WWE faces class action over ‘misleading’ ESPN streaming deal

(CN) — A pair of wrestling fans are taking industry titan World Wrestling Entertainment to court over the organization’s new streaming deal with ESPN, claiming the company falsely assured them they wouldn’t have to pay extra for certain WWE events.

Michael Diesa and Rebecca Toback — of New Jersey and New York, respectively — claim they were misled by a joint 2025 press release from WWE and ESPN that announced their “landmark rights agreement,” which moved events from Peacock to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service.

The price difference between the services gave many fans pause. Peacock charges as little as $10.99 per month, while ESPN’s full plan has a monthly $29.99 price tag. But according to the scrutinized press release from Aug. 6, 2025, viewers would be able to watch even WWE’s premium events “whether they subscribe directly or through a traditional pay TV package.”

WWE executives made similar statements in interviews, then picked up by news outlets covering the flagship deal with ESPN. Diesa and Toback claim this led them to believe that, if they were already ESPN subscribers via their TV providers, then they wouldn’t have to pay $29.99 per month for the direct-to-consumer service in order to watch premium WWE events.

But they were mistaken, or as they say, knowingly misled by WWE and ESPN.

“Conspiring with ESPN, WWE, through its acts and omissions, willfully and/or knowingly misled consumers who had already subscribed to ESPN to believe that they would not have to pay anything more to access ESPN’s DTC Service and to watch all WWE [Premium Live Events],” Diesa and Toback claim in the 30-page lawsuit, filed late Thursday night in Connecticut federal court.

“As consumers learned when they tried to sign up for the new DTC Service — many on the eve of the first WWE PLE to stream on the service — WWE’s (and ESPN’s) material representations, which were likely to (and did) mislead consumers, simply were not true,” the pair continued. “They were a ‘bait and switch’: The majority of consumers who already had subscribed to ESPN in another manner and expected to receive access to the new service for free instead were required to pay in full for it.”

As a result, thousands of wrestling fans were forced to shell out for ESPN’s streaming service, lacking the benefit of full disclosure, according to Diesa and Toback.

Both Diesa and Toback were among the affected — they claim they’re both ESPN subscribers who were forced to pay the $29.99 monthly fee after assuming they’d get WWE premium events at no extra cost. They’re seeking to establish a class of WWE fans who subscribed to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service between Aug. 6, 2025, and Sept. 20, 2025, even though they were already ESPN subscribers via another means.”

The plaintiffs lobbed similar accusations at ESPN, but the Disney-owned sports giant is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. A footnote in the complaint acknowledges that ESPN’s subscriber agreement includes an arbitration provision and a class-action waiver that prevents these claims.

“Those adhesive provisions, however, only apply — at most (if at all) — to disputes between subscribers and Disney, ESPN, and/or Hulu,” Diesa and Toback claim. “They have no application or relevance as to WWE.”

A representative for ESPN declined to comment. WWE didn’t immediately respond to requests seeking a statement.

Many WWE events are available for free on standard TV packages. But their biggest shows — previously referred to as pay-per-views, now premium events — require subscriptions.

ESPN landed the rights to stream WWE’s premium events in a five-year, $1.6 billion agreement last August.

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