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WWE President Nick Khan appeared today on the Pat McAfee Show to discuss today's WWE-Netflix deal. The following is the complete transcription of the appearance.
Nick Khan: Hey, thanks for having me on. Long time viewer, first time caller or presenter, whatever you want to say.
Pat McAfaee: Yeah, we're lucky to have you. Obviously we know that you're forced to watch some clips every once in a while. We appreciate that. And you've been an incredible mentor. To me in a man that I've been able like a consigliere if you will. So I appreciate you mightily and thank you for taking time on this incredibly busy day, legendary day in the history of the WWE. I just talked about it there about the Wheel of Fortune run [Khan financed law school via winnings from the game show] into becoming law school into lawyer Into agenting into becoming the president of a fortune. What are we fortune?
Nick Khan: Let's say we're Fortune 600, maybe.
Pat McAfee: Pretty good. We're almost there. Pretty good. Whenever you're dealing with everything that's happening, okay, because since you got there in 2020, obviously there's been a transition. Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, both stepping back. There's a sale, obviously, to the Endeavor Group. You create TKO. Then you're able to negotiate this five billion dollar deal while all of this is happening. What do you think is the reasoning on why you've been able to handle and you and the WWE have been able to handle the transition so seamlessly, appearing from the outside looking in?
Nick Khan: Thank you. Thank you for your kind words, Pat and by the way, always a pleasure to connect with you, talk to you as friends, consigliere, whatever role you say.
Pat McAfee: Get to it. All right, I'll move along.
Nick Khan: Look. One last thing on that. There would be no WWE without Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn. Both, in my opinion, the greatest of all time in terms of what they did and what they contributed to build what is now a massive enterprise. In terms of the transaction and moving it forward, Vince was the controlling shareholder. He decided it was time to transact. He allowed me to sit side by side with him in the process to hear all of the different pitches. It was a robust marketplace. Endeavor had the best proposal we felt for our shareholders and here we are with the Netflix deal being announced today with Dwayne Johnson being added to our board of directors. We feel like it's a great start to what should be a a beautiful next chapter at WWE.
Pat McAfee: Yeah, you guys have done fantastic, and shout out to Kevin Dunn and Vince both. They've been far too kind to me and all my guys. And I can't wait to see them down the road at some point. Netflix, I think whenever it was announced caught a lot of us, I think, by surprise. Netflix not really known to be in the live entertainment world. I think they've done a couple stand ups live. I think Chris Rock had one that kind of went, they did some other stuff. Whenever you're at the market, in the marketplace, and obviously Raw has been on the air forever, it generates a number every single week, no weeks off. It is a high valued asset that WWE has had, and currently has. When you go to the marketplace, at what point did you realize Netflix might be a real player? Because we assume, because everything I've heard, ESPN and Disney were potentially involved, Amazon potentially involved, obviously Peacock, NBC has been the owner of USA Network of Raw for a long time. At what point is Netflix yeah, we're thinking about getting in the game, and like 5 billion is a big jump into the game. When did that all come together, Nick?
Nick Khan: Indeed, by the way, Pat, 20 years ago, just keep in mind, Raw has not been on USA for its entire 30 year plus run. 20 years ago, Raw was on the Nashville Network, which became the National Network, which became TNN, which became Spike. Smackdown was on UPN. So if you look at the Nashville Network and UPN, fast forward 20 years to Netflix and NBCU with USA and Peacock. We think we're in business with two great partners. What we did once the Smackdown deal closed, which will shift Smackdown over from Fox to USA starting this October 1st, we focused or hyper focused on Raw. It was a robust marketplace. We had a number of meetings. There was a lot of interest. There were a number of offers. And at the end of the day, to be the first movers with Netflix live on a consistent basis. So yes, I saw the Chris Rock special too, and the reality show after show, and they're doing the Golf Pro Am, which was all great programming. But 52 weeks a year, we're turnkey as you've lived it with us. The fact that they could come to us and say, yeah, we strike a deal, and you guys do all the rest, is something that they like, and certainly something that we thought was in our direct wheelhouse. It came together over the matter of a couple of months. And we think it's a great deal.
Pat McAfee: Congrats. Congrats on getting that done. The USA deal, allegedly 250 million. This one, 500 million a year. What a dog. What an absolute Look at the grin. Yup. Yup. Yup. Yup. Massive ordeal, obviously earned by everybody in the WWE. What has been the reaction within the WWE with the people that you've talked to? A couple people, obviously friends of mine still in the business in there. So hey, big announcement coming tomorrow, big announcement coming tomorrow, yesterday. Then when this rolls out, I think a lot of people may be surprised by what has been the reaction. I assume everybody's pumped. It's a massive global deal.
