According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Nick Khan and Paul “Triple H” Levesque met with executives at Warner Discovery last week to pitch Raw coming to one of its networks after its deal with USA ends in 2024. The meeting was likely attended by David Zazlav, the CEO of WBD
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics reported the initial meeting between the two companies in October.
Tony Khan met with WBD a day later, he described the the conversations as “really good” during the press conference following the Ring of Honor Final Battle on Friday.
WWE’s initial meeting with WBD didn’t go well. Nick Khan and Levesque worked to get a second meeting in place, and put together a better presentation. TKO is stock closed below $76 on Friday. With the Smackdown deal coming in lower than expected, WWE management is under the gun to secure a better deal or Raw – that means having more bidders in the marketplace.
The TV market is more chaotic than 2018, when WWE last negotiated new rights fees. TV viewership was declining, but not like it has over the last several years. This was visible in the Smackdown deal with USA, and how the network seems willing to part ways with Raw, a 30-year anchor on prime time Mondays since the early 1990s, outside three years it aired on TNN/Spike TV.
Rights fees have accelerated the ability of studios to pay them. This problem is largely due to market forces, and mistakes made by cable companies, studios and media conglomerates over the last decade as they dealt with mobile phones and the growing impact of internet. Regardless, the rights fees WWE commanded six years ago will be hard for it to get today.
To get close, they need bidders and having WBD as another interested party gets more networks into the competition.
Whether WWE lands on WBD, it’s highly unlikely. The market is much tighter, but WBD is putting a lot of its consideration into retaining the NBA. Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics told SEScoops in October the NBA’s TV deal would be ending after the current deals for WWE and AEW.
WBD’s plans with the NBA would likely affect a potential deal with WWE more than AEW, because of the different money the two companies demand. While AEW should have a much larger deal this time around, it will still be well short of the deals commanded by Smackdown and Raw. That’s not considering the pressure on WWE to make bank with TKO stock well below its $100 target price.
AEW also has other options. Before the company was officially formed, Tony Khan and Chris Harrington had met with Turner executives and pitched the company. Showtime was also another big player for AEW. This was before the company had a track record of profitability and good ratings over a four-year period.
AEW would likely compete with some of the other companies that have interest for WWE. Tony Khan has all but confirmed that WBD owns a portion of AEW – that would change if AEW left the network – but given the company’s performance on PPV, it’s growing cash at gates and the success of All In Wembley, the company will land somewhere strong.
Thurston reported on his Wrestlenomics Patreon site this week that he believes AEW lost around $34 million this year – which considering the $1 billion valuation Forbes gave the company a few months ago- is remarkable given the pandemic and that this is a company only four years old – have of that time dealing with COVID-19.
Sources with AEW have said for months, while Tony Khan keeps the company’s financials quiet, they believe the company could easily make profitability with some cuts and would likely hit the mark with its next TV deal.
