• Netflix To Buy Warner Bros. & HBO Max: Puts WWE & AEW Under One Streaming Roof
The biggest media news of the year is set to shake up the professional wrestling world after Netflix won the bidding war to buy the film and television studio assets of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in a deal valued at $82.7 billion. This massive acquisition brings the two largest pro-wrestling companies (WWE and AEW), which are fierce competitors, under one media umbrella for the first time.
Notably, WBD’s cable channels, such as CNN, TNT, and TBS, will be spun off into a new company called Discovery Global before the sale is finalized.
This merger creates a very interesting situation for both WWE and AEW, who are direct rivals in the wrestling industry. WWE signed a massive ten-year, $5 billion deal that makes Netflix the exclusive home for its main show, Monday Night RAW, in the United States. SmackDown, NXT, and PLEs air on Netflix as well, but outside the United States.
However, their competitor, AEW, has its main shows, Dynamite and Collision, broadcast on WBD channels TBS and TNT. Crucially, AEW also has its pay-per-views and weekly shows available to stream on HBO Max, the very service Netflix is buying.
While the deal is not expected to close until 2026 and must first clear major hurdles with regulators, the merger means that Netflix – WWE’s biggest streaming partner – will soon own a platform that streams content from All Elite Wrestling – WWE’s biggest wrestling rival.
This is the first time the two companies have shared a streaming owner, raising big questions about the future of AEW’s presence on HBO Max once Netflix takes over.
• “I never wanted Vince McMahon to go because I love him” – John Cena
During his interview on The Bill Simmons Podcast, 17-time World Champion John Cena talked about Vince McMahon’s departure from WWE and what the former CEO taught him. Here’s what The G.O.A.T said:
“Of all the things he did and of all the things he taught me, one piece that was very important is that no one is irreplaceable. And that’s the truth.
Vince has so much knowledge. I think what’s happened is unfortunate, because you have this individual with so much depth of field who can still offer things, and we no longer can pull from that. And it’s unfortunate he isn’t in WWE anymore. But it doesn’t mean we don’t have able-bodied folks who can put on creative programming.
So yeah, I never wanted Vince to go because I love him and I know how much he loves the business. But he taught me we’re all going to go.”
