About v2The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
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The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by David Tails Fri 22 Apr 2011, 4:15 pm
I stumbled across this excellent article earlier today and wanted to share it. Major eye opener about the conditions and double standards in TNA.
Lack of respect, low pay, lack of medical care, lousy and degrading treatment on television (Mr Russo: We all know the attractive, popular girls all laughed in your face in high school because you were a dork. But please, get over it and stop subjecting us all to your women-hating issues)... Yes, the emerging stories about the hideous treatment TNA Knockouts are sad ones indeed. But Shannon “Daffney” Spruill's story seems to be the saddest one of all. I have to admit: when I reported them, I thought the stories of embarrassing side jobs and an inability to afford to go to house shows (while champion, no less!) were about as bad as it got in TNA. However, I now realize Madison and Taylor may have had a relatively easy of it compared to Daffney- a young woman who, as I will discuss, has faced outrageous and inhumane treatment at the hands of America's number 2 wrestling promotion in the last 2 years. Indeed, the fact that Daffney has taken legal action should come as no surprise to anyone. The only real surprise may be that she didn't do it sooner.
Announcing she was through with TNA after her profile was taken down, Daffney wrote this on her Facebook and Twitter pages:
“Yesterday my picture was taken down off of the TNA roster page. My contract expires today and TNA did not renew it. I do not know if it has anything to do with it, but I've filed a Workers Comp claim against them for injuries I've sustained in the ring and my lawyers said to not go into anymore details.”
Interestingly, Daffney’s announcement that she had filed a worker’s comp lawsuit against TNA came less that two weeks after I wrote this article. Her announcement made TNA’s Head of Talent Relations Terry Taylor’s email response to my query about the company’s refusal to pay for medical care appear even more fraudulent than it already was (“Where is your source for this?” he’d asked, ignoring the piles of sources, interviews and reports confirming that TNA had an extremely poor track record when it came to paying hospital bills.)
The lawsuit stemmed from the litany of injuries Daffney had suffered since she joined TNA in late 2008 as the dire Governor Palin character for an awful angle with The Beautiful People (thankfully, Daffney was allowed to ditch the gimmick after a few months and return to the enjoyable Harley Quinn-like goth character she was known for towards the end of WCW’s run.) It’s a grisly list by any standards: a serious concussion at Bound For Glory 2009 after she was chokeslammed from the ring apron by Abyss onto a barb-wire board, another concussion in her program with Tara after she got clobbered on the head with a toolbox, and then a deeply bruised sternum, a severe stinger and yet another concussion in the now infamous try-out, dark match for indie wrestler Miss Betsy after a botched sunset flip.
Some claimed Daffney was just bitter because TNA had stopped using her. (Dave Meltzer contested this on the F4W board, noting: “My understanding was she filed the claim and then stopped being used, not the other way around.”) And, of course, many TNA defenders (yes, they still exist) would point to the fact that no-one forced Daffney to take these bumps, and if she was stupid enough to volunteer to take them it was her own fault. However, as I noted in my article about the working conditions in TNA, it is common for TNA wrestlers to face pressure from management to take high-risk bumps and/or work hurt. Indeed, rather than happily volunteering, it seems many wrestlers are talked into these dangerous stunts. Had this happened to Daffney, I wondered? Interestingly, shortly after the working conditions article came out, I was contacted by a current TNA employee (who shall, of course, remain nameless). While noting I had “hit the nail right on the head” on several things, he claimed I had overlooked some issues, notably Daffney’s case. I asked why is he was so willing to talk so honestly and negatively about TNA. He responded: “Because the company needs to change to grow, and if the company can’t see the truth, maybe an enlightened fan base can help change the company. TNA fears greatly for their public image.” Noble enough, I thought. This long-term employee then proceeded to give me a staggering account of Daffney’s first major injury at Bound For Glory, confirming my worst fears about Daffney and TNA:
"Daffney was asked to do the spot to which she would go through a table full of tacks. She was hesitant to take the spot. Terry Taylor assured Daffney that she would be fine that she would be taken care of. After a lot of convincing from both Terry and Vince Russo, who was telling her how important the spot was for the feud that was going on, Daffney goes through with the spot and was injured. Following the injury she is treated at the hospital and taken via ambulance. Worse still is that Spike wouldn’t let TNA air the spot on Impact. They refuse to air it on their policy of violence towards women. To put a cherry on the top of this story, a huge bill from the hospital would follow for Daffney.
