U.S. District Court Dismisses MLW’s Lawsuit Against WWE

In 2022, Major League Wrestling (MLW) filed a lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on grounds of malicious interference with their contracts and business prospects. WWE had allegedly pressured third parties to abandon agreements and prospective relationships with MLW. It was further alleged that WWE compelled the end of MLW’s negotiations with VICE TV in 2021.

PW Insider reports that on Monday, February 14th, 2023, Judge Edward J. Davila of the U.S. District Court, California Northern District (San Jose) dismissed the antitrust lawsuit filed by MLW against WWE. However, the honorable Judge also stated that additional allegations may cure the deficiencies outlined in WWE’s motion, and thus gave MLW 21 days to file an amended complaint.

In his nine-page ruling, Judge Davila found that MLW had not included sufficient facts to plausibly allege a relevant antitrust market. He also noted that some of the harms alleged by MLW were specific to them rather than competition at large. As such, he granted WWE’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

If MLW does file an amended complaint within 21 days and the Judge concurs, the two sides go back into arguing over the discovery phase, which WWE had been fighting hard to avoid.  If MLW does not file an amended pleading, the case would be closed.

MLW CEO Court Bauer has issued a statement following the dismissal of the lawsuit, noting that their legal team is already working on amending the complaint.

On January 5th, WWE filed a motion, requesting the honorable court to halt the discovery of materials in MLW’s lawsuit against them. The motion argued that the discovery process could cost WWE “millions of dollars in responding to discovery (in a case that may be dismissed), all while accessing WWE’s most sensitive, competitive information.”

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