Class-Action Lawsuit Accuses WWE of Misleading ESPN Statements

So, how exactly do you watch WWE Premium Live Events these days?

WWE Network and Peacock were straightforward. Subscribe to a streaming service, get everything. WWE’s deal with ESPN is more complicated, because some cable services give you the ESPN app for free. Others don’t, and the same goes for streaming cable providers like YouTube TV.

Subscribing to the app standalone is around $30, which gets fans closer to the prices pay-per-view shows used to be, rather than the all-in, low monthly subscription model we’ve become used to.

Post Wrestling reports that Michael Diesa of New Jersey and Rebecca Toback of New York have filed suit in a Connecticut-based U.S. District court, accusing WWE of misleading fans.

At issue seem to be many statements that “subscribers” would get the WWE events at no extra charge. In many cases, those statements were worded very carefully to mean subscribers to the ESPN app, while a casual listener might assume they meant subscribers to ESPN, the network.

The suit names WWE only, not ESPN’s parent company of Disney. Disney’s apps have arbitration clauses that kick in if subscribers have an issue with their terms.

Payouts for class-action lawsuits are notoriously small, but combine to hurt the defendant. At best, individual consumers might hope to get a monthly fee refunded, and even that might be after court costs and fees are subtracted. Still, a whole lot of those adds up for WWE.