There has been a development in the legal battle between WWE and MLW.
After Judge Edward J. Davila dismissed the original lawsuit, MLW filed for an amended lawsuit with an additional filing to break down the changes made to their original lawsuit filing in January 2022, which were expanded to include MLW’s current situation with REELZ.
MLW alleged that WWE’s deal with Peacock contributes to its antitrust case because it keeps non-WWE wrestling content off the service, which includes REELZ, but MLW’s Underground program wasn’t allowed to air nor be promoted on the service.
The original lawsuit included allegations that WWE violated the Sherman Antitrust Act in the US market for pro wrestling content, WWE attempted to undermine the competition regarding MLW’s pursuit of media distribution deals, and WWE tried to hire contracted talent away from the company.
Pwinsider has obtained court documents that note that on June 2, 2023, WWE filed a motion requesting that their impending hearing for the lawsuit be pushed back from June 15 to July 20, 2023.
The court docs also show that WWE noted they feel they’ve justified their request by citing the unavailability of their legal team on the originally scheduled date and both sides agreeing to the new date, although they still need the court’s approval of this motion is still pending.
This comes after WWE previously responded to the lawsuit where they claimed MLW failed to adequately allege a federal cause of action and the court would have to dismiss the state law claims due to lack of subject matter and jurisdiction. WWE also asked the court to block any attempts by the other party to amend their lawsuit should this version be dismissed.
