.Cannibals from "the jungles of Uganda" like Kamala. The incredibly embarassing idea of having the very popular Tony Atlas ditch his Mr USA gimmick and come out in a loincloth and holding a spear as Saba Simba. And who can forget step and fetch himself, Virgil. Konnan over the years has said some stupid things about Mexican wrestlers not getting breaks when it's just logical that someone who can't speak the language would have a problem getting a push in the WCW. To be fair though, while in the WCW, Russo also said some things that sounded extremely prejudiced along the lines of "white fans wanting to see white wrestlers win." I don't think THIS situation has anything to do with race. But to say that there isn't ANY racism in the wrestling industry....c'mon. :rolleyes:

[PeterHilton]

Ohhhhhh...or my other favorite example: a few years back when Triple H and Booker T were feuding heading into WM, Trips taunted Booker by making fun of his "nappy head." And then called him down to the ring by saying "why don't you come out here and dance for me, boy?" I know it's easy to say that these examples are just gimmicks and the WWE is sort of aiming for the lowest common denominator anyway. But repeatedly using racial stereotypes when creating characters for minority performers is, at best, incredibly lazy and shows a total lack of awareness. At worst, it shows that the people in charge of these wrestling companies have a very limited view of those performers and may or may not give them a push based on that limited view. That's not racism in the the overt, mean-spirited, dogs-attacking-protestors-in-Mississippi kind of way. But it IS racism.

[Moe Hunter]

Indeed the WWE especially has never understood how to work with people of other races and rarely people of other countries. Hell, even just people pretending to be from other countries. Umaga still has a Savage gimmick, TNA has enough of a progressive attitude to let Samoa Joe just be (sigh) a "regular Joe". Highlanders, Drew MacIntyre, Piper... all come out to Bagpipes and wear kilts. Really, now? Is this ALL Scotts ever do? Santino comes out to Opera and dresses like a soccer fanatic to indicate his Italianness. But anywho, let's not forget Konnan was the "mastermind" behind such things as the 619 cam and Cena's spinning belts.

[alden]

I do have to admit that there have been some racial stuff done in the wwe before. I don't know how many people will remember this but. when the nation of domination was feuding with dx. There was a point where dx was in the ring and they quickly flashed to n.o.d.'s locker room and it was covered in racial slures. They quickly flash back to the ring where shawn and hhh were laughing and saying they had no idea who did that. The annoucners never talked about it. The storyline was never mentioned again on tv and nothing came out of it. Another example is when jyd would wrestle and get hit in the head with a steel chair and it did not hurt because he had such a thick head. Alot of people did not pick up on it but in a interview jyd was very upset with that comment as he said it was very racial.

[PeterHilton]

[QUOTE=Moe Hunter;394982] Umaga still has a Savage gimmick, TNA has enough of a progressive attitude to let Samoa Joe just be (sigh) a "regular Joe". [/QUOTE] Really good example, especially consideing the rumor was that if Joe had signed with the E, he would've debuted with the Umaga gimmick. Sooooo...you take a guy who is legitimately a very good worker in the ring, who grew up in the lily whitest possible area of SoCal (Orange County), and who made his name as an MMA/shoot type performer....and you make him work as a speechless savage with a painted face? Because he just happenes to be Polynesian?

[syndicate]

[QUOTE=Moe Hunter;394982]Indeed the WWE especially has never understood how to work with people of other races and rarely people of other countries. Hell, even just people pretending to be from other countries. Umaga still has a Savage gimmick, TNA has enough of a progressive attitude to let Samoa Joe just be (sigh) a "regular Joe". Highlanders, Drew MacIntyre, Piper... all come out to Bagpipes and wear kilts. Really, now? Is this ALL Scotts ever do? Santino comes out to Opera and dresses like a soccer fanatic to indicate his Italianness. But anywho, let's not forget Konnan was the "mastermind" behind such things as the 619 cam and Cena's spinning belts.[/QUOTE] stereotypes in the wwe are something that unfortunately will never go away