WWE/UFC merged to TKO Holdings

[Shane]

They literally change belt designs for no reason. The UFC and wwe titles used to be cool as fuck and then they made them shit

 

[Shane]

I mean yeah I guess that’s why maybe still seems random as hell

Of course that’s why

 

[Cwalker]

The TKO logo is pretty cool

 

[Jimmy King]

It feels weird to think that a McMahon isn’t the majority owner of WWE anymore.

 

[Dale]

​

 

[The Gipper]

Bianca is so damn random

They really want to push the “Bianca is Super Cena 2.0” agenda even outside of kayfabe, duh.

 

[Chris]

Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro have given an update on WWE's talks for a new media rights deal.

Five months after originally being announced, Endeavor's acquisition of WWE became official today. TKO Group Holdings, a merged company with WWE and the UFC, is now trading on the stock market. Endeavor holds a controlling interest of 51 percent in the new company, while WWE shareholders hold a 49 percent interest.

WWE's media rights deals for Raw and SmackDown will be up in October 2024. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Shapiro said they're having "very encouraging conversations with several players and platforms" regarding new rights deals.

“We’re having very encouraging conversations with several players and platforms at the moment on WWE Raw and SmackDown,” Shapiro said. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we’re, in many ways, being valued as a unicorn because we’re a year-round. WWE is a full calendar, sports and entertainment platform with significant engagement, strong reach and attractive demos. And that bodes well for these conversations and I believe that we’ll have results that are in line with market expectations.”

Emanuel stated on CNBC that they're in discussions with both linear and digital platforms.

During New York Fashion Week recently, Emanuel and Paul "Triple H" Levesque were spotted sitting next to Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Amazon has been rumored as a potential landing spot for SmackDown.

SmackDown currently airs on Fox. Raw and NXT both air on USA Network.

Emanuel is the CEO of both Endeavor and TKO Group Holdings. Shapiro is the president and chief operating officer of both companies.

Representatives from Endeavor, WWE, and UFC were at the New York Stock Exchange this morning to ring the opening bell. On social media, Levesque wrote that this is the most exciting time that he's ever been a part of in the industry.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/endeavor-having-very-encouraging-conversations-about-wwe-media-rights

 

[Dale]

Gonna be interesting to see where everything lands. Only real certainty is that SmackDown is definitely leaving Fox.

 

[Chris]

The WWE-Endeavor deal could potentially offer crossover opportunities to some UFC fighters.

WWE and UFC were officially merged into one company today as TKO Group Holdings. Though they will continue to operate independently, Nick Khan told ESPN that the merger could offer some fighters the ability to extend their careers with TKO. Khan said fighters with big personalities could potentially crossover from UFC to WWE.

"UFC fighters are gonna stay focused on the UFC and WWE superstars obviously do something different in our ring," Khan said. "... but you also see in the UFC people with big personalities who, once their UFC run is done, once the UFC and the fighter says, 'Hey, maybe now's the time to call it a day,' could those people have a longer life at WWE, an extended life with TKO? We think so."

Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey are among those who have been stars for both WWE and UFC.

Khan, who is the president of WWE, is a member of TKO's board of directors.

UFC senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein also spoke to ESPN about the merger.

"Where we want to get is where every UFC fan is a WWE fan and every WWE fan is a UFC fan," Epstein said.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/nick-khan-wwe-ufc-merger-could-offer-some-fighters-extended-career

 

[Shane]

Yep nothing better than real fighters fake fighting. Adds a lot of credibility to the product I tell ya

 

[Samoa Looch]

"Where we want to get is where every UFC fan is a WWE fan and every WWE fan is a UFC fan," Epstein said.

So... they basically wanna doctor with both products so much, that they end up with a clusterfucky hotchpotch fusion of both products? Yea, that's not gonna produce any kind of problems with either core fanbase, I'm sure.

 

[Brandon Blaze]

I can’t wait to see someone run interference during Jon Jones next fight, and it ends up being Brock in a mask setting up a match at WrestleMania.

 

[Dale]

Basically what WWE is already doing with some of their PLE's​

 

[Chris]

UFC does it too, they just had a show in Sydney that the government paid them a lot for

 

[Storm Trooper]

Basically what WWE is already doing with some of their PLE's​

fuck me that would probably make the company a killing. I would imagine they keep UFC away from Mania and WWE away from their major show. But I mean if WWE gets $3M to run their own show they'll probably get about $10 to run UFC and WWE the same weekend. Or they run package deals where one city gets 2 weekends, 1 WWE 1 UFC.