MLW Unable To Air On Peacock Due To WWE Exclusivity

Major League Wrestling won't be heading to Peacock.

MLW have recently started working with Reelz and MLW Underground has been airing on the channel in the United States since February 7, with last week's show averaging 97,000 viewers. It was revealed on Tuesday, February 28 that Reelz and Peacock had come to an agreement that will see the channel's linear feed and on-demand programming be made available on the NBCUniversal streaming service from March 1.

MLW won't be a part of that deal, though, as WWE has exclusivity on Peacock as part of their arrangement. Peacock currently holds the rights to the WWE Network in the United States. 

"There is one quirk under the Reelz deal: While it will include the channel's live linear feed, it will not stream Tuesdays in the 10 p.m. hour, as Reelz airs Major League Wrestling in that hour. Peacock has a streaming deal with the WWE, which has exclusivity in the category on Peacock," the Hollywood Reporter wrote.

MLW and WWE have had issues in recent years and MLW's antitrust lawsuit against WWE was recently dismissed, although Court Bauer's promotion can appeal the decision. Within the lawsuit, MLW alleged that WWE had made ongoing attempts to "undermine competition and monopolise the professional wrestling market by interfering with MLW's contracts and business prospects." MLW cited their deal with VICE and a scrapped streaming deal with TUBI as examples.