Tiger Ali Signh sues WWE for harassment
Phil from Chicago
the NY Post reports here:
By DAN MANGAN
August 22, 2002 -- A Sikh professional grappler is pile-driving wrestling
impresario Vince McMahon's company with accusations of religious and ethnic
harassment.
Gurjit Singh Hans - whose ring name is Tiger Ali Singh - claims his turban,
which is sacred in the Sikh religion, was swiped in 1999 from a locker and
desecrated by World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. workers. He says they stuffed
it with cigarette butts and garbage, and called the Indian-descended wrestler a
"taxi driver."
"Another turban belonging to Gurjit Singh Hans was torn into pieces backstage
and placed on the head of a mentally disturbed person for the ‘amusement' of
the WWE personnel present," Hans, 31, claims in a legal filing.
The Ontario, Canada, resident says the harassment coincided and escalated with
WWE efforts to get out of its contract with him. The conduct included WWE
demands that he wear his turban as a "gimmick" during matches, and make
pre-match speeches that "referenced persons of Indian descent as likely being
perceived as taxi driver and convenience-store operators," his filing says.
He also claims he suffered a career-ending injury last December when he was
forced to perform in an outdoor tag-team match in pouring rain.
Hans' lawyer Bruce Ewing said the McMahon-controlled WWE acted in an
"appalling" manner toward Hans, who has asked an arbitration panel for a ruling
against the company. Hans is seeking $7 million from WWE, which has stopped
paying his contract.
His father, Jagjit Singh Hans - who became a wrestling legend in Asia as Tiger
Jeet Singh - wants $1 million in a separate arbitration action that claims the
WWE stopped paying him in 1999.
WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt said the company was not aware of any harassment
Gurjit Hans may have suffered, and that it legally stopped paying him because
he no longer can wrestle.
The lawyer also said the WWE is not responsible for Gurjit Hans' injury, which
was incurred during another company's match.
"People make all kind of claims against the WWE, and when you get to the facts,
you find that they're seldom found to be true," McDevitt said.
(one addition note: the fact that Tiger did wear his turban in the ring is true
and once during a Hardcore title match against Steve Blackman Tiger got his
turban knocked off and Steve put it on his head for laughs and once Tiger got
it back his face was lit up with joy and then Blackman finished him off with a
kendo stick shot to the head OUCH! Plus Tiger was a heel in the then WWF and
during a house show brought out an Iraqi flag to get heat from the crowd. The
Godfather his opponent said that Tiger "should be driving a cab or working at
7-11" which the crowd loved)
Phil is RAT's Pro Wrestling Ambassador
Simpsons line of the week: "all right Pie I'm going to do this and if you get
eaten it's your own fault!" (homer hits his head) OWWWWWWWWW!!!! oh what the
hell? (homer eats the pie)
GO JOLIET JACKHAMMERS!!!
Richard
Chicago) wrote:
Would the morons who go to wrestling matches even recognize an Iraqi
flag? They must have been told.
-Rich
Thom Wilkerson
Ok, this supposedly happened in 1999 and this guy is only NOW suing the
WWE?
What is his reason for the delay?
There was another suit mentioned somewhere yesterday for something that
supposedly occured years ago. It doesn't make any sense to me.
Phil from Chicago
>flag? They must have been told.
I wonder when WWE crowds start that "asshole" chant if they're really directing
it towards you Rich. I wouldn't be suprised if the answer is Yes you idiot!
Phil from Chicago
>WWE?
>What is his reason for the delay?
>There was another suit mentioned somewhere yesterday for something that
>supposedly occured years ago. It doesn't make any sense to me.
probably because Tiger now can sue them without risking his job which was
something he probably couldn't have done when he was working for them. I don't
see why he would have waited for 3 years to do such a thing and what they did
to his turban was inappropriate since it's sacred to him and the jerks who did
that should have been more respectful of that. At the time in which this
supposedly happened (which to my knowledge wasn't part of a storyline) Tiger
and his team Lo-Down weren't given any chances to wrestle and during a
Thanksgiving edition of Smackdown! while all the good guys were having
Thanksgiving dinner in the back room Tiger and Lo-Down demanded to be a part of
it they were invited in but Tiger threw a pie in Steve Blackman's face (on
accident of course) and ended up getting smacked in the head with a trash can
lid (which made no sense because Blackman didn't come into the room with one so
where did he get it?) The dudley boyz threw Chaz through a table and a big food
fight started
[ DocJeff ]
> the former manager of Lo-Down sues Vince for religious and ethnic
> harassment as the NY Post reports here:
I've been expecting this. The guy was really inept in the ring
and, sadly, he didn't have the charisma to appeal to most fans.
--
Doc "Aphrodite's Evostick" Jeff
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Phil from Chicago
>and, sadly, he didn't have the charisma to appeal to most fans.
I expected more out of him. When he first entered the WWF he won a tournament
with people like Vader and Bret Hart competing. He was a good heel but as a
wrestler was pretty awful