The plaintiffs in the ring boy lawsuit against WWE, TKO, and Vince and Linda McMahon have filed their formal opposition to the defendants’ motions to dismiss, the expected next step in the legal fight that now hinges on whether the case is being filed in the right court and whether the defendants were responsible for protecting the plaintiffs from harm.
The filing, submitted Monday, urges a federal judge in Maryland to reject the defendants’ efforts to have the case thrown out. The eight plaintiffs allege they were sexually abused as minors in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. They say that abuse has direct connections to Maryland and that WWE and its then-leadership either enabled or failed to prevent the harm.
All eight men are suing under Maryland’s Child Victims Act of 2023, which lifted the statute of limitations for claims related to child sexual abuse.
The plaintiffs’ names are filed under pseudonyms but the court has allowed their identities to be disclosed to the defendants. The ring boys claim they were groomed and sexually assaulted by former ring announcer Mel Phillips while under WWE’s watch. One of the plaintiffs also alleges he was sexually abused by senior executive at the time Pat Patterson. Both Phillips and Patterson are now deceased.
Much of the new filing is aimed at dismantling the defendants’ arguments that the case doesn’t belong in Maryland. WWE, TKO, and the McMahons have argued that because neither they nor the plaintiffs reside in the state, and because the company is based elsewhere, the court in Maryland lacks the authority to hear the case. If that strategy succeeds and the case is moved out of Maryland, the plaintiffs could face a possibly insurmountable obstacle. Other states in the Northeast where abuse also allegedly occurred would likely enforce deadlines that prevent viable lawsuits related to decades-old abuse.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys focus on WWE’s long-running presence in the state, including hundreds of live events across the relevant years and the taping of nearly 100 episodes of Tuesday Night Titans in a studio in the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills between 1984 and 1986. While abuse is alleged to have occurred at live events or at hotels before or after those events in Maryland, the plaintiffs point to the Tuesday Night Titans tapings to argue that the company had a consistent business presence in the state. That presence, combined with the company’s history of holding frequent live events there, is central to their argument that Maryland courts have the authority to hear the case.
The plaintiffs also challenge the idea that WWE, TKO, or the McMahons had no duty to protect them. The defendants argue they couldn’t have had such a duty because the plaintiffs were not formal employees. They say the ring boys were working for Phillips, not the company, and, therefore, the alleged abuse was committed by individuals acting outside of their roles with WWE.
Opposing that argument, the plaintiffs outline several different ways they believe the company had a legal responsibility to protect them. These include the idea that the ring boys were effectively workers even if not formally hired, that the company had a special responsibility because of the nature of their relationship to the boys, and that the boys were guests or participants at company-run events where safety should have been ensured. The plaintiffs also allege that WWE and the McMahons knew about Phillips’ inappropriate behavior as early as the 1970s, and yet still brought him back after briefly letting him go in 1988.
Another challenge, raised only by the TKO entity—separate from WWE or the McMahons—is whether the parent company can even be held legally responsible for alleged abuse that took place decades before the holding company that now contains WWE existed. In response, the plaintiffs argued that TKO inherited WWE’s legal liabilities when WWE and UFC merged under TKO in 2023, a concept known as successor liability. Linda McMahon’s own declaration that’s part of the case refers to TKO as WWE’s “successor company,” the plaintiffs note. If TKO succeeds with its argument that it can’t be liable in the case, it could result in TKO being dropped as a defendant, but would likely not affect the other defendants.
The ring boys’ attorneys also asked the court—in the event that the judge grants the defendants’ motions to dismiss—to allow the plaintiffs to amend their complaint or pursue limited discovery on jurisdictional issues.
It will be some time before Judge James K. Bredar is expected to make a ruling on these motions. A reply brief from the defendants is due August 27, and the parties have requested a hearing to argue the case in person, which, if allowed, would likely take place at some point after August 27. If the defendants’ motions are denied, the case may proceed to discovery, where evidence is required to be submitted and depositions are taken from witnesses.
The lawsuit not only revisits one of the WWF’s scandals of the 1990s but is also a significant test of Maryland’s recently enacted Child Victims Act, which became law in 2023 and survived a challenge in the state’s Supreme Court earlier this year.
