WWE President Nick Khan discussed how WWE does business and well the company and its stars are doing.
Speaking to Max Kellerman of Inside the Ring, Khan made the bold statement that the WWE will be surpassing a major sports league in prestige and importance very soon.
“We see everything as our competition including someone just staying home on a Saturday night and looking at their phone and texting friends and watching Tik Tok. Dana White and the UFC will tell you the same thing. So, when I see things like the NFL on Christmas Day last year and the Beyonce halftime show, that inspires me. That’s our competition. I’m not suggesting we’re yet in the same league as the NFL but I look at them and say: ‘Wow, they really nailed that.