TNA and Daffney went back and forth for several months about TNA not paying the bill. There were emails back and forth between Terry and Daffney which would result in Terry forwarding the emails to the responsible parties and then Terry delivering news that the matters were being tended to. This however would all be a smoke screen as more notices of delinquencies would follow for Daffney. TNA would hold out on paying certain bills and make claims that the agencies would settle for lower amounts if they held out. When this method didn’t work, they would turn around and claim that they are not responsible for the bill and that Daffney herself would be the one responsible for the bills."
Full article: Cageside Seats
Lack of respect, low pay, lack of medical care, lousy and degrading treatment on television (Mr Russo: We all know the attractive, popular girls all laughed in your face in high school because you were a dork. But please, get over it and stop subjecting us all to your women-hating issues)... Yes, the emerging stories about the hideous treatment TNA Knockouts are sad ones indeed. But Shannon “Daffney” Spruill's story seems to be the saddest one of all. I have to admit: when I reported them, I thought the stories of embarrassing side jobs and an inability to afford to go to house shows (while champion, no less!) were about as bad as it got in TNA. However, I now realize Madison and Taylor may have had a relatively easy of it compared to Daffney- a young woman who, as I will discuss, has faced outrageous and inhumane treatment at the hands of America's number 2 wrestling promotion in the last 2 years. Indeed, the fact that Daffney has taken legal action should come as no surprise to anyone. The only real surprise may be that she didn't do it sooner.
Announcing she was through with TNA after her profile was taken down, Daffney wrote this on her Facebook and Twitter pages:
“Yesterday my picture was taken down off of the TNA roster page. My contract expires today and TNA did not renew it. I do not know if it has anything to do with it, but I've filed a Workers Comp claim against them for injuries I've sustained in the ring and my lawyers said to not go into anymore details.”
Interestingly, Daffney’s announcement that she had filed a worker’s comp lawsuit against TNA came less that two weeks after I wrote this article. Her announcement made TNA’s Head of Talent Relations Terry Taylor’s email response to my query about the company’s refusal to pay for medical care appear even more fraudulent than it already was (“Where is your source for this?” he’d asked, ignoring the piles of sources, interviews and reports confirming that TNA had an extremely poor track record when it came to paying hospital bills.)
The lawsuit stemmed from the litany of injuries Daffney had suffered since she joined TNA in late 2008 as the dire Governor Palin character for an awful angle with The Beautiful People (thankfully, Daffney was allowed to ditch the gimmick after a few months and return to the enjoyable Harley Quinn-like goth character she was known for towards the end of WCW’s run.) It’s a grisly list by any standards: a serious concussion at Bound For Glory 2009 after she was chokeslammed from the ring apron by Abyss onto a barb-wire board, another concussion in her program with Tara after she got clobbered on the head with a toolbox, and then a deeply bruised sternum, a severe stinger and yet another concussion in the now infamous try-out, dark match for indie wrestler Miss Betsy after a botched sunset flip.
