WWE accused of deceptive marketing tied to ESPN premium live events

WWE class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Plaintiffs Michael Diesa and Rebecca Toback filed a class action lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment LLC.
• Why: Diesa and Toback claim WWE misled fans to believe they had free access to premium live events (PLEs) with an ESPN subscription via a pay TV provider.
• Where: The WWE class action lawsuit was filed in Connecticut federal court.

AA new class action lawsuit alleges the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) misled fans to believe they would be able to access its premium live events for free if they already subscribed to ESPN through a pay TV provider.

Plaintiffs Michael Diesa and Rebecca Toback filed the class action complaint against the WWE on Jan. 8 in Connecticut federal court, alleging violations of state consumer protection laws.

Diesa and Toback claim WWE fans were told they would be able to access the company’s PLEs for free if they already subscribed to ESPN through a pay TV provider. However, they were ultimately required to pay $29.99 per month for the new direct-to-consumer (DTC) service.

The WWE class action lawsuit says that in August 2025, the WWE announced it would move all of its PLEs from Peacock to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service. This in turn made ESPN the exclusive U.S. home for WWE PLEs for the next five years at least.

Diesa and Toback argue WWE fans had previously been able to access its PLEs by paying $11 per month for Peacock, while the new ESPN DTC service charges at least $29.99 per month.

“WWE fans were predictably—and understandably—upset by this willful, intentional and outlandish money-grab,” the WWE class action lawsuit alleges.

WWE allegedly conspired with ESPN subscription service to mislead consumers

The plaintiffs claim WWE’s alleged misrepresentations were a “bait and switch” that ultimately required the majority of consumers who already subscribed to ESPN to pay in full for the new service.

“Simply put: WWE intentionally, willfully, knowingly and/or recklessly engaged in unfair methods of competition and/or deceptive acts and/or practices,” the ESPN subscription class action lawsuit says.

Diesa and Toback claim WWE and ESPN conspired to violate Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. They are demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief and an award of actual, compensatory, consequential, nominal, statutory and punitive damages for themselves and all class members.

Earlier this year, a consumer filed a class action lawsuit against Disney DTC LLC alleging its ESPN website used tracking technologies to collect users’ data.

Did you pay for ESPN’s new DTC service to watch WWE PLEs? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph P. Guglielmo, Erin Green Comite and Anja Rusi of Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law LLP and Michael H. Sampson and Nicholas A. Colella of Lynch Carpenter LLP.

The ESPN subscription class action lawsuit is Diesa, et al. v. World Wrestling Entertainment LLC, Case No. 3:26-cv-00039, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

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