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“A Part of Sports”: Tony Khan Addresses WWE’s Constant Ways of Taking Over AEW’s TV Partner and $27.75 Billion Worth Media Giant

Published Jan 6, 2024 | 8:44 PM EST

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Lucrative media rights have been a jackpot for the wrestling business for a long time. It has the immense potential to deeply impact the dynamic of the products and reach a certain target audience. And more often than not, that impact pushes the profit digits toward an upward trajectory. WWE is pretty much aware of this and hence cracked two giant media deals for SmackDown and NXT in recent weeks. Now, the turn is for the red brand.

Moving ahead, it seems WBD (Warner Bros. Discovery) is actively eyeing to host Raw. And none other than the AEW head honcho Tony Khan has a say on this.

Tony Khan spoke his mind on WWE’s attempt to seal a deal with WBD

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Veteran wrestling journalist Meltzer stated that WWE has been in active negotiations with massive companies like Amazon and Disney for its broadcasting rights. The possibility of cracking a deal with Warner Bros Discovery remained slim considering their affiliation with AEW. That’s not the case anymore. Now, it seems WBD is at the top of the list of WWE’s potential Raw home. It is expected to be announced soon, as WWE is reportedly working on finalizing the deal.

On the other hand, AEW’s TV rights deal with Warner Brothers Discovery for Dynamite, Collision, and Rampage is still active until December 31, 2024. The initial AEW-WBD contract has already expired at the end of 2023.

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Now, Khan is looking forward to a great year with WBD while engaging in active talks with the rival promotion quite sportingly.

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”It’s part of sports. I think everybody discusses contracts and free agency and things of that nature. I think everybody is aware that everybody is going to be talking to everybody in the media this coming year. There will certainly be a lot of opportunities. We’ve had a great history with Warner Brothers Discovery and continue to produce great ratings. We’ll be in a very good position next year,” Khan stated while speaking on Going Ringside with New4Jax.

WWE and AEW never took a break from sending out a vying vibe toward each other’s business ever since the latter’s inception. But the credit of WWE’s success in luring the 27.31 billion USD worth of broadcasting partners might emerge as a game changer entity. Nevertheless, its easy to attribute the success of such a lucrative deal for WWE to one particular superstar.

CM Punk emerged as the decisive factor in WWE’s potential WBD deal

And the entity in question is none other than the highly hyped-up wrestling hero, CM Punk. His monumental return in Survivor Series brought a lot of eyeballs to the business, to say the least. One of those media giants was WBS as the Seventh City’ Saint Punk earlier referred to WBD CEO David Zaslav as being a fan of his.

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Also, it has been largely speculated that Punk inserted himself into WWE’s upcoming Los Angeles, California live event mostly due to the presence of potential partners.

However, given that Punk has been a true needle mover for the company since his arrival, it won’t be a surprise if he pulls WBD in down the line. What’s your take on Tony Khan giving his honest takes on WWE’s ongoing negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery.?

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Let us know in the comments.

Written by:

Shreya Nag

1,340Articles

One take at a time

I had been a casual wrestling fan for a long time and after joining EssentiallySports, I started to watch WWE more attentively. I?ve been hooked on to pro wrestling thanks in large parts to stars like Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. I have cannot go a day without going through my social media feed occupied by their updates.
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Edited by:

Amal Joyce