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THE ROCK & ARI EMANUEL TALK TODAY'S BIG WWE & TKO DEALS ON CNBC: COMPLETE REPORT

Ari Emanuel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson jouned Sqwauk the Box on CNBC this morning to talk all the big TKO and WWE news.

They noted the Raw deal has captured the stock market's attention.  Ari Emanuel said that they are in line with the market's expectations of where the 'step up' would be and said they are with Netflix.  He said this is the next iteration for Netflix as they move into live programming.  He said he believes this is an important step for Netflix for their subscription and ad-supported services.  He said it's a ten year deal for Raw and it's a big deal.

Emanuel said the international part of the deal gets Netflix Smackdown and the PLEs and it strengthens the brand globally.

They ran down the existing WWE and UFC deals and mentioned that the WWE Network deal with Peacock runs through March of 2026.

They were asked if they were done for now and Johnson joked, "Just for a moment."

Emanuel said they have a lot of integration to get done after doing that work on the marketing and sponsorship sides.  He said they have a lot of work to do.

Johnson was asked what this Board of Directors appointment means to him and his family.  Johnson said his grandfather wrestled for the WWWF, then his father did and they never would have thought this could have ever happened.  He said he now gets to sit at the table that they helped build.  He put over Emanuel as an exec saying this never would have happened without him and it shows the type of executive that he is.

Johnson said he's excited about the Netflix deal, describing it as 52 weeks a year "live" and that's a "lot of Rock raising the eyebrow" every week.

Jim Cramer veered into "Spring Football", talking about UFL.    He said he was always the last person at the cutoff and wanted to create something that would be there for these players.  He said the players may not be making major multi-million dollar deals but they are playing because they have a hunger and want to provide for their families.

Johnson was then asked about his Tequila company.   He said he wanted to build a company that would make an impact.  They shattered all records but tried to do it with humility.

They went back to the TKO appoinment, noting The Rock now owns his own name.  Johnson said there's a financial side of it but on a personal side, he owes that name to his career.  The name wa derivative of his father, Rocky Johnson, who was on half of the first African-American Tag Team Champions and was a trailblazer for kids like him.  It acknowledged Ari for doing it.  He had a million reasons to say no but only one reason to say yes.  He said it comes from Rock's family and it belonged to him.  Johnson said it was something he built and earned and now the complete benefit is that The Rock allowed him to be him years ago.

Returning to the Netflix deal, Ari was asked what this means for linear TV.  He said we just saw massive NFL audiences so linear isn't going away but there is a push to streaming.  They did that early on with UFC on ESPN+.  This is the next step in that.  They have linear with Smackdown and NXT.  This is their streaming play.  It's the golden player in streaming and is a great deal.

On efforts to take Endeavor private, Ari said he's ashamed it took ten minutes to ask that but he can't comment on it, not even one little thing.

Johnson was asked if Netflix makes him think differently about whether he wants his projects placed.  He said you want to have your finger on the pulse and things are rapidly evolving, so you want to have the best place for your projects.  Emanuel jumped in and you have to go through the process to know where things are best served - theatrical, streaming, etc.  It comes down to what you think is a theatrical project.  Johnson said it's about whether you believe it can put butts in the seats in the theater.  Johnson said if people spend their money to come to a theater, you want to send them home happy.

Johnson said this is the first time he's been on a public board and he and Emanuel will have to hold each other accountable.  He's a builder and excited to grow.  He said that everything he touches, he wants there to be a 100% a deeper meaning for it.  He said he's been invited to others but this is something special.  His father and grandfather worked here and it's global and something he can do with someone he admires, Ari.  

Ari said his family built WWE and now the branches are intertwined.

 

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