Nick Khan: Overwhelmingly positive. Overwhelmingly positive. And I think, look, if you look at the streaming wars, Netflix has sat at the top of that perch. They continue to sit at the top of that perch. So it's an entity that everybody certainly in our sphere has and subscribes to. We think it's a great way to grow the WWE audience while growing the Netflix subscriber base. So overwhelmingly positive reaction from our force of colleagues who really make up the WWE, who all contributed to this deal, to friends and family who are texting me the same.
Pat McAfee: Yeah, everybody's pumped for you, dude. Did you see the ringing of the bell? You're standing A! You're under the K! You saw it, yeah. You saw it. You're under the K! Look at you. Good spot.
Nick Khan: Listen, as I'm a man of the people. I'm just a public school kid and trying to take it all in.
Pat McAfee: No, that's why it's so inspirational to watch you dominate, man. Absolutely. And I don't know, your name has been one that has been whispered by folks around business worlds. And whenever I had an opportunity to meet you a couple of times, and I think we took a picture one of the first times I met with you and maybe the rock was even, it was me, The Rock and the Nick Khan in a photo, I think and I walked away and people were like, You were in a photo with Nick Khan?, and I'm like, yeah, I was also in it with The Rock. The more I learned about you and your story, You're a dog, dude. You're one of the best we have in the United States of America. You need to know that. So from Vince McMahon, one of the greatest American dream stories from a trailer park who was, abused as a kid, turning a company into a multi billion public conglomerate, to a man that literally wheeled a fortune his way into an entire career, it's like It's a beautiful thing over there, Nick. It really is. You should take that in sometime. I know you got a suit on and you gotta do your shit. But you did it, dude. Legitimately.
Nick Khan: It's nice of you to say, and look, just a little bit more about Vince, as very rough upbringing, which you just talked about. To be able to hurdle himself to the heights that he got to and that he got all of us to, I'll always have admiration and respect for that. In terms of me, I just come to work every day like everyone else and try to move it forward So I appreciate all the kind comments.
Pat McAfee:Yeah, you put your suit on, Hey last question for me before the boys have a couple and obviously they're all big fans and you've been far too kind This dude like escorted my wife into an arena because she didn't have a ticket or whatever and then like a couple months later Sam talks to Nick and she goes, 'Nice to meet you.' and Nick goes, 'Oh, I was actually your chauffeur.'
Nick: Oh, no. Oh, no. Sam forgot about me. That's how memorable I was that she forgot about me.
Pat McAfee: No, that's how low key you are. Always just head down, no big deal. I'm gonna get out of here. The president of the company is walking through an arena right now. This, you and I have Complimented each other a few times here and I told you to shut up there earlier whenever you were doing it and get to the answer, but why do you think You and I, my record with Suits is pretty documented at this point, publicly, I assume behind the scenes as well. Why do you think you've been able to reach and connect with people like, for instance, Ari Emanuel now, part of Endeavor that you are working alongside of. He was the guy, he was the agent, he's the super agent, he's the one in entourage. And then everybody, the next generation of that, was you. Why? Are you known as the superstar? Why do you get along? Why are you the guy you are, you think? Why is that the case?
Nick Khan: It's nice of you to say. Look, I would say this to you, Pat, again, very kind and generous of you to say. I would say that, similar to you, I believe I'm a good listener. And in terms of quote unquote talent, as it relates to you, it's one of the first things I said to you after we were at a wedding together. Randomly, four, five, six years ago, pre COVID wedding. I don't want to bring up COVID as a subject here.
Pat McAfee: Yeah, okay, Nick! Enough! Enough, Nick! Enough, Nick, jeez. Congrats to the Coonans, by the way. Beautiful baby.
Nick Khan: David Coonan wedding, we were there, and I remember walking away from that, because that was the first substantive in person conversation I had with you. And I said to myself, I said, he's a tremendous listener and you often don't find that with young folks who have had success and all that, they want to talk to you about their success. You were not that way. I'd like to think in whatever success I'm perceived to have, I don't do that. Yesterday is yesterday. I start every day, the clock strikes midnight every day for a reason. It means whatever the highs were, whatever the lows were, that day's over, and you gotta move it forward.
Pat McAfee: Okay, you've done that phenomenally, and I appreciate what you just said there. You and Hunter seemingly, Paul, The Cerebral Assassin. The King of Kings. The Game. You two are seemingly the people that are being talked about as currently directing the ship that is the WWE. Is that accurate? And how has that bee now that you two are doing that.
