An update has emerged on WWE Raw TV negotiations, with a TV rights deal reportedly set to be finalised ‘pretty soon’.
With WWE announcing a five-year deal with The CW Network to bring NXT to the network starting October 2024 last month, there has been a lot of speculation about the future of Raw, with its current TV deal set to expire in September 2024.
With Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel previously confirming that the company was having ‘good conversations’ with multiple suitors, Dave Meltzer has now provided an update on these ‘suitors’.
Per Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE had shopped Monday Night Raw around networks such as Amazon Prime, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney’s FX.
Indicating that a recent return may have affected negotiations in an interesting way, Meltzer said:
“WWE as far as the Raw deal is the belief is that they’re finalizing pretty soon. (Paul) Levesque was at Raw (on) Monday. (He) missed the one Raw if you remember because of whatever they were doing.
“They’re trying to close that deal. That’s pretty much it. Punk opened up what may have been a shut door. How open that door is or what is gonna transpire, I don’t know.
“Punk, he’s a significant player and that’s one of the reasons he’s gonna be at the house show in Los Angeles this week because I’m sure that the people who they are courting — everyone’s headquarters is in L.A.
“I’m sure that they’re gonna invite everyone that they’re courting there and figuring that they’re gonna see, with Punk and Dom, they picked the right opponent for just a great reaction to go look, this is what you’re getting, this is the show we’re selling.
“The belief is it’s coming down relatively soon (but) it’s one of those things there’s no rush either. It could come down in 6 months.
“They’re in negotiations and AEW is in negotiations. These negotiations are going to be gigantic to the future of wrestling in many ways, depending on who gets what, depending on the days of the week, depending on the counters.”
Warner Bros Discovery notably owns TBS and TNT, the current home networks for AEW’s Dynamite, Rampage and Collision shows.
Noting that WWE and Warner Bros Discovery working together no longer appears to be completely out of the question, Meltzer wrote:
“I think that there will be stuff in the next couple of weeks most likely. It could be the final deal…it could end up with the status quo. It’s not impossible. It could end up with incredible differences. Just gotta wait it out and see.
“The main thing though is WWE and WBD is not a dead deal and it appeared to be a dead deal before.
Prior to his WWE return at Survivor Series 2023, CM Punk had wrestled in AEW for two years, and was presented as a top star on the Warner Bros Discovery owned networks.
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