WWE and ESPN Reportedly Discussing New Projects

WWE's media rights are approaching free agency. As emphasized by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon upon his return and insistence on pursuing a sale of the company, WWE's contracts with NBCUniversal (Monday Night Raw, WWE NXT) and FOX (WWE SmackDown) being due up in the next year will give WWE the hypothetical opportunity to streamline all of its broadcast content under one roof. WWE NXT's deal with the USA Network expires in September of this year while USA's Raw and FOX's SmackDown deals run out in Fall 2024. The company's streaming deal with Peacock is in effect until 2026.

McMahon sold WWE to Endeavor, the parent company of UFC, earlier this month. Given UFC's relationship with ESPN, many have speculated that WWE could bring its content to the worldwide leader in sports when the time comes.

Those seeds might already be being planted. According to PWInsider Elite, WWE and ESPN have had "renewed discussions" about a working relationship recently. The two sides have not discussed a weekly television series but are "still working out" what projects they could come together on.

These new projects could be more documentary-style productions. WWE has worked with ESPN for episodes of both ESPN 30 for 30 and E:60, where stories about Ric Flair's career and numerous WWE Performance Center trainees were spotlighted, respectively.

Beyond those originals, ESPN had licensed past editions of WWE WrestleMania to air on its channels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, WWE CEO Nick Khan was interviewed by Stephen A. Smith on ESPN First Take.

Regardless of where the eventual media rights negotiations take WWE, Khan has emphasized that the company hopes to continue working with NBCU and FOX moving forward.

"Love our relationship with NBCU. We're entering into the exclusive negotiating window with them now," Khan said. "In terms of FOX, the FOX platform, their broadcast channel has been tremendous in terms of WWE growth, so we always look at our incumbent partners first, obviously we want the best sized deal possible, they want to manage those costs, and we hope to work out a deal with NBC and FOX. If we get out of that window, we think the marketplace is gonna be robust."

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on WWE's media rights.