Daffney and TNA Reached an Undisclosed Settlement

At TNA’s Bound for Glory on October 18, 2009, Shannon Spruill, known in the ring as Daffney, went through a board covered with barbed wire. Ryan Clark reported that she suffered a concussion and was taken to a hospital by ambulance. The injury became part of a workers’ compensation dispute that ended in a mediated settlement in March 2013; the terms were not disclosed.

Clark’s January 2012 account described the spot as part of the ongoing feud between Abyss and Mick Foley. He reported that creative writer Vince Russo and former talent-relations director Terry Taylor pressured a hesitant Spruill to perform it and assured her she would be fine. Those allegations were not legal findings.

The Bound for Glory concussion was not the only injury included in accounts of her claim. Clark reported another concussion after Tara struck Spruill in the head with a toolbox following their match on the February 18, 2010 episode of iMPACT! He also reported that Spruill was hospitalized after an April 20, 2010 dark match against Miss Betsy and diagnosed with a concussion, a deeply bruised sternum and a severe stinger. Spruill claimed she had been pressured to continue performing after the two additional concussions.

In March 2011, immediately after leaving TNA, Spruill said she had filed a workers’ compensation claim over injuries sustained while working for the company in 2009 and 2010. By January 2012, she was publicly describing the process as both lengthy and hopeful. “Although it’s been a long road, I continue to keep my head up,” she wrote on Twitter. “Hoping for some good results.”

The medical-bill dispute continued alongside the claim. Clark reported in January 2012 that the emergency-room bill had not been paid. In March 2013, Diva Dirt cited court documents saying Spruill’s medical bills exceeded $26,000 and that TNA initially offered $600; the outlet reported that TNA eventually settled the bill for less than the original amount.

Diva Dirt reported on March 11, 2013, citing PWInsider, that the two sides had reached a settlement in mediation just before a scheduled hearing. The hearing would have addressed whether to pursue a separate case over Spruill’s status as an employee or independent contractor. The settlement produced no reported ruling on that classification, and its terms were not disclosed.

Spruill thanked her supporters and expressed a hope broader than her own claim: that wrestlers might be “one step closer to being provided with medical coverage and all the benefits that go along with being a true employee and not an independent contractor.”