A new federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York accuses WWE, TKO Group Holdings, and John Cena of copyright infringement connected to Cena’s entrance theme “The Time Is Now.” The complaint, reported by Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling, arrives just days before Cena’s scheduled retirement match. It was filed by Kim Schofield, daughter of late Canadian bandleader Pete Schofield, who claims Cena’s theme uses an unlicensed sample taken from a 1974 arrangement recorded by her father.

At the center of the lawsuit is Pete Schofield’s horn arrangement for a 1974 cover of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” While the composition itself belongs to songwriter Bobby Russell, the filing argues that the horn-driven intro and outro featured in Cena’s theme are original additions by Schofield that do not appear in other well-known versions by Vicki Lawrence or Reba McEntire.

The complaint states that the Schofield family did not learn about the alleged sampling until 2015, when contacted by a reporter. This discovery led to a 2017 settlement with WWE in which the family received a one-time payment of $50,000. Kim Schofield now seeks to void that agreement, alleging WWE withheld critical information. She claims WWE finalized the settlement only two days before a major national Toyota commercial featuring Cena’s theme was set to air, and that the family, living in Canada where the commercial did not broadcast, was never informed of the campaign. The lawsuit further alleges that WWE minimized the theme’s value and dismissed her request for writing credit as “greedy” and “opportunistic.”

Music producer Jacob Brian Dutton, known professionally as Jake One, is also named in the suit. The complaint alleges that Dutton sampled the Schofield recording in 2003 to create the beat for Cena’s theme. A 2021 YouTube video cited in the filing reportedly shows Dutton displaying the Schofield album and explaining how he looped the horn section. He said he was paid $60,000 for the work, though an ESPN report has cited a different figure of $30,000.

In addition to copyright claims, the lawsuit accuses WWE of breaching the 2017 settlement. Schofield argues WWE released a 2019 track titled “The Champ Is Here” containing a newly recorded imitation of the horn arrangement, which she believes constitutes a prohibited form of reuse. She is seeking damages exceeding $150,000 and claims WWE failed to provide required credit to “PS Records.”

The lawsuit surfaces at a pivotal moment as John Cena prepares for his December 13 retirement match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. WWE and TKO have not yet issued a public comment.