Nick Khan: Paul Levesque, the King of Kings, Triple H. He's the one who introduced me to WWE. Hunter. He's the one who first introduced me. So when I was an agent in my prior profession and I was trying to get into the WWE business Paul had called me, unsolicited call, and this is when Tim Tebow had just gotten cut by the Patriots. Paul called me, he said, hey, I just want to introduce myself, my name is Paul Levesque. I said, oh yeah, Triple H, I know who you are, I remember you as Terra Ryzing. Yes, that's who I remember. From WCW, exactly. I said, you are, he's oh, WCW? I said, yeah, I know WCW, grew up a fan, I was an usher at WrestleMania 9 at Caesars Palace. I said what's going on? He said, hey, what do you think of Tim Tebow against the Big Show?...and whatever that Wrestlemania was after the Patriots run, and I said I said, what do you think it, he offered some financial terms, I called Tim at the time, what do you think, Tim and I had, then, a top secret private meeting, Tim Tebow, myself, Vince McMahon, Triple H, and Anaheim, California, about that, ultimately it didn't happen, and Triple H and I remained in touch, and over time, he was the one who said to me, hey, you I think Vince may want to meet with you. I think you 'told me' you're going to be in Dallas this weekend. Dallas was where RAW was. I think you told me you're going to be in Dallas. That's good that you're going to be there, because if I told Vince you're flying in for the meeting, he'd say, don't do it, I may have to cancel, it's RAW, It's RAW, but I know you're going to be there. Plan on meeting with Vince. I went the night before, because, of course, you don't want to go day of and be late, and this and that, nobody wants to hear the, hey, my flight was delayed nonsense. So I went, I sat in a hotel room, Paul called me, he said Vince is ready to meet. I went to Vince's office, met with him, I pitched what I had to say, and we shook hands on a deal and here we are.
Pat McAfee: I love that. Hell yeah. Yeah, you're already going to be there, right? Yeah. Yep. Going to be there. Yep. Going to be in Dallas, live in L. A. full time, but need you tomorrow, Dallas? Need you to do this? How about Vince dealing with Vince? What a wild thing. It's awesome. I've talked about this before, and you tell me if you feel the same way. So humans, much like dogs. Yeah. Yeah. Can sense how you're acting towards them. If you go into a room with a dog that has actual canines, and you act scared That dog is going to treat you like a little bitch. That is how that dog is going to treat you for the rest of the time that you're in that house. But if you present yourself confidently and comfortably, the dog will act the same way in the court. I think there's some humans that are like that. I think there is humans that are at the top of the food chain and have been business wise and are very sharp and smart and calloused and have been there that if you, they can sense fear almost. I feel, if you go in Confident and comfortable. That sets the tone for the whole conversation. I assume you feel the same way. And I did that with Vince one time. And boy, I've never been more scared of my life inside. Outside. Oh yeah, here we go. Yeah, it's just Vince. Man, no problem at all. What up, Vince? Handshake smack in the middle. He got back big laugh. Oh my god. I think I got him You know shit my pants inside. I assume it was different for you with vince, but how was that relationship? On was it great? And how much you talk to him now?
Nick Khan: By the way, if I remember correctly, there was a moment in time where you were looking around for your show What you wanted the home of it to be there were a number of different suitors I believe you sent Vince and I both a text saying hey this one enterprise...they're not responding quickly enough I want to tell them to F off. Something to this effect. o you recall what Vince's response to you was?
Pat McAfee: Don't, Pat. He said don't. He said say it in here. Don't actually say it out here. You say it inside. You don't say it outside. I'm like, but they need to hear it. In here. Yeah, that was his big response. It was awesome. It was awesome.
Nick Khan: I remember it. It was amazing. Look, here's what I found with Vince. In a private setting, if said respectfully, you can say anything you want to him. You can disagree with any point of view, and the folks who have succeeded tremendously at WWE, Kevin Dunn, I'm not talking about the, our in ring superstars, I'm talking about the executives on the outside, Kevin Dunn, Paul Levesque many others. They all had that trait, where you understood, this is the boss. He is the controlling shareholder, the founder of the company, this and that. So you're not going to call him out in a room of people if you disagree with something. You're not going to be rude. He's polite by nature as he preferred to be polite but he's certainly comfortable if it has to go a different route. So what I found with Vince was I could say anything to him directly in person as long as it was in a respectful way. And he'd always hear it and often times he'd agree with it. In terms of how often I'm in touch with him, I just saw him today. At the New York Stock Exchange. He looks amazing.
Pat McAfee: Does he still have the mustache?
Nick Khan: He's still buff and fit, suited up and ready to go he has a mustache but as I said this previously I said it to you if you look at Vince McMahon Dwayne Johnson, Paul Levesque, Ari Emanuel, they have a combined body fat of 1%. So it's not for me to comment on anyone's physicality. Vince is on the right to look however he wants.
