Various: Impact on 21st Anniversary, MLW on WWE’s Denied Motion to Dismiss Antitrust Lawsuit, Indies

Jun 20, 2023

Impact Reflects on 21st Anniversary of First Ever Impact Event

Impact Wrestling recently reflected on Twitter about Monday being the 21st Anniversary of their first ever event in company history under their original name of Total Nonstop Action.

“21 years ago today we held our very first event on June 19, 2002 from Huntsville, Alabama.
As we reflect on 21 years of IMPACT and TNA – whether you attended a show, bought a PPV or watched us on TV, we’d like to thank everybody who ever gave us their time, energy and support.”

21 years ago today we held our very first event on June 19, 2002 from Huntsville, Alabama.

As we reflect on 21 years of IMPACT and TNA – whether you attended a show, bought a PPV or watched us on TV, we'd like to thank everybody who ever gave us their time, energy and support. pic.twitter.com/KCabWuIup6
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 19, 2023

MLW Issues Statement on Court Rejecting WWE’s Motion to Dismiss Antitrust Lawsuit

As noted before, WWE’s motion to have Major League Wrestling’s antitrust lawsuit against them was dismissed this past Thursday by Judge Edward J. Davila of the United States District Court, Northern Division of California, San Jose.

MLW’s attorneys recently released an official statement regarding the court’s decision to dismiss WWE’s motion to have their amended lawsuit dismissed and allowing for their lawsuit to proceed.

Kasowitz Defeats Motion To Dismiss MLW Media’s Antitrust Suit Against World Wrestling Entertainment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEW YORK, NY – Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of professional wrestling promotion company MLW Media, has defeated a motion to dismiss MLW’s amended complaint asserting federal antitrust and state law unfair competition claims against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for monopolizing and attempting to monopolize the market for the sale or licensing of media rights to professional wrestling events in the United States. MLW’s claims will now proceed to discovery.
In denying the motion, Judge Edward J. Davila, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, held that MLW had sufficiently alleged all four elements of its antitrust claims— relevant market, market power, anticompetitive conduct and antitrust injury-and declined to dismiss the state law claims.
Marc E. Kasowitz stated “We are pleased with Judge Davila’s well-reasoned opinion and look forward to recovering the substantial damages that MLW has suffered as a result of WWE’s many years of egregious anticompetitive behavior.”
The Kasowitz Benson Torres team representing MLW Media is led by partner Marc E. Kasowitz and includes partners Christine A. Montenegro, Nicholas A. Rendino and Jason S. Takenouchi.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Due to Monday’s Juneteenth holiday, Nielsen ratings releases for this past Friday’s WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage, this past Saturday’s AEW Collision, and Monday’s WWE RAW shows had been delayed by one day. Ratings for SmackDown and Rampage will be released today while Collision and RAW will be released on Wednesday.

Spectrum News reported that the New York State Senate recently introduced a bill that will look at reviewing the New York State Athletic Commission’s bylaws for professional wrestling events held in the state. The main goal for this new bill is for pro wrestling to be regulated differently than boxing and MMA events held in the state.

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently released a documentary video on their official YouTube channel focusing on last year’s inaugural Forbidden Door co-promoted event with AEW. This documentary was originally released for New Japan World subscribers but will be free for everyone to watch for one week.

This past Sunday’s Black Sunshine event for Prestige Wrestling featured Roderick Strong competing in his first match in the indies since June of 2019 for WWE affiliated EVOLVE and July of 2016 for Pro Wrestling Guerilla for non-WWE affiliated indies. Strong defeated Kevin Knight in a singles match at the event.

F1RST Wrestling recently announced that they will be holding this year’s Saturday Night Nitro event on September 9th at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. This will be the second year in a row that F1RST Wrestling will be holding an event at the famous venue and also the second year in the row that Mall of America will be hosting a wrestling event. The venue is notable in wrestling history for being the location for WCW’s debut Nitro show in 1995.

Booker T recently announced that Zilla Fatu, son of the late Umaga, will be making his official pro wrestling career debut at his Reality of Wrestling’s Summer of Champions IX event on July 15th in Humble, Texas.

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced that Marina Shafir will be making an appearance for the company at their Cage of Horrors event on July 1st in Clive, Iowa.

Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale recently issued an official statement on Twitter regarding Blake Christian being pulled from his scheduled booking with the company for their Thank Me Later event this past Saturday in Los Angeles due to schedule-related issues involving Ring of Honor’s ROH TV tapings that night in Chicago. Lauderdale stated “Just to be clear, this wasnt totally unexpected. If you book contracted talent, there is a chance they can be pulled at *any time* for *any* reason. It’s frustrating at times, but it comes with the territory and its a calculated risk we are willing to take. Everything will be ok.“

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, actor Chris Hemsworth gave his thoughts on the current status of the production of the planned Hulk Hogan biopic film. Hemsworth stated “Let’s hope. I don’t know what’s happening with it at the moment, but there’s a good story there. I’d love to tell it. I know Todd Phillips has been deep in the world of The Joker, but we’ve had conversations, and yeah, fingers crossed.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Sareee, former Sarray in WWE, recently announced a new match for the card of her Sareee-ISM ~ Chapter II ~ event on August 3rd in Tokyo, Japan:

Sareee & KAIRI vs. Arisa Nakajima & Takumi Iroha