Some claimed Daffney was just bitter because TNA had stopped using her. (Dave Meltzer contested this on the F4W board, noting: “My understanding was she filed the claim and then stopped being used, not the other way around.”) And, of course, many TNA defenders (yes, they still exist) would point to the fact that no-one forced Daffney to take these bumps, and if she was stupid enough to volunteer to take them it was her own fault. However, as I noted in my article about the working conditions in TNA, it is common for TNA wrestlers to face pressure from management to take high-risk bumps and/or work hurt. Indeed, rather than happily volunteering, it seems many wrestlers are talked into these dangerous stunts. Had this happened to Daffney, I wondered? Interestingly, shortly after the working conditions article came out, I was contacted by a current TNA employee (who shall, of course, remain nameless). While noting I had “hit the nail right on the head” on several things, he claimed I had overlooked some issues, notably Daffney’s case. I asked why is he was so willing to talk so honestly and negatively about TNA. He responded: “Because the company needs to change to grow, and if the company can’t see the truth, maybe an enlightened fan base can help change the company. TNA fears greatly for their public image.” Noble enough, I thought. This long-term employee then proceeded to give me a staggering account of Daffney’s first major injury at Bound For Glory, confirming my worst fears about Daffney and TNA:
"Daffney was asked to do the spot to which she would go through a table full of tacks. She was hesitant to take the spot. Terry Taylor assured Daffney that she would be fine that she would be taken care of. After a lot of convincing from both Terry and Vince Russo, who was telling her how important the spot was for the feud that was going on, Daffney goes through with the spot and was injured. Following the injury she is treated at the hospital and taken via ambulance. Worse still is that Spike wouldn’t let TNA air the spot on Impact. They refuse to air it on their policy of violence towards women. To put a cherry on the top of this story, a huge bill from the hospital would follow for Daffney.
TNA and Daffney went back and forth for several months about TNA not paying the bill. There were emails back and forth between Terry and Daffney which would result in Terry forwarding the emails to the responsible parties and then Terry delivering news that the matters were being tended to. This however would all be a smoke screen as more notices of delinquencies would follow for Daffney. TNA would hold out on paying certain bills and make claims that the agencies would settle for lower amounts if they held out. When this method didn’t work, they would turn around and claim that they are not responsible for the bill and that Daffney herself would be the one responsible for the bills."
Full article: Cageside Seats
David Tails- Posts : 2459
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by theundisputedY2D2 Fri 22 Apr 2011, 4:21 pm
I had a fairly low opinion of those running TNA even before I read this article but it has totally plummeted to the deepest depths after reading it. That is an absolutely disgusting way to treat an employee.
hate TNA.
hate TNA.
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by Kay Fabe Fri 22 Apr 2011, 4:46 pm
I've heard similar stories regarding the Knockouts before, terrible working conditions
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by AberdeenSteve Fri 22 Apr 2011, 5:51 pm
Russo is a jackass.
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by JoshSansom Fri 22 Apr 2011, 5:55 pm
That is pretty awful behaviour... OK the job of the booker is to get the most impressive show, but the company afterwards should have stood by her. I can't imagine that the WWE would do something like this - in the end that is the difference between a small time promotion and a proper organisation.
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by AberdeenSteve Fri 22 Apr 2011, 6:03 pm
Btw, DT .. How did you react after reading this? We all know your undying love for Miss Daffney! I just hope for Russo's sake he isn't anywhere near Aberdeen ever in his life. 
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by Samo Fri 22 Apr 2011, 8:07 pm
David Tails wrote:
"Daffney was asked to do the spot to which she would go through a table full of tacks. She was hesitant to take the spot. Terry Taylor assured Daffney that she would be fine that she would be taken care of. After a lot of convincing from both Terry and Vince Russo, who was telling her how important the spot was for the feud that was going on, Daffney goes through with the spot and was injured. Following the injury she is treated at the hospital and taken via ambulance. Worse still is that Spike wouldn’t let TNA air the spot on Impact. They refuse to air it on their policy of violence towards women. To put a cherry on the top of this story, a huge bill from the hospital would follow for Daffney.
Lol wut?
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Join date : 2011-01-29
Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by David Tails Fri 22 Apr 2011, 8:54 pm
AberdeenSteve wrote:Btw, DT .. How did you react after reading this? We all know your undying love for Miss Daffney! I just hope for Russo's sake he isn't anywhere near Aberdeen ever in his life.
I will one day hunt that kumquat down and make him pay.
No one treats my beloved like that.
David Tails- Posts : 2459
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by AberdeenSteve Fri 22 Apr 2011, 10:34 pm
I would not want to be Vince Russo right now.
Have you entered the TNA competition? I don't think you'd have a better chance
Have you entered the TNA competition? I don't think you'd have a better chance
AberdeenSteve- Posts : 6520
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Re: The Sad Story of Shannon "Daffney" Spruill in TNA.
by David Tails Fri 22 Apr 2011, 11:03 pm
I actually have!
Bring it Russo...
Bring it Russo...
David Tails- Posts : 2459
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