WWE Seeks Protective Order to Halt MLW’s Anti-Trust Lawsuit & Discovery Phase Requests

As noted before, Major League Wrestling filed an antitrust lawsuit earlier this year against WWE claiming that WWE illegally interfered in several of their business deals with television networks and engaged in contract tampering with several of their contracted talent.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE had filed a motion on January 5th to the United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose Division requesting for a protective order against MLW’s lawsuit, based on recent court records. This order if approved would allow WWE to suspend their legal obligation to provide material to MLW for the discovery stage of their lawsuit.

In the filing, WWE claims that the material that MLW is requesting could cost the company millions of dollars to produce and should the lawsuit be dismissed, then it would have been a costly endeavor that was undertaker for no reason.

WWE is also claiming that their protective order should be granted due to their issue regarding the court actually holds legal jurisdiction over MLW’s lawsuit and that the discovery phase should be halted until this issue is settled.

Portion of WWE’s motion filing:

“Despite WWE’s pending Motion to Dismiss, MLW seeks to impose broad, costly discovery on WWE. In anticipation of the originally scheduled October CMC, the parties complied with the Court’s standing order and engaged in a Rule 26(f) conference on October 6, 2022. Although the Court adjourned the CMC to December 15, 2022, MLW used the Rule 26(f) conference to argue that discovery is open and served its First Set of Requests for Production (“RFPs”) on October 17, 2022.

The RFPs total 47 and almost all of them are overbroad, burdensome, and improper requests for information. Indeed, it appears that MLW is utilizing the RFPs to improperly obtain highly sensitive, competitive information far outside the scope of the Complaint’s allegations and with no clear connection to MLW at all.

By way of just a few examples: 

-MLW has not alleged any relevant product market for professional wrestlers and has not alleged a single professional wrestler with which it could not do business because of unlawful conduct by WWE. Nonetheless, it seeks “all documents” related to WWE’s “efforts to source, locate or hire professional wrestlers”, all contracts with professional wrestlers that contain any exclusivity provisions, all performance evaluations and disciplinary records for not just every WWE professional wrestler, but for every WWE contractor and employee (RFP 16), and “all documents” concerning the termination or resignation of any professional wrestler from January 1, 2020 to present.

-MLW has not identified a single professional wrestler that WWE supposedly “poached” and has not brought a single claim for tortious interference with the contract of any professional wrestler. Nonetheless, it seeks “all documents” related to the “outreach, solicitation or hiring” of multiple professional wrestlers.

-MLW has not alleged a relevant product market for the booking of venues or explained why a wrestling promotion must book specific venues in order to sell its broadcast rights. Nonetheless, it seeks “all documents relating to WWE’s efforts to prevent competitors from booking arenas or venues”

-MLW alleges no facts related to any other legal proceeding. Nonetheless, MLW seeks “all lawsuits, claims, or complaints, threatened or actual,” made by “any third party” relating to tortious interference of any kind from January 1, 2012 to present.

Similarly, MLW seeks documents from “all lawsuits, claims, or complaints, threatened or actual,” made by WWE’s employees (not just professional wrestlers) in connection with WWE employment or contractor agreements.

In addition to seeking highly sensitive, competitive information outside the scope of its complaint, MLW asserted that it intends to impose on WWE an obligation to collect, search, and produce documents for a minimum of sixteen initial custodians. Based on MLW’s initial disclosures, one of those “custodians” is the entirety of WWE and one is WWE’s outside counsel in this case, Jerry McDevitt of K&L Gates, LLP.

Of the remaining fourteen proposed custodians, only four are even named in the Complaint. It is clear from MLW’s actions that it hopes to force its competitor to spend millions of dollars in responding to discovery (in a case that may be dismissed), all while accessing WWE’s most sensitive, competitive information. For these reasons, a protective order should issue.”

In a follow-up report, Johnson reported that WWE’s protective order is likely in response to the requests that had been made by MLW this November, which included all documents involving WWE’s alleged contract tampering with AEW talent, WWE’s alleged tampering with NJPW’s booking of Madison Square Garden for their co-promoted G1 Supercard event with ROH, and WWE’s alleged contract tampering with Impact Wrestling.

MLW reportedly had also asked for all documents related to WWE’s alleged tampering with MLW’s talks for a television deal with VICE, WWE’s involvement in the Dark Side of the Ring Series, and WWE’s alleged tampering with MLW’s talks for a streaming deal with Tubi and FOX.

MLW also reportedly had also asked for all documents related to WWE’s alleged tampering with several current and former MLW contracted talent, including Swerve Strickland, Gino Medina, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Jacob Fatu, and Lance Anoa’i.

MLW also reportedly had asked for all documents related to WWE’s contracts with their staff and talent, both current and released, and business practices.