Nick Khan Sees WWE Surpassing Major Leagues

Talking to Max Kellerman, Khan made a rather bold claim about how he sees the promotion surpassing the major leagues soon.

“We see everything as our competition, including someone just staying home on a Saturday night and looking at their phone and texting friends and watching TikTok,” he said.

With this consideration of competition also came his awe for the halftime shows. Khan highlighted that he was inspired by performances like Beyoncé’s NFL halftime show. Which, in turn, pushed him to find ways for the WWE to compete with these performers.

And with this sense of competition, also comes plans to surpass major sports leagues.

“So, when we get our numbers coming off of Black Friday from Fanatics, what we’re curious to know is where we compared to the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and by the way, soon we’re going to take the spot of one of those entities. Assume it’s not the NFL or NBA, but we’re going to take that spot, and that’s where we want to go,” he said.

Another factor Khan touched on was that the WWE was better at paying talent than the competition. He highlighted that the WWE, like other combat sports promotions such as the UFC, believes that if a talent makes it to the top and is marketable, the promotion will ensure they are paid. Taking the example of top names like Brock Lesnar and Cody Rhodes, he stressed that the ones at the top are “getting rich or get rich. If you’re in the middle, you’re not getting rich, but you have a really good life.”

Additionally, he also stressed that the WWE has been rather proficient in turning talents into household names.

“So, celebrity matters. So, how do you turn someone into a celebrity? Number one, they have to have it in the ring. They have to have the it factor outside of the ring. If they have both of those things, you put them into our machine and get them out there,” he said.

“Marriage Is Working”

In 2023, UFC and WWE were brought together under the TKO banner. Under TKO, the live-events arms of WWE and UFC were merged into a single unit, the TKO Live Events Strategy Team. Likewise, their global partnerships/marketing teams were combined, meaning sponsorships, brand deals, and global outreach are now unified under TKO. Talking in the same interview, he was all praise for the WWE, UFC partnership with the TKO.

“Look at where the stock price is now, and I don’t want to jinx anything here, right? Obviously, it’s in a very good, good spot. It’s almost doubled over the last 12 months. Why? Because that marriage is working. So, when you have one sponsorship slash global partnership team, and UFC has done phenomenal work in that area,” he said. “WWE, we’re a little behind, and all of a sudden, you look at the numbers that WWE is producing, which still pale in comparison to what UFC is producing. Look at the sponsorship and boxing again.”