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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Security Guard Says He Got WWE Beatdown

SAVANNAH, Ga. (CN) - Hired to work ring security for a World Wrestling Entertainment event at the Savannah Civic Center in 2013, a former guard says in a lawsuit that one of the show's stars beat him with a folding chair.

In a complaint filed in Chatham County Court, Troy Rivers says he was hired strictly as a security guard for the event, that he "was not part of the of the scheduled entertainment for the evening, and was not part of the WWE show or storylines being acted out by the wrestlers performing at the show."

His job, he says, was only to "stand with his back to the ring" and monitor the crowd.

But according to a complaint filed in late June, Rivers says something very awry during the performance.

"Suddenly, and with no warning whatsoever," he says, he was "struck about the head, neck, and back by a folding chair."

Rivers says he believes he was struck by Jonathan Good, who wrestles under the ring name Dean Ambrose, but because his back was to the stage, he's not sure which wrestler actually beat him.

"We haven't reviewed the video from the event yet, so we're bringing in everyone on the card that night," Rivers' attorney, Kevin Elwell, told Courthouse News. "Only one guy did it, but we don't know which one yet."

In addition to Good, the lawsuit also names John Cena, Tim Works, Ryan Allen Reeves, Leati Joseph Anoa'I, Colby Lopez, Glenn Thomas Jacobs, Bryan Danielson, Curtis Jonathan Hussey, Ronnie Aaron Killings, Aaron Steven Haddad, Claudio Castagnoli, and Cody Garrett Runnels as defendants.

What he does knows, he says, is the assault left him with "serious, significant and permanent personal injuries."

River's wife Mary -- also a plaintiff in the case -- claims that the incident now deprives her of "conjugal fellowship" with her husband. Her husband claims that because of gross negligence of WWE, he is suffering from "physical and mental anguish, diminishment of his earning capacity, and continues to suffer a loss of enjoyment of life."

Rivers is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

In a written statement, World Wrestling Entertainment said it has no knowledge of "any such incident and the security company that hired the plaintiff doesn't have any record of this matter either. Furthermore, the plaintiff's attorney has admitted he has no basis to sue the individual defendants named in the lawsuit."

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