One of the most surprising “big” news stories in the last week has been the release of Jesse Sorensen from his contract with TNA. The former iMPACT Wrestling star suffered a broken neck during a match against Zema Ion early in 2012. Though the accident could have been deadly, Sorensen fought back and made a tremendous recovery. Many wrestling sites on the interwebs are even “reporting” that Sorensen has been cleared to wrestle since this past November, but we have no way of independently confirming that news.
What we do know is that Sorensen has been serving as a backstage production assistant for a number of months and that he was released from his contract with the company earlier this week. Shortly after his release, a campaign showed up on GoFundMe.com purporting to be raising $600 to support Sorensen’s wish to participate in a competitive bodybuilding event later this year (while working backstage for TNA, Sorensen initiated a career in competitive bodybuilding). The text in the body of that campaign indicated that Sorensen believed he was lied to by Dixie Carter and iMPACT Wrestling because he was promised a job for life and was released.
This claim set off a wave of responses around the internet which have ranged from professionally inexperienced individuals claiming that TNA is the devil for releasing a contracted employee who is actively pursuing a separate career to responses from people who understand that business is business and Sorensen’s release was another business decision.
The most interesting plot twist, though, seems to have come today…
Earlier today, Sorensen indicated via his Twitter account that he had nothing to do with the GoFundMe.com fundraising page that was set up in his name. Here is the tweet from Sorensen himself:
The next twist came on the actual GoFundMe.com campaign page itself as all negative and anti-TNA comments have been removed from the campaign. In addition, all mentions of using the $600 campaign goal towards supporting a bodybuilding competition have also been removed. The question now becomes who actually set up the GoFundMe.com account and whether or not the funds will be used to support Sorensen in any way at all. Sorensen has not addressed these concerns via his Twitter account.
In the interest of full disclosure, I contributed $25 to the campaign last night. While the reporting above is fair and objective, I understand that it does not easily play into the immature and untested views that many professional wrestling fans have of how businesses actually operate. Thus, some fans might read the Sorensen story on this site and think I’m against the kid when I’m actually a big fan. So I was happy to donate $25 (which comes from the advertising revenue of this website) to help him compete in a bodybuilding competition and I wish him the absolute best in whatever he decides to do with his life.
Update: Before I wrote this entry, the GoFundMe.com campaign sat at a total of $635 raised. Since the focus of the campaign has changed and Jesse has confirmed that he’s not involved, I asked for the $25 that I donated to be refunded. By the time I finished writing this report, GoFundMe.com not only responded to my concern, but they refunded the $25 that I donated. The total for the now-questionable campaign is at $610.
Its linked to his facebook but his friend nick bella or someone has same tna hat stuff on his twitter….did he set it up maybe?
I tend to think it was Nick since he has been very vocal in support of Sorensen (and rightfully so – that’s his best friend). However, that doesn’t negate the fact that the campaign was, essentially, fraudulent. If and when Sorensen sets up his own campaign for a specific reason one day, then I’ll be glad to help him out with a donation if the cause is within the scope of what we support with our ad revenue.