WWE and MLW have reached a settlement in the ongoing lawsuit that has played out for a while now.
Major League Wrestling 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.
MLW filed an anti-trust lawsuit last year 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 that 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.
Per Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics, the settlement is expected to be completed within the next 30 days:
WWE and MLW have come to a settlement in the antitrust case against WWE.
Lawyers for both companies filed today:
"The Parties are in the process of completing the final settlement documents and expect to file the appropriate dismissal papers within the next thirty (30) days" pic.twitter.com/t3507vGJg4
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) December 11, 2023
