WWE currently has a variety of deals in place at the moment, which means its content can be found on networks like USA and FOX as well as streaming services like Peacock. There’s a bit of back and forth it seems regarding making all those various partners happy at any given time, but those deals don’t seem to affect just WWE’s direct partners. According to a new report from Fightful Select, it also affects other deals under the Fox umbrella, as a deal between MLW (Major League Wrestling) and Tubi was halted from proceeding because of WWE.
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Now, while WWE doesn’t have any agreement with Tubi directly, Tubi is under the Fox umbrella, and WWE has a deal in place with Fox for SmackDown, which airs on FOX every Friday night. According to a source close to Fox that Fightful spoke to, there was a deal in place between Tubi and a third-party wrestling company, which has been identified as MLW. The deal was set to be announced publically in August, but shortly before it was announced WWE was made aware of the deal, and they did not respond favorably according to the report.
As a result, the figure of that deal is in question, and there’s been no comment on that deal from MLW, Fox, or WWE. Fightful also noted that “the sources that we speak to do not represent Fox, NBC Universal, Peacock, Tubi, The USA Network or WWE as a whole.”
MLW currently airs their Fusion series on YouTube, while their Fightland specials air on VICE TV. Having a streaming deal in place would be a nice get for the company as well, so we’ll just have to wait and see if the Tubi deal eventually goes through or if they end up partnering with someone else.
As for WWE, the report also had some interesting details about their relationship with Fox. Evidently, Fox wasn’t overly happy about having to promote Peacock on their network (since Peacock has all of WWE’s pay-per-views), but then the source also reiterated that Fox was happy to help promote major shows on their platforms because “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
What do you think WWE and MLW fans? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
