End of an era: WWE reportedly planning a huge shakeup

It seems like it is the end of an era for WWE as the Nick Khan and TKO-led company is reportedly looking to make a huge shakeup after half a decade over a broadcast deal.

That deal is the 5-year, $1-billion deal which WWE signed with Peacock for exclusive rights for the Premium Live Events, as well as an archive of the company's historic content. This report comes from Fightful Select, which gave huge details on the end of an era. The report revealed that there hasn't been a new deal for the library of content that they hosted, and as a result, the sports entertainment giant was exploring its options. The belief is that a lot of the content will slowly be uploaded on YouTube, where the company has a massive following, as well as a supposedly "favorable deal" with Google, as they are a top-performing channel.

Fightful Select further noted that WWE is working to secure a non-exclusive host, but that YouTube is a part of their plans. However, don't expect a mass release of content on YouTube as the company is only likely to do that with a partner they can reach an agreement. As for NXT PLEs and Saturday Night's Main Events, they will remain on Peacock.

What lies ahead for WWE's attempt at another gargantuan media deal?

Media rights deals in sports, and by extension, WWE, have been seeing an uptick for well over half a decade now. While not as lucrative as giants such as the NFL in the US and the Premier League in the UK, the fact of the matter is that broadcasting rights deals are now a part and parcel of the company's business model, making up a sizeable chunk of the company's revenue.

This is why TKO repeatedly mentioned that UFC's pay-per-view model was outdated, going on to secure a $1 billion+ per year deal with Paramount. For their flagship wrestling company, ESPN presents a new home, or a relatively new one anyway, as the deal kicked off at Wrestlepalooza this past September. It's going to be interesting to see how things play out, as the company has strategically shifted from Peacock to ESPN in an attempt to secure more legitimacy as well as a high-profile name sports platform.

What is notable is the fact that TKO and ESPN were on shaky terms over the previous UFC deal, which came to an end as the aforementioned Paramount+ deal was signed. It was well known that ESPN didn't make enough money to recoup the upfront costs they paid the UFC for each pay-per-view. It looks like the legacy sports brand is giving it another shot, this time hoping to bring in the diverse WWE fanbase, hoping it translates to subscriptions.

There has been talk now for a while of this media rights bubble bursting, and while the numbers suggest that it could happen across different sports, the sports entertainment juggernaut seems to be experiencing a different reality.

With a little under five years left on their $1.6 billion deal with ESPN, and nine years left on their gargantuan $5 billion Netflix deal, the company only seems to be falling upward, and if there is any bubble that bursts, they have made sure to secure themselves for a few years longer. What happens after that, only time will tell.

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Edited by Rohit Nath