Profs & Pints Nashville: Wrestler Vs. Lawyer

Profs and Pints Nashville presents: “Wrestler Vs. Lawyer,” an evening devoted to court battles involving Hulk Hogan and other stars of the ring, with Professor Alex B. Long of the University of Tennessee College of Law, author of Professional Wrestling and the Law.

[Doors open at 6 pm. Talk starts at 7. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/wrestler-vs-lawyer ]

What happens when masters of the Sleeper Hold and Atomic Leg Drop find themselves up against those known for moves such as the subpoena, cross examination, and motion to dismiss?

Find out at Nashville’s Fait La Force taproom when law professor and legal scholar Alex Long delivers an entertaining overview of legal cases involving professional wrestling.

You’ll learn how the world of professional wrestling has a long and colorful history of lawsuits, ranging from sexual harassment and racial discrimination claims to intellectual property disputes and personal injury suits brought by fans injured at matches.

Professor Long will explore how kayfabe—the practice of maintaining the illusion that professional wrestling was a competitive athletic contest—has collided with the realities of the legal system over the years. He’ll talk about what happens when an industry with a long history of obscuring the truth bumps up against the legal system’s focus on arriving at the truth in any conflict. He’ll also help you understand the legal theories and procedures applied to legal disputes involving professional grapplers.

The main event will be a discussion of the legal battles of Hulk Hogan, among the most famous professional wrestlers ever and party to a disproportionate share of infamous lawsuits. We’ll look at the lawsuit that comedian Richard Belzer filed against Hogan after being injured by Hogan on his talk show. You’ll learn about the legal claims Hogan brought against his employer, World Championship Wrestling, over allegedly defamatory statements about Hogan made live during a pay-per-view event.

Perhaps the most famous lawsuit involving a professor wrestler was Hogan’s invasion-of-privacy claim against the website Gawker for its publication of a sex tape in which Hogan was featured. Professor Long will look at that case and the questions it raised about the controversial practice of investment companies (and fabulously wealthy Silicon Valley moguls) funding lawsuits for profit or revenge.

You’ll be glad you had a ringside seat for this event. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: Hulk Hogan in the ring as host in 2014 (Photo by Megan Elice Meadows / Wikimedia Commons).