Tag: Nick Khan

WWE’s Nick Khan promises imminent NXT revamp

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan says that a “revamp” of NXT is underway and that changes to the product will be seen within a couple of weeks. 

In an interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport, Khan said that Triple H is leading the changes. 

“We’re doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, Paul Levesque, who is really one of the architects of the original NXT,” said Khan. 

“In terms of an NXT rebrand, look for it in the next couple of weeks. It’s gonna have a whole new look, it’s gonna have a whole new feel.”

Khan also indicated a change in philosophy when it comes to recruiting talent for NXT. 

“What we believe, because of lot of the ‘indie wrestlers’ if you will have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and Raw now, we don’t want to just keep doing that same thing,” said Khan.  “We want to look elsewhere for great young talent.”

Khan also spoke of a more direct kind of developmental system, comparing it to high school and college football talent recruiting. 

“So what we found, it’s part of why we did the tryout [Las Vegas tryout on Friday], what we want to make sure is it’s easy for folks who want to be WWE superstars figuring out how to be WWE superstars,” said Khan. 

“If you think of the life of an elevated athlete throughout their career, the opportunity to go play somewhere has always been easy, being able to play somewhere is not… If you’re an amazing high school football player, colleges come after you, you get recruited, you go into their system, and either you make it or you don’t make it. All that it takes to get there? Difficult. The system? Not difficult,” said Khan. 

“We want our system to be an easy system where people who want to be superstars know how to get to us and we can get to them.”

The full interview can be seen below. 

Nick Khan says WWE cuts not about readying company for sale

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan says that the rash of WWE talent releases are not about readying the company for a sale. 

In an interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport, Helwani directly asked Khan about rumors of a WWE sale and whether or not the talent releases that have taken place in 2020 and 2021 could be explained as preparation for a sale. 

“I don’t know that there’s one explanation for it,” said Khan. “Ultimately, what’s looked at is this person, for us, going to move the needle now, or in the imminent future.”

“We live in the present, we live in the future, we don’t live in the past,” Khan said.

When asked to explain his “open for business” quote from an appearance on the Recode podcast, Khan said that “If someone credible calls on anything, NFTs, trading cards, we take the call. We are inherently sales people,” Khan said. “When I say ‘open for business,’ if somebody calls, credible, asking ‘hey, are you guys for sale?’ it’s what’s your offer? What are you thinking?”

Khan said plainly, though, that there are no active conversations with any outside entities about buying WWE currently going on. “People call all the time about all different things, but we’re not in an y active conversations about any of that.”

“We’re not trying to sell, that’s not our intent, there are no internal meetings about selling this company. The internal meetings are about growing it,” Khan said. 

Khan went on to explain that there is a collective of individuals making the decisions as to which talent will be released. Khan listed himself, Bruce Prichard, Kevin Dunn, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque and Vince McMahon as those who are responsible for the choices, but clarified that Vince McMahon has the final say. 

“Keep in mind, in WWE, as you know, there’s one boss and that’s Vince,” Khan said. 

The full interview can be seen below. 

Tony Khan cuts promo addressing possible WWE-NJPW partnership

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tony Khan cut a promo prior to tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite addressing a possible WWE and NJPW relationship.

AEW’s social media posted a video with Tony Schiavone interviewing Khan. You can see the video below:

Khan said that he read the Observer Newsletter this morning and heard about WWE president Nick Khan being in talks with NJPW about a possible relationship. Khan said that Nick Khan had done a lot in the last two months, but mentioned in the last two weeks how NJPW stars Ren Narita, Rocky Romero, and Yuji Nagata all appeared on AEW programming. He said he also had future plans with NJPW and the IWGP United States title, which is currently held by Jon Moxley. Khan closed the promo by saying there’s only room for one Khan in pro wrestling, not “some con-man from Connecticut.”

It was reported in this week’s Observer Newsletter that Nick Khan was in talks with NJPW about becoming WWE’s exclusive American partner. It is currently unclear what the status of those talks are. During the pandemic, NJPW has worked with AEW and Impact, sending talent to their promotions. They also have working relationships with Ring of Honor and CMLL.

