WWE-Major League Wrestling Antitrust Face-Off Ends In Settlement

Winston Cho
·2 min read
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WWE has settled a lawsuit brought by a rival accusing it of monopolizing the professional wrestling media market.

In a joint filing, lawyers for the company and Major League Wrestling on Monday notified the court of a deal resolving the case. Details weren’t disclosed.

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The suit, filed last year, accused WWE of “unlawfully interfering with MLW’s access to media markets” by pressuring third parties to abandon contracts and prospective relationships with MLW. It pointed to two ruined deals, including one with Tubi that was killed when a WWE executive pushed Fox — which airs WWE Smackdown and owns the ad-supported streamer — to terminate the agreement by threatening to pull popular programs. The company brought claims for illegal monopolization, intentional interference with contractual relations and a violation of California unfair competition law, among another claim over interfering with business relationships.

The settlement was reached after a federal judge in October identified “numerous deficiencies” in WWE’s defenses to the suit. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila found that some the company’s arguments were “improperly asserted” since they “contained no facts.”

While findings of antitrust violations are rare, the court in June rejected WWE’s bid to dismiss the case. The court found “circumstantial evidence” that WWE successfully monopolized the market for media rights to professional wrestling by insisting on exclusivity agreements with partners. According to MLW, WWE has captured 92 percent of the revenue in the market, with the next largest competitor possessing just six percent.

WWE has maintained that it doesn’t have the ability to control prices or box out competitors.

Under antitrust laws, there must be proof that a company engaged in anticompetitive conduct since the mere possession of monopoly power isn’t illegal. And not all aggressive business conduct is considered illegal either. In the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust suit against Qualcomm, a federal appeals court concluded that the chipmaker’s actions were simply a “profit-maximizing policy.” Courts have generally found violations of antitrust law in circumstances where deals have a substantial effect in preventing rivals from entering the market, which Davila said there could be in MLW’s suit against WWE.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to MLW and WWE for comment.

In September, WWE was folded under the TKO umbrella alongside UFC. Endeavor, which owns the mixed martial arts outfit, controls 51 percent of the new company, with WWE shareholders controlling the rest. A suit, filed last month in the Delaware Court of Chancery, accused Vince McMahon of ignoring more lucrative offers for WWE at the expense of investors in favor of Endeavor’s bid, which allowed the wrestling mogul to stay on as executive chairman of TKO and avoid scrutiny in connection with sexual misconduct allegations that could’ve ousted him from the company.

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