ESPN Reportedly ‘Unhappy’ With Current WWE Deal

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00:00ESPN reportedly unhappy with current WWE deal.

00:04ESPN's big-money WWE bet may not be paying off as hoped.

00:08Earlier this year, ESPN signed a five-year deal with WWE worth over $1.6 billion

00:14to stream premium live events on its ESPN Plus app.

00:19The deal was initially set to kick off in 2026,

00:22but started early with the debut of WrestlePalooza in September.

00:25On Wrestling with Freddie, former WWE creative Freddie Prinze Jr.

00:30said a Disney contact described ESPN as very unhappy with the deal.

00:35ESPN, by the way, so unhappy with the deal, Freddie Prinze Jr. said.

00:40I was talking to a friend of mine who works for Disney,

00:42and he was just like, yo, they better make their money back on this deal.

00:47He just said, they're hot.

00:49ESPN might be unhappy with its current WWE deal,

00:52but the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual.

00:54Last month, during the TKOQ-3 earnings call,

00:58WWE President Nick Kahn expressed how thrilled the company is with the new ESPN deal.

01:04By the way, we're thrilled with the start of it, Nick Kahn said.

01:08So it's obviously a new product.

01:10It's a new platform.

01:12You saw wall-to-wall coverage on all ESPN platforms.

01:15He cited college game day with Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Reese Davis,

01:23predicting Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena at WrestlePalooza.

01:26It's going to take time for ESPN to grow that platform the way that they want to grow it, he added.

01:31It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:33It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:34It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:35It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:36It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:37It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:38It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:39It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:40It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:41It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:42It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:43It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:44It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:45It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:46It's going to take time for ESPN.

01:47It's going to take time for ESPN.