MLW/WWE Settlement Considered A 'Strong Result' For Court Bauer's Promotion

Almost two years after the initial lawsuit was filed, it emerged on Monday, December 11 that lawyers from MLW and WWE had reached a settlement, with the final settlement documents set to be filed within the next 30 days. 

MLW filed an antitrust lawsuit against WWE in January 2022, with the lawsuit being allowed to proceed following an initial dismissal after MLW "sufficiently pleaded circumstantial evidence of WWE's monopoly power." Major League Wrestling alleged that WWE impeded their ability to "to compete in the licensing of its programming for distribution on streaming services and continues to threaten to deprive MLW of its ability to license its programming for distribution on cable."  MLW referenced WWE allegedly pressuring Tubi TV and Vice TV to end their relationships with Court Bauer's promotion. 

Speaking on POST Wrestling's Pollock & Thurston, practising lawyer and combat sports legal analyst Jason Cruz of MMAPayout.com said the settlement was a "great result for MLW." 

"I definitely think it's a great result for MLW, simply because in my opinion I don't think that they had a great case going into this lawsuit. If you recall, the judge allowed MLW to amend its complaints to add more context to the lawsuit, which basically means 'We're going to dismiss this thing unless you add more meat to this lawsuit,'" Cruz stated.

On MLW's claims about WWE harming their business deals with Tubi TV, Vice TV, and others, Cruz added: "I don't know if any of those things would give rise to being anti-competitive. Now definitely [WWE] can have a monopoly and have a strong market share. But, MLW would have to prove more than what they had brought as far as [showing] they did this to everybody."

Cruz also argued a settlement might have been on the table for MLW from the start as the lawsuit with WWE likely would have taken years to resolve.