Court Bauer Explains Why MLW Is Suing WWE

MLW CEO Court Bauer has explained why his promotion is taking WWE to court. In early 2022, MLW filed an anti-trust lawsuit against WWE. MLW alleged that WWE nixed a streaming deal the company had in place with Tubi, which is owned by FOX. WWE has a relationship with FOX as "WWE SmackDown" airs on the FOX network.

During an interview with Deadline, Bauer summarized MLW's decision to take legal action against their much larger competitor. "There are several things that have come up that have disrupted our business in terms of talent and tampering with contracts," Bauer said. "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." Bauer said that one can look all the way back to the '80s, with McMahon's efforts to expand WWE nationally at the expense of the territory system. The MLW boss says WWE's aggressive expansion has grown problematic, and he believes the company will not soften its stance on creating, what he feels, is a monopoly. "Vince McMahon wants to own all the boats," Bauer said. "That's how you build an empire."

The lawsuit alleges that Stephanie McMahon, who no longer works for WWE, personally sabotaged the deal between MLW and Tubi. Vince McMahon was also accused of threatening to pull select WWE content from FOX if the deal were to go through. Recently, MLW announced a cable TV deal with REELZ.