WWE Sues Texas Attorney General, Seeks Declaratory Judgment & Injunction

WWE is no stranger to legal matters in recent years, from lawsuits regarding racial discrimination and antitrust matters to the lawsuit/federal investigation into former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, which also named WWE and John Laurinaitis, regarding allegations of sex trafficking and abuse. Now, WWE finds themselves caught up in another legal situation, only this time, they're the ones filing the complaint.

Wrestlenomics reports that WWE has sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filing a complaint against him 11 days ago. The complaint seeks a judgment and injunction to "prevent the release of an agreement between WWE and the city of San Antonio, Texas," related to the promotion running their 2023 Royal Rumble event out of San Antonio's Alamodome. 

The complaint appears to have been brought forth after two entities, Wrestlenomics and Intelligence Options, LLC., requested information regarding the 2023 Royal Rumble, including what was given to WWE by San Antonio to secure the event in the city, as well as other records. WWE claims are the deal between themselves and San Antonio is a "trade secret," and that the deal contains "proprietary information that fits an exemption in Texas's public information law." 

The promotion's argument was further spelled out in a declaration made by WWE Senior VP of Communications, Chris Legentil.

"If this information was made publicly available and Brandon Thurston was permitted to publicize our financial information and negotiated terms on Wrestlenomics, WWE would lose our bargaining power in negotiating all of our live events and much of the value of a bidding process for venues," Legentil said.

While San Antonio had previously been granted an exemption to withhold contract information regarding their agreement with WWE, the decision as overturned by Paxton in January 2024. In a letter detailing the reversal, Texas Assistant AG Michelle Garza argued "WWE has failed to provide specific factual evidence demonstrating the information at issue is confidential under Texas's public information law." The ruling appears to have been made following a records request on October 12, 2023, leading San Antonio informing WWE of the request and a further review of the matter.

No trial date has been set regarding the matter, though WWE filed the complaint in Travis County, Austin, Texas, the capital of the state. The promotion has hired Texas based firm Holland & Knight to represent them in the matter.