The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
Wrestling Observer Live with Mike Sempervive returns today with tons to talk about including a preview of tonight’s AEW Dynamite from Washington DC, Collision airing on ITV4, thoughts on FX bidding for WWE, we check the status of the PUNK POPS box guy on Ebay, the WORLD FAMOUS NXT report, and more!
A fun show as always, so check it out~!
Nearly three years to the day after it started, the 100th edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out is here, just in time to discuss the big news that UFC is heading to ESPN.
Helping me talk through all the major questions, answers, and thoughts on the deal are three fine gentlemen: Post Wrestling’s John Pollock, Awful Announcing managing editor Joe Lucia, and Awful Announcing sports media writer Andrew Bucholtz.
– John kicks off the show and we discussed both the UFC and rumored WWE TV deals and why I think it shows that ultimately, the opinions of the fanbases no longer matter. We also hit on Ariel Helwani departing to ESPN, how MMA Fighting can recover, his thoughts on Mauro Ranallo’s documentary, and John’s experience with Post Wresting nearly six months after it launched.
– We then go to old friend Andrew for a more business-minded discussion of the UFC/ESPN deal with all the financial fixings.
– We close out with first-time guest Joe as we work through his five questions he wants answered now that the ink is dry on the UFC/ESPN deal.
We have had a lot of great conversation and guests over the past three years, so I’m happy to present the 100th edition of the show with more of it. Thank you for the support!
This story was updated at 4 PM Eastern.
Two weeks after ESPN officially got into the UFC game with 15 shows for its OTT platform, the Disney-owned sports media giant doubled down, adding another 27 events to its package that begins in 2019, ending the Fox era.
Variety had the scoop in the early morning hours of Wednesday that the Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand confirmed and added more details to. The official announcement came Wednesday afternoon via a press release in which they touted UFC’s claim that they have the youngest fanbase among major pro sports organizations (40) and an audience of 40% millennials. They didn’t reveal where that info came from.
The new deal is for five years and a total value of $1.5 billion. ESPN outbid Fox Sports for the contract that kicks off in earnest this January. Ourand said NBC Sports and Turner Sports were also interested.
The breakdown of shows, courtesy of Ourand, is as follows:
– 20 yearly ESPN+ events
– 10 yearly shows on ESPN linear TV
– 12 yearly PPV prelim events on ESPN linear
UFC will run 12 PPVs per a year while Fight Pass exclusive shows weren’t mentioned. Per Dana White via ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, UFC will continue to handle TV production. This is unlike other sports that have deals with ESPN, say the NFL, which ESPN handles full production for, including commentators.
The amount is over twice what UFC was receiving in their Fox deal for prelims, FS1 Fight Nights, and shoulder programming.
Dave Meltzer and others had said UFC had a standing offer of $200 million from Fox for a package of shows even after the initial ESPN deal. Given Fox’s reported 5 year, $1 billion deal for WWE SmackDown, questions remain on how that affected negotiations and whose decision it was to move on.
If all reported numbers from the past week come to pass, WWE’s annual North American TV contract values for Raw and SmackDown would be more than UFC’s, something that just a year ago seemed highly unlikely.
After rumors surfaced Wednesday night that NBCUniversal wants to bring back Raw to USA Network at three times the current contract value, WWE’s stock value hit record highs Thursday.
As of 1 PM Eastern, the stock was trading at $50.21 a share, up from $43.60 at the close of business Wednesday and good for a near 15% increase. Earlier Thursday, they crested past $51 a share, their record high.
The company’s TV contract is up next year and the Hollywood Reporter reported that NBCU wants to bring back Raw for nearly three times what they currently receive while choosing to not renew SmackDown. Fox has been rumored to also be a suitor for WWE programming, opening up the possibility of bringing the Tuesday night show to Fox Sports One. They could still be interested in Raw for the Fox network depending on the cost.
WWE hasn’t commented publicly on any of the news.
Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel of Endeavor is negotiating both the WWE deal as well as the UFC TV contract.
