10 Wrestling Legal Battles That Turned Ugly
5. Brock Lesnar Vs. WWE
Brock Lesnar's sudden WWE exit following WrestleMania XX came as a result of 'The Beast's unilateral disinterest in being a professional wrestler at the time, not least in Vince McMahon's punctilious travelling show.
He got out of his deal, but did so with an unprecedented non-compete clause that saw him frozen out of in-ring action for an astonishing six years. His WWE contract had originally been due to run until June 2010, a date he was willing to honour thanks to a more pressing fascination with becoming a football player.
When his NFL dreams failed to materialise, he knowingly breached the terms of his deal by appearing for New Japan Pro Wrestling in late-2004. This triggered an immediate lawsuit from WWE, but renewed contract discussions in mid-2005 between the group and Lesnar shelved legal proceedings until they too broke down.
Lesnar's October 2005 IWGP Title-winning encounter with Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono only furthered the hostilities, but a June 2006 settlement ultimately freed Lesnar up to continue working elsewhere. He would hold a version of their World Title until 2007, cheekily renaming the F5 'The Verdict' in a shot across the bow at WWE's legal team.