WWE files updated response to dismiss amended MLW lawsuit

WWE has filed an updated response in their effort to dismiss the MLW lawsuit, now in its second version.

In the 20-page document filed Monday, WWE stated that “MLW’s opposition to WWE’s motion to dismiss…is without foundation in truth and is contradicted by its own allegations.”

WWE initially filed a motion to dismiss MLW’s amended lawsuit in April to which MLW responded.

As part of their rationale for asking for the suit to be dismissed, WWE stated that reports emerged that AEW had “expanded the sale of its media rights to WarnerBros.-Discovery (“WBD”) for a reported $240 million per year.”

Citing that, the Women of Wrestling syndicated show expanding and selling media rights for “millions of dollars” and MLW’s own new deal with FITE for their live events, “it is no surprise that MLW’s antitrust claims are inherently doomed.”

From the motion:

“MLW has not and cannot plausibly allege relevant product or geographic markets around media rights for professional wrestling. MLW has not and can never plausible allege direct or circumstantial evidence of WWE possessing monopoly power over television networks and streaming services.

And MLW has not and can never plausibly allege antitrust injury or standing when it and other alleged competitors are, by public admissions, thriving. As for MLW’s tacked-on state law claims, the Court should dismiss them for lack of diversity and/or supplemental jurisdiction and because they remain as facially implausible as they were in MLW’s original complaint.”

That original complaint was filed in January 2022 as part of an antitrust lawsuit where MLW claimed WWE pressured third parties like Tubi to abandon TV deals with them.

This past February, the judge dismissed the lawsuit but gave MLW the option to file an amended version as they found no evidence of antitrust.

Here’s the timeline of events since the initial complaint: