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So, did AEW win with the new media rights deal?
I'd say it was a massive win.
They weren't, by all accounts, getting $100 million and now they are getting in the area of $150-$170 million annually based on reports from Variety and Sports Business Journal.
They will be streaming on Max (which has upwards of 54 million subscribers in the United States), they will have PPVs sold on Max and will be on TBS and TNT for at least an additional three years. They could still strike additional deals for broadcast (see FOX rumors and Swerve Strickland's statement), potentially Rampage (which was't mentioned in the press release) going elsewhere, potentially for Ring of Honor, etc. and to potentially make additional money that way as well. They could eventually come to a deal where Max takes over the PPVs like Peacock did with WWE. There's more money coming in and still more money to be made, so to say it's not a massive win, to me, would be pretty crazy.
WBD obviously wanted them to remain in their ecosystem and AEW will remain. Tony Khan's entire plan in launching the company was to pursue rights fees and in a little over five years, he's brought the company to a rights fee number higher than anyone other than WWE has ever received. It's pretty impressive in my opinion.
What happened to the NWA on CW App?
NXT happened. From what we understand, the NWA knew at some point they would be exiting but didn't expect it when it happened. We are told by sources in their circle that they have another deal in place but what it potentially is, I don't know yet. So, they are on Twitter for five episodes and then they will go from there.
Is AEW rights fees per year or total?
They are for year. There was confusion yesterday due to a typo in a SBJ article that was later amended.
Was the CW audience good for WWE NXT?
Yes, we know that for sure, it was the highest rated show on CW in forever. The week before, reruns of The Conners were doing in the 300-400K range. This blew that away. I know for a fact that CW officials were absolutely thrilled. They would have been happy with 500K, legitimately. This number had them celebrating.
How much of an impact do you think the docuseries will have on Vince’s legacy and, indirectly, WWE?
Zero. Vince's legacy was already wrecked. This can't hurt it any worse. WWE will look at the docuseries and state they are a different company with a different ownership now and separate themselves. Fans who care about WWE won't stop watching it. Viewers who didn't know anything before they started watching will keep on not watching. I don't expect any crazy change in how WWE is perceived because of the doc, at all.
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