WWE Sends Cease And Desist To Independent Wrestling Promotion

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc throughout the professional wrestling world and forced a number of indie promotions like DEFY, Prestige Wrestling, and OTT to cancel shows.

Another promotion affected by the outbreak is Freelance Wrestling, who announced they would be running empty arena shows named "In Your Warehouse" in the Freelance Wrestling Academy in Chicago, Illinois. The event logo used the likeness of the old WWE pay-per-views, In Your House, and fans would be given the opportunity to PayPal money to wrestlers on the show to help them during the pandemic.

WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali was in support of the idea, as he wrote on Twitter that he would be covering all of the talent's pay for the first event. He tweeted: "Scary times only exist when you feel like you’re on your own. I'll be donating to cover all of the performers pay for the 1st event. I encourage anyone that is in the position to do so, please donate and allow these incredible artists to perform for you. @FreelanceWres is home."

Ali's plug seemingly had unintended consequences, however, as WWE sent a cease & desist letter to Freelance Wrestling soon after. The owner of Black Label Pro Mikey Blanton tweeted:"Looks like the crack legal team over at WWE sent out another cease and desist. This time to @FreelanceWres over their "In Our Warehouse" event. Apparently that's going to hurt all their In Your House WWE Network views. Petty af. Damn the man, save the empire."

Freelance Wrestling has now renamed the events Warehouse Wars and they will air on independentwrestling.tv.