10 Wrestling Legal Battles That Turned Ugly

For an industry that often gets so silly it renders even the loyalest viewer unable to suspend disbelief, wrestling can be a very, very serious business.

Combining the complex worlds of sports and entertainment as per the vision set out by Vince McMahon in 1989 when he completely reclassified the genre for tax purposes, professional wrestling is a challenging environment to be successful in, and few make it out alive without having to handle themselves in fights far more exhausting than anything they'd ever experienced between the ropes.

Ultimately, wrestlers, promotors and even entire organisations have turned to the law to help them tackle some of the convoluted problems that arise over money, gimmick infringement, physical wellbeing or the right to even exist.

Offering more sting than a Stone Cold Stunner and an 'STFU' far more oppressive than John Cena's submission hold, a particular verdict can irreversibly make, break or reshape careers in ways a booker's pencil couldn't possibly scribe.

Stories within stories and cases of grievances and greed are littered through the industry's messy history, and in one of the few arenas where a gavel is even more dangerous than Triple H's sledgehammer, hard justice has often been served.

The rapid ascent of Sable through WWE's ranks happened in tandem with the company's rocketing growth in 1998, with her appeal helping reach a mainstream audience in a brand new way alongside the powerful performances of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock at the top of the card.

A heel turn in early 1999 reflected her unbelievable success, with a mammoth-selling Playboy pictorial allegedly sending the fame to her head off-screen even more so than it was portrayed on Monday Night Raw.

Relations between talent and office quickly frayed, with Sable's backstage unpopularity only expediting her exit from the organisation only two months removed from a WrestleMania XV Women's Title victory over Tori.

In departing, she filed an enormous $110 million lawsuit, citing sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions after allegedly refusing to take part in a lesbian storyline and/or go topless on television. WWE counter-sued in an effort to claim the rights to the 'Sable' moniker for future profits, and an out-of-court settlement was delicately reached after the nine-figure amount was gradually reduced.

During the suit, she appeared once in the crowd on WCW Nitro, but never officially worked for the group, and outside of a brief spell with the short-lived XWF, wouldn't work in wrestling again before her surprising 2003 WWE return.