Pat McAfee: Hey, that front row has 6 percent body fat combined. Right underneath the K. I'm okay with a sandwich, I don't know, you guys, your taste buds might not be as good as mine. Mine, mine enjoy pretty good taste.
Nick Khan: You look very lean and ripped though, dude, I will tell you that. I know. The baby, when the baby came, it's always tricky and no one...the attention should not be on the dad for any reason. But I remember you told me, you're like, hey, dude, I gotta get back in shape here. And you did it. Thank you.
Pat McAfee: I was dancing with 300 pounds there. You know what I mean? I was getting way fat. And then now the football season is winding down. This is the best shape I've ever been in at the end of a season, which is for sure. Normally season kills us, which is you guys, 52 weeks a year, what are we even talking about? Ty has a question for you.
Ty: Yeah, Nick, obviously Royal Rumble right around the corner and then WrestleMania not too far off. I think for a lot of casual fans who might not watch Raw every single week, but they will always, find the premium live events and make sure that they don't miss out on that. Was there any discussion with Netflix about? Those being housed on Netflix as well or where will the premium live events be housed for the near future here.
Nick Khan: First of all, you guys come into WrestleMania in Philly April 6 and 7.
Pat McAfee: I got the email from your office today, right? Jawns...can't wait....Philly Cheesesteaks. It'll be great.
Nick Khan: Look, our current partner in the United States on all the premium live events like WrestleMania is Peacock and NBCU. They've been tremendous partners. This deal with Netflix is for the premium live events outside of the United States. Excluding certain territories where we have existing deals. Like India, for example, but it's Raw, globally. Again, a few exceptions there. But it's really a global enterprise with Netflix that should build to something even greater.
Pat McAfee: There's so many people in India. So many.
Nick Khan: That's what I've been told. WWE's the most, the second most popular sport in India. And yes, I understand we're not a pure sport. Sports entertainment. After cricket, you got it. It's WWE. Our partners there, Sony, India, they've been tremendous. They're going through a merger that may or may not happen, and all of these things.
Pat McAfee: So you're dealing with all that every single day? Oh, we got Sony in India. We got Netflix here, UK, Latin America's got this. That's every day of your life?
Nick Khan: Listen, it's the job. I also deal With friends who can run hot at times, where if something on their show is going awry, and they may hit me, I always want to have time for that too. I'm not referring to anyone here. I'm just saying in general. There's been a lot of, you know this guy? You know this guy. How do I..?
Pat McAfee: Last question here, Nick from Darius. In this one, Hey, put it on the plate of things that you knew were gonna come right down the pipe. Yeah, big question.
Darius: Hey, 80s baby here. First of all, a product of the Attitude Era, greatest era in wrestling ever. But, maybe a stupid question with this big move to Netflix. Is it Raw still gonna be on Mondays? Is it gonna be Monday Night Raw as we've known it, or is it gonna be different days? What was that conversation like? And looking forward to this answer.
Nick Khan: Yeah, we all are. At this moment in time, it remains Monday Night Raw. But keep in mind, we got ten and a half months until this deal's up and running. So we're looking at what you're looking at and what everyone else is looking at. The proliferation of gambling with Monday Night Football. You have an enhanced Disney package, better games, all credit to Jimmy Pataro, the Bob Father, as Pat, you and I call him. You coined that term, Bob Iger, and all the other good folks at Disney. You got the Manning cast. You got this year, it was on ABC and ESPN, Monday Night Football. You got last season, the playoff game that they got. I believe was Tom Brady at the Cowboys or the season before, whatever that was. You also have the College National Championship football and hoops on Mondays. So you got a lot of Mondays where there's stiff competition. That said, even against Alabama Michigan and the Washington Texas game a few weeks ago. Monday Night Raw did a 6 in the 18-49 demo, which is a massive rating against big competition. If we stay on Monday, it'll work. If we move it to a different day, we think it'll work, too.
Pat McAfee: Such a babyface promo right there. Listen, here's all these other things. You hear this, guys? Also, just still at a 6 if you need to hear it. I'm excited that you're taking all that into consideration, obviously, as football people that have a football show. We're also massive. WWE fans. I've said it numerous times. The only thing I watched growing up was literally football and wrestling. WWE. To be a part of your world every once in a while, with how kind you guys have been to me, very grateful. Thank you for making time today. Congrats on all the success.
Nick Khan: And by the way, I just want to say this, coming out of the last month or so of the Pat McAfee show, you guys have only been tremendous partners to us. You are easy to work with. So anytime I hear, Oh, maybe it's not so easy. I find all of you guys incredibly easy and we're grateful for that. You're a talent.
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