Pro wrestler awarded $2.3 million after contracting Hepatitis C in match
The surreal world of professional wrestling turned real for Devon Nicholson, whose ring moniker was Hannibal, when he contracted Hepatitis C after a match.
On Tuesday, a judge ruled Nicholson should receive $2.3 million in damages and fees from Abdullah the Butcher, his opponent in the 2007 match in Cochrane, Alberta.
Nicholson claimed he had contracted the disease, which attacks the liver, after the match with Abdullah, whose real name is Lawrence Robert Shreve.
The wrestler from Ottawa claimed that Abdullah the Butcher had '"bladed" during the match. This is when a wrestler tapes a small razor blade to their finger and cuts theirselves.
In 2009, Nicholson signed and then lost a three-year contract with WWE, when the Connecticut-based company discovered he had Hepatitis C.
"Mr. Shreve himself has been saying all along that I'm a liar, that he doesn't have Hepatitis C, he didn't cut me, and I believe the judge made it very clear that, yes, he did cut me ... and yes, he does have a history of Hepatitis C," Nicholson said.
Shreve has 30 days to appeal.
