Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports/File PhotoJune 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge rejected World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE.N) effort to dismiss a smaller rival's antitrust lawsuit that accused it of monopolizing the market for professional wrestling media rights.
In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, said MLW Media had presented enough "circumstantial" evidence that WWE uses its dominance to keep rivals from accessing various distributors and arenas.
MLW said Stamford, Connecticut-based WWE commands about 92% of revenue from U.S. media rights for pro wrestling, versus 6% for All Elite Wrestling and less than 2% for everyone else.
MLW sufficiently alleged that WWE's activities "had a substantial effect in foreclosing competitors from the professional wrestling media rights market," Davila wrote.
The case is MLW Media LLC v World Wrestling Entertainment Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.
Persons:
Cody Rhodes, Joe Camporeale, Edward Davila, MLW, Davila, Marc Kasowitz, Jonathan Stempel
Organizations:
Wrestling, District, MLW Media, WWE, Elite Wrestling, Fox, Amazon.com, CBS, Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros Discovery, Wrestling Entertainment Inc, Court, Northern District of, Thomson
Locations:
Inglewood , CA, USA, SoFi, U.S, San Jose , California, Stamford , Connecticut, , New York, Northern District, Northern District of California, New York