WWE-NJPW discussing partnership, no indication of current status

Posted on by Bryan Rose

WWE president Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE becoming NJPW’s exclusive American partner.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that talks regarding the potential partnership date back to March or early April, but there’s no indication where the discussions are currently at. If talks go anywhere, the deal would include WWE sending talent, including top stars, to work in NJPW.

NJPW has normally worked with Ring of Honor as their American partner. During the pandemic, however,  NJPW has also formed relationships with All Elite Wrestling and Impact Wrestling. Yuji Nagata appeared earlier this month on AEW Dynamite and Satoshi Kojima appeared on this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.

Meltzer wrote the following:

In what could end up being among the biggest wrestling stories of the year, or a non-story, depending on the end result, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE being the exclusive American partner with the promotion. Right now New Japan has been working with AEW (KENTA, Yuji Nagata, Rocky Romero and Ren Narita plus Jon Moxley working New Japan Strong) and Impact (Juice Robinson, David Finlay, El Phantasmo and Satoshi Kojima) and has had a relationship with CMLL and ROH, but things have slowed down with those companies since COVID.

Obviously there are a million questions regarding such a deal if it was to happen, and there are no indications where talks are at past they date back to late March or early April. But it would include WWE sending talent and WWE top stars being allowed to work in New Japan if talks go anywhere. With Khan, the former isolationist attitude of WWE vs. everyone is changing with the idea WWE is part of the wrestling landscape and not separate from the pro wrestling landscape. Obviously it’s also to keep New Japan, which pre-pandemic was the third strongest company in the world, away from working with other companies which could strengthen the opposition and also be a factor with WWE gunning for the same talent as other companies because there is a percentage of younger talent that grew up on watching New Japan either via tape or YouTube where working there is a much bigger part of their career goals than the prior generation, and AEW talent has been willing to allow its talent to work outside its walls and Impact would allow talent to work with other promotions.

WWE president Nick Khan comments on future in-person events

Posted on by Bryan Rose

WWE president and chief revenue officer Nick Khan spoke to Variety on in-person crowds at WrestleMania and in the near future.

Khan spoke to Variety about crowds returning to WWE for the first time since last year. 

“If it could be done in a safe way, we had to get it done,” he told Variety. “And I think ultimately, thanks to the great work of all the folks here, we were able to get it done. If you recall, WrestleMania last year was two to three weeks into the pandemic. We had to cancel last minute and we did it from a studio. It was certainly a different experience. So we wanted to make sure that the fans and the people watching at home got the WWE experience that they’re used to on the biggest event that we have.”

Khan was elusive when it came to WWE’s future plans for more in-person events, though he did mention that when the time came, they would be back touring full time.

“Any plans? Yes,” he said. “Any plans we can share? Stay tuned. But just know that once we’re back on the road, we’re on the road full time. We’re not looking to do other one offs. Again, this was WrestleMania. And we felt it needed to be done for the fans. So look for news coming soon.”

In the article, WWE said that WrestleMania 37 saw 1.1 billion video views across their social and video media channels, which marked a 14% increase year-over-year. Their content on social media also reached a record 115 million engagements. It also said that the on-site merchandise sales were the highest per capita in the company’s history.

WWE SEC filing reveals executive compensation, new board members

Posted on by Josh Nason

In compliance with SEC regulations, WWE filed a proxy statement Tuesday prior to their impending annual shareholder meeting — the contents of which revealed last year’s compensation for their directors and their board including president and chief revenue officer Nick Khan, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque.

Last year, Khan earned $13 million, made up of a prorated base $498,462 salary; $6.8 million in stock; $471,823 in incentives; and $5.19 million in other compensation (signing bonus). His base pay for 2021 will be $1.2 million in addition to $1.9 million in performance incentives.

