Major League Wrestling has filed a lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment claiming the publicly-traded company violated antitrust laws in attempting to edge out competition in the wrestling landscape.
MLW, based out of New Rochelle, New York, sued the Stanford, Connecticut-based WWE in federal court in the state of California. The lawsuit was not on PACER on Tuesday as the press release from MLW stated it was filed on the same day.
Via MLW press release:
San Francisco, CA – Jan. 11, 2022 – Professional wrestling company Major League Wrestling (MLW) (MLW Media LLC), filed a lawsuit today against World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE). The federal court antitrust lawsuit is based on WWE’s ongoing attempts to undermine competition in and monopolize the professional wrestling market by interfering with MLW’s contracts and business prospects.
As described in the complaint, WWE pressured third parties to abandon contracts and prospective relationships with MLW. WWE’s misconduct included disrupting every level of MLW’s business, including a major streaming deal for MLW which would have been transformative for the company.
MLW also allege in the complaint that in early 2021, after MLW announced that it was in talks with VICE TV to air MLW programs on VICE TV, a then-WWE executive warned VICE TV that WWE owner Vince McMahon was “pissed” that VICE TV was airing MLW programs, and that VICE TV should stop working with MLW, the VICE TV executive responded that WWE’s conduct was illegal and an antitrust violation, with the WWE executive responding that she could not control McMahon.
“WWE has been wrongfully depriving its competitors of critical opportunities for many years, but its latest conduct has been even more unconscionable,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer. “I think we speak for the rest of the professional wrestling world when we say that this anti-competitive behavior has to stop.”
WWE’s ongoing misconduct has hurt fans of professional wrestling and competition in the professional wrestling industry. Through this lawsuit, MLW seeks to recover its losses due to WWE’s interference and to enjoin WWE from future interference.
The case is captioned MLW Media LLC v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. MLW is represented by Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP.
Notably, MLW was to begin airing programming on Vice TV this fall. It did air one MLW telecast. In the past, the network aired previous replays of the promotion. However, there has been no other mention of MLW on Vice TV since.
Payout Perspective:
Over the past several years, we’ve seen antitrust lawsuits in boxing, currently the UFC is in a big lawsuit and now we seen an attempt in pro wrestling.
Without further information on the lawsuit, you might infer that this lawsuit is based on Sherman Antitrust Act section 2 which “prohibits monopolization or attempts at monopolizing any aspect of interstate trade or commerce.” It may include other claims and causes of action. Based on the press release, it would seem that MLW’s claim would be more of a tortious interference with a contract as it would seem that the WWE was attempting to intimidate VICE from airing MLW programming.
Despite pro wrestling being ‘sports entertainment’, the claims made by MLW are real. But in a climate where AEW and other independent wrestling companies are thriving, it would seem hard to argue that the WWE could suppress MLW business through a monopolization of the pro wrestling market. We’ll leave more on this when MPO has a chance to read the Complaint.
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