wrestling / News

Court Bauer Discusses Rationale For MLW’s Lawsuit Against WWE

February 7, 2023 | Posted by Jack Gregory
Court Bauer MLW Image Credit: MLW

Speaking recently with Deadline.com, MLW founder Court Bauer talked about the reasons MLW is bringing legal proceedings against WWE and shared some details on the business background as he’s tried to arrange a streaming platform for his promotion. Bauer cited allegations of WWE’s patterns of tampering with the industry over decades when asked to detail the standing for the litigation. You can read a few highlights from the interview below.

On why MLW brought the lawsuit against WWE: “There are several things that have come up that have disrupted our business in terms of talent and tampering with contracts. Overall it’s just the suppression of the growth of our business that we looked at. So, this wasn’t just tampering with one deal, one piece of talent. It’s the totality. If you look at the 40-year history and the practices of WWE going back to the eighties … the problems start to emerge. They have an immense market share. They will do what they do to make sure that that’s not softened.”

On his reaction to MLW losing a deal to stream on the Tubi platform: “I was on vacation and I was just shell shocked. We took the family to the beach and I just face-planted into the sand. For two solid days, I was like a computer rebooting. You go through the dance of media rights deals. There are a lot of wrinkles along the way and bumps on the road. So to go through that and then say, ‘we got to start all over again?’ It’s like you’re almost to the top of the summit and then you fall down.”

On how the lawsuit alleges WWE affected the Tubi deal: “WWE found out about the agreement, WWE contacted a Tubi executive located in Tubi’s headquarters in San Francisco and threatened that if Tubi did not terminate the MLW contract, WWE would cease doing business with Fox and would pull important WWE programs from Fox platforms. Soon thereafter, and just days before MLW content was to begin airing on Tubi, the MLW contract was terminated, resulting in substantial losses to MLW and harm to consumers, including in California.”

On how MLW plans to set up streaming content for Reelz: “Right now, we’re trying to find the right formula for the episodes. I like the idea of one hour a week for wrestling. Some of our competitors go three or more hours for one show, then another two hours of another show. That’s asking the viewers to put in a lot of time. We’ll be shooting them around the country. This is a new frontier for Reelz. They’re so enthusiastic. We’ve got incredible promotion already. And they said, ‘look, we don’t just want Underground Wrestling. Give us some of your library.’”

article topics :

Court Bauer, MLW, WWE, Jack Gregory