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There’s been a lot of talk about who could purchase WWE in 2023. There’s been less chatter about how much money Vince McMahon might want in the sale.
There’s been a ton of WWE news this week, and virtually none of it has had anything to do with wrestling. Vince McMahon forced his way back onto the board of directors on January 6, with the accompanying press release indicating that he intended to facilitate a sale of the company. A quagmire of rumor and innuendo followed, reaching an apex on January 10 when several pro wrestling insiders reported that WWE had been sold to the Saudi Arabia Investment Fund. It was called a “done deal,” leading to widespread panic on Twitter and Reddit. However, selling a publicly traded company isn’t as simple as forcing through some paperwork. What if McMahon had sold WWE this past week, though? How much money would he have been looking for in a sale?
Dave Meltzer attempted to shed some light on this question in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. “Analysts have noted Comcast, worth $164 billion, would have the capability of pulling off a deal that analysts are estimating would cost $7.4 billion to $8.2 billion, with others saying WWE is hoping for $8.5 billion. Saudi Arabia, Amazon Prime, Disney and Netflix would as well. Endeavor or the Khan Family would need to work with other business partners, as Endeavor did with its purchase of UFC.” After breaking down the online pandemonium earlier in the week, Meltzer wrote, “[t]he point here is that until a sale is completed, where the negotiations are and who they are negotiating with will never be acknowledged. The company is obviously hoping for multiple bidders.“
What’s Best For Professional Wrestling Is Secondary To WWE
At this juncture, it’s clear that there isn’t much consideration given to what’s best for professional wrestling as WWE seeks a sale. This is a business decision made by multiple business people unaffected by what happens inside the squared circle. McMahon could secure even more billions if Raw and SmackDown were swimming in viewers, but that hasn’t been the case. A decade of Vince treating weekly television as unimportant commercials for shirts and the WWE Network turned fans off by the millions, and they’ve yet to come back. Under Triple H, the company’s creative seemed to be heading in the right direction, and excitement was high. McMahon’s return snuffed that out over one weekend, and virtually no one knows what’s happening atop WWE’s Ivory Tower now.
AEW and the Kahn family have been floated as potential buyers, but even that might not be best for professional wrestling. The competition between WWE and AEW has created some outstanding in-ring work and creative storylines. Nearly 200 wrestlers now call All Elite Wrestling home and are under contract. That’s 200 wrestlers WWE decided it didn’t need but was able to find work elsewhere. An (unlikely) merger between the two would vaporize the “viable alternative product” angle for AEW overnight. As Meltzer noted, negotiations between WWE and the likes of Disney and ESPN won’t become public knowledge due to the nature of those conversations. Fans must consider who has what to gain whenever an anonymous source tips off a Twitter reporter about a possible sale at 9 pm on a Tuesday. It’s all too easy to delete Tweets, as WWE fans have seen by now.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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