The bonus is subject to repayment requirements if he leaves “without good reason” or is fired. If that was to happen within the first year, he has to repay all of it; between 12-24 months: $3.1 million; and between 24-36 months: $1.2 million.

He also received a signing bonus of performance-based stock units valued at $15 million. 40% of those PSUs will vest in September 2022 with the other 60% vesting in 2025. Also worked into his contract is that if he is fired without cause in those first five years, he gets the remainder of his yearly base for however many years are left on the deal. He also would be subject to repaying relocation expenses if he leaves on his own or is fired without cause in his first 12 months.

Vince McMahon

  • The chairman earned $3.9+ million in 2020 made up of $1.4 in base salary, $1.63 million in stock awards, $854,000 in incentives, and $20,000 in other compensations. That total is down from 2018’s $5.6+ million and 2019’s $3.5+ million.
  • As CEO, McMahon’s total compensation was a 38-to-1 ratio of the total compensation for the median WWE employee ($102,577). That ratio disclosure is required by the SEC. 
  • McMahon and his immediate family also gets use of the company jet for personal travel when it’s not being used for business. However, any costs in doing so are paid for by him so WWE doesn’t have to cover it.
  • He also owns 92.3% of the company’s Class B shares.

Paul Levesque

  • Levesque earned $2.38+ million last year with a $730,000 base, $464,778 in stock awards, $222,650 in incentives and just under $1 million in other compensation which was his performance and merchandise contract. The number is down from 2018’s $5 million and from 2019’s $3.3 million.

Stephanie McMahon

  • McMahon earned $2.8+ million on a $730,000 base, $464,778 in stock, $222,650 in incentives, $775,723 in other compensation for her performer/merchandise contract. The number is slightly up from 2019’s $2.07 million.

Other notes:

  • Shane McMahon has a performer’s deal that paid him a minimum of $820,369.
  • Both Connor Schell (former ESPN EVP, co-creator of 30 for 30) and Steve Koonin (CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the State Farm Arena) were announced as members of their Board.
  • Of Board members, the highest compensation of cash and stock was Jeff Speed at $236,384 followed by Stuart Goldfarb at $224,516 and Laureen Ong at $208,884.
  • WWE paid CAA $5.8 million last year “for commissions on certain licenses and management recruitment fees.” CAA was Khan’s old agency where he negotiated the various TV contracts.
  • Investment firm Lindsell Train Limited owns 23% of Class A shares, followed by Vanguard Group and BlackRock that both have significant holdings in WWE.
  • Officers and directors own a combined 41% of both Class A and B shares.
  • Their management incentive plan (MIP) payouts (between 50-100% of salary) are based on a point system on the following personal and company-wide performance metrics: 40% strategic objectives (viewership with a benchmark of certain key TV ratings); 40% for the next iteration of WWE Network (acquiring a domestic network license); 10% for sponsorship business opportunities; and 10% for brand strength measurements (increasing WWE ratings among sports fans). Based on that, funding for those payouts was down to a 5.0 for an overall score, down from 6.7 in 2019 and 8.7 in 2018. That meant there was less money given out to executives for performance bonuses.

WWE president Nick Khan: Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch will return

Posted on by Josh Nason

During an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s podcast Wednesday, WWE president Nick Khan said both Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch will return.

In talking about WrestleMania 35 when Rousey vs. Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair headlined the show and the popularity of female wrestlers in general, Khan made a point to say Rousey would return “at a certain point in time” and Lynch would return “”at a certain point of time…in the not-too-distant future.”

The aforementioned match was Rousey’s last appearance in WWE as she lost the Raw Women’s title that night. She had said that she was looking forward to taking time off and starting a family, but she later aired some grievances with “f*king ingrateful fans” and the travel schedule while doing an appearance on the Steve O podcast.

Lynch relinquished the Raw Women’s title last May after revealing she was pregnant. She and Seth Rollins welcomed a daughter in December and Lynch teased on social media on the night of January’s Royal Rumble that she was returning.

Some other notes and talking points from Khan’s appearance:

  • In talking about WrestleMania, he plugged the A&E partnership and the documentaries that kick off in April.
  • He said expanding further in the media universe is their top priority. They seem themselves as an entertainment company and not a wrestling company.
  • He feels like they are sitting on a “treasure trove” of intellectual property and they want to focus monetizing it.
  • They are “hyper-focused” on Latin America, and specifically Mexico. He said two smaller groups run in Mexico and he feels that if you were to take one of those companies and add the WWF effect to it, it could be very successful with local stars and a free-to-air TV product. He clarified they weren’t looking to buy one of those groups, but do something from the ground up.
  • He said he doesn’t want Twitter to be their primary influence as it accounts for a small percentage of their fanbase. He pushed live audience reaction as what they want to help guide decision making and how that has been difficult due to the pandemic.
  • When they return to running live shows, there’s no going back. He said they would return three times a week (Raw, SmackDown, NXT) but didn’t give an indication as to whether house shows were going to be part of the mix.
  • He said Fastlane was a massive success in terms of subscriptions for Peacock, but didn’t clarify what percentage of those subscribers were WWE Network converts.
  • He said they are very popular in the Philippines as are other U.S. entertainment properties.
  • In talking about Vince McMahon, he said he’s not surprised he has sold the company because he built it and is the best person to run it. He then joked about how another executive once asked McMahon where he was “summering” and taking time off and McMahon replied that he was going to “summer” in his office in Stamford, CT. Khan said people don’t realize how polite he is and that he isn’t interested in a lot of small talk. He’s formal and a calculated businessman that is always ready to talk about the business.

Report: ‘Large number’ of WWE employees getting stock award

Posted on by Josh Nason

Citing multiple sources, Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston tweeted Thursday that a large number of WWE employees are being given a $3000 stock award that fully vests in March.

The news comes roughly a week after the company told employees there would be no impending raises, bonuses and promotions coming, understandably causing some negative feelings as a result. It’s unknown whether the stock award was directly tied into the unhappiness after the announcement.

Thurston noted not all employees are getting the award.

Dave Meltzer said the reason for the initial decision was that WWE missed their stock price target despite the company announcing record-setting revenues and a new $1+ billion deal for WWE Network to move to NBCU’s Peacock streaming service in March. Those revenues came even with the pandemic taking away live gates.

In an unrelated story, WWE President Nick Khan acquired 10,464 shares of WWE stock according to an SEC filing. The value of those shares as of Thursday’s close was $494,633 ($47.27).

WWE announces Nick Khan as new president/chief revenue officer

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a move that is surprising some in the sports media industry, Nick Khan has been hired as WWE’s new president and chief revenue officer, announced by the company Wednesday morning.

The 45-year-old Khan was the co-head of the TV division of CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and was the driving force behind negotiating WWE’s new TV deals in 2018. He reportedly is leaving the company on good terms.

While at CAA, Khan also negotiated deals for a slew of big name sports broadcasters and talking heads in addition to organizations like Top Rank Boxing and college sports’ Southeastern Conference (SEC). 

Khan will report directly to Vince McMahon and is taking over the roles Michelle Wilson and George Barrios held before they parted ways with WWE earlier this year.

From the release, McMahon said, “Nick is a seasoned media executive with a deep understanding of our business and a proven track record of generating significant value for sports and entertainment properties. While representing WWE at CAA, he was instrumental in transforming our business model by securing domestic media rights increases of 3.6x over our previous agreements. Nick’s management style and personal demeanor are perfect for WWE’s entrepreneurial culture, and he will fit right in with our exceptional management team.”

In an interview with John Ourand of the SBJ, Khan said he started wondering if there opportunities to do something “bigger and better” with WWE while at Paul Levesque’s 50th birthday party, saying the family business-style atmosphere just felt right.

When asked about his plans given the company’s sliding TV ratings, Khan told Ourand, “We all have a lot of ideas in our head. It might be a little premature to share them in terms of when we are going to execute those.”

As of this writing, WWE stock was up slightly to $45.10.