The third day of the defamation trial involving CM Punk (Phil Brooks), Colt Cabana (Scott Colton), and Dr. Christopher Amann continued in Cook County Courthouse on Thursday.
Ross Berman attended the proceedings on behalf of WrestleZone and below are highlights from his notes of the various testimonies on Thursday from both the morning session and from the afternoon session, which featured Cabana taking the stand for the first time.
Timothy Gaeng
-This was played for the jury and was pre-recorded on April 26th
-Gaeng served as an audio technician at the 2014 Royal Rumble in Pittsburgh
-Gaeng did not see the injury that took place during the match involving Punk but stated that it did happen, he is referring to the strike delivered by Kofi Kingston (believed to be a clothesline) to Punk where it was thought he suffered a concussion
-Gaeng recalled Paul Levesque’s voice in the headset instructing them to get word to Punk to get out of the match if he was hurt
-He couldn’t tell if Dr. Amann checked on Punk or not
Larry Heck
-Taped testimony from May 22nd
-Heck is the athletic trainer on the SmackDown brand
-He assisted Punk by taping his ankles, knees and assisted with stretching and maintained a treatment log that was part of Punk’s medical report with the WWE
-Punk frequently required the use of hot packs for his lower back and would keep them applied up until match time
-He was asked about the lump Punk described on his lower back during the “Art of Wrestling” podcast, Heck never noticed a lump, infection or irregularity
-Dr. Amann informed Heck that Punk had suffered a concussion after the Royal Rumble match in 2014
-Punk was upset about his elimination from the match and was swearing backstage
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Referee John Cone
-Testimony was taped on May 3rd
-Cone served as one of the four referees during the Rumble match and had Michael Hayes and Billy Kidman in his earpiece
-He broke down the hand signals the referees are taught with a closed fist signaling “yes”, a shake of the head for “no”, and the “X” for a legitimate injury
-When Cone consulted with Punk after the Kingston spot, Punk told Cone he had a concussion, Punk threatened to quit if he was forced out of the match and went so far as to lay his hands on Cone by “pie-facing him”
-Cone also denied ever noticing a lump or infection on Punk’s lower back during that time period
Glenn Jacobs a.k.a. Kane
-Testimony was taped on May 2nd
-Jacobs was not aware of a lump or infection on Punk’s lower back
-Jacobs couldn’t recall wrestling Punk during the time period of October 2013 – January 2014. Prior to the Royal Rumble match in 2014, the last recorded match between the two is listed from March 2013 from an episode of Raw
-Jacobs noted that his elimination of Punk during the Rumble match was the planned elimination, but he said it may have taken place earlier than expected. The elimination was followed by Kane clearing the ringside announcer’s desk and choke slamming Punk through the table.
Mark Carrano, Vice President of WWE Talent Relations
-Taped testimony from May 3rd
-Carrano stated that Vince McMahon, Paul Levesque, Michael Hayes, and Billy Kidman were present at the “gorilla position” with Kidman serving as the timekeeper for the Rumble match
-Hayes and Jamie Noble were responsible for putting the Rumble match together
-Carrano described Punk as “an aggravated superstar” that night
-He stated that Punk never mentioned a lump or infection to him
-Punk was said to be upset at Raw the following night in Cleveland (prior to Punk leaving the building before the show began) and worried the way he was eliminated would affect future storylines (he was scheduled at the time to work with Triple H at WrestleMania, the nature of the elimination by Kane suggested that would be a pitstop program before WrestleMania), Carrano denied having any knowledge of the creative plans for Punk at the time
-Punk was upset at the medical staff for affecting his role in the Rumble match
-Carrano never saw a lump or infection on Punk’s lower back
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Colt Cabana (Scott Colton)
-Cabana acknowledged editing out portions of prior podcasts
-He acknowledged that the interview with CM Punk from November 2014 was uploaded to YouTube and that the interview set a new record for his podcast
-Cabana’s site crashed due to the traffic for the interview with an independent YouTube site outperforming Cabana’s site, this led to Cabana using Soundcloud
-After the interview ran, a cease & desist was sent to both Cabana and Punk, Cabana opted not to take down the interview nor post a retraction as requested.
-He uploaded the interview to YouTube himself after receiving the legal notice
-Cabana later changed the YouTube video to “unlisted”, which currently has 789,630 views
-Cabana saw the lump on Punk’s lower back in either 2013 or 2014 and described it as, “half an egg” or a “bubble”, this makes Cabana is the first one besides Punk to acknowledge the lump existed, Cabana acknowledged that the lump was not “baseball-sized”
-There was some form of tension during the testimony where the attorney representing Dr. Amann acknowledged reading from the wrong deposition and led to Cabana being reprimanded by the judge for his response to the error
-Cabana stated he did not know Dr. Amann’s name until receiving the cease & desist in 2014
-Cabana didn’t believe anything Punk said on the podcast was false information
Patrick Duffy, Physician’s assistant that treated Punk
-Testimony from August 16th, 2017
-Duffy treats patients with dermatological problems
-He is a physicians’ assistant and is not a doctor
-Duffy saw Punk on Feb. 13th, 2014, which was 2 ½ weeks after the Rumble match
-Punk had told Duffy he had a “spot” for two months it was believed it needed to be drained
-Duffy described the spot as a “fatty, sore, tender, red lump on his lower back” that would require a scalpel to pierce and drain the lump
-Duffy denied the lump being “baseball-sized” and the procedure did not involve squirting or squeezing as Punk described in the “Art of Wrestling” interview
-Punk was scheduled for a follow up one week after the drainage, which would have been on Feb. 20th, but Punk did not show up. He did meet with Duffy on March 20th, 2014, the lump was still present but described as a “benign lump”.
-A note was written that listed it as a possible Staph or MRSA, however, the code attached indicated it was a cyst
-Punk was prescribed Monodox in February and he was said to have responded well to the medication
