WWE CEO Nick Khan & TKO Execs, AEW Owner Khan Named To Variety 'Dealmakers' List

This week, Variety announced their annual dealmakers list, with a number of wrestling executives among the prestigious list of honorees.

The list of honorees included AEW Owner and CEO Tony Khan, WWE President Nick Khan, and members of WWE parent company TKO Group, which included TKO Group CEO Ari Emanuel, President and COO Mark Shapiro, and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer.

Variety writes on Tony Khan:

In October, five years to the week after Khan launched professional wrestling promotion AEW as a direct competitor to Vince McMahon’s long-dominant WWE, he closed a multi-year media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, worth a reported $185 million a year, that calls for AEW’s shows and events to be broadcast on TBS and TNT and stream on Max. The company is now valued at more than $2 billion, making it the third-most-valuable combat sports company in the world.Variety

Khan is quoted as saying, “Our new arrangement signifies that AEW will make history as the first professional wrestling promotion to simulcast events weekly on top cable channels and a top streaming platform.”