There is set to be a hearing in the lawsuit filed by MLW against WWE.
WWE has filed a motion against the Amended lawsuit brought against them before the U.S. District Court California Northern District, San Jose. The hearing will take place on July 20.
MLW filed the Amended lawsuit in March, alleging that WWE’s exclusivity agreements (such as Peacock and NBC) caused violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act regarding the pro wrestling media market in the United States.
MLW has argued that WWE was engaging in unfair practices, including attempting to prevent Ring of Honor from running Madison Square Garden by allegedly having Triple H try to stop it. They also alleged WWE prevented AEW from booking an arena in Cincinnati, OH and WWE going after signed MLW talents, including Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Swerve Strickland.
Last year, MLW filed an anti-trust lawsuit alleging that WWE interfered with potential deals with VICE TV and the Tubi streaming service.
In the lawsuit, MLW claimed they had a deal with Tubi in place, but WWE pressured them to drop it, or they would pull SmackDown from FOX since FOX owns Tubi. MLW claimed WWE SVP Susan Levison called VICE executives to have the deal, reached in May to air archival footage, nixed because Vince McMahon was “pissed” about VICE airing MLW programming.
