WWE's Motion To Dismiss MLW Lawsuit Denied

Major League Wrestling's antitrust lawsuit against WWE will move forward after a US District Judge in San Jose, California denied WWE's motion to dismiss the suit.

Legal proceedings between MLW and WWE have been ongoing since January 2022. The lawsuit was initially dismissed in March 2023 but MLW filed an amended suit shortly after. MLW have claimed within their filing that WWE are impeding their ability "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."

WWE tried to dismiss the amended suit but Judge Edward Avila disagreed with many of the points in WWE's motion, noting that MLW has "sufficiently pleaded circumstantial evidence of WWE's monopoly power." It was noted, in particular, that MLW's allegations that WWE generates 92% of the revenue from media rights in pro wrestling was sufficient to show dominance in the market.

MLW also alleged that WWE have violated the Sherman Act, which WWE argued against.

The Court stated in their findings:

"The Court also found that 'MLW has sufficiently alleged that WWE engaged in anticompetitive conduct with respect to foreclosure of distribution channels. The Court need not address the parties' arguments regarding foreclosure of wrestling talent and arenas. The Court finds that MLW has sufficiently alleged antitrust injury. As described above, the FAC alleges that WWE engaged in exclusionary conduct, including foreclosure of primary content distribution channels, in an attempt to continue to dominate the professional wrestling media rights market."