10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 2002

2. Lawsuits

The WWE are no stranger to battling lawsuits but 2002 saw a couple of legal battles that are not well-remembered. Nicole Bass and Tiger Ali Singh, two Attitude Era curiosities, sued the company for millions of dollars over alleged harassment. Bass sued the company for sexual harassment, claiming that she had been groped on a plane by Steve Lombardi (The Brooklyn Brawler) and that she had been subjected to more sexual harassment backstage during her time with the company. Vince, Triple H, Ivory, Jacqueline, Sable and others testified during the three-week-long trial. The suit generated much mainstream media attention (WWE did themselves no favours with their sexually-charged content at the time) but Bass lost when a New York jury unanimously rejected her claims on October 8th. During the trial Vince said that Bass didn't have the 'coordination' to become a great performer while Triple H said that he felt Bass was trying to get rich at the expense of the company. Tiger Ali Singh, who stunk up the undercard of way too many WWF events in the late 90s, filed a $7m suit against the WWE on August 22nd claiming that he suffered a career-ending concussion after being made to wrestle in the rain on a card in Puerto Rico (WWE would often send talent to the territory when it had nothing for them). Singh also claimed that WWF wrestlers has abused him with racist remarks, consistently referring to him as 'taxi driver' and defiling his turban with cigarette ends and other garbage. Singh settled with the WWF out-of-court later in the year. The WWE had scored a rare victory when it was awarded $3.5m by the Parents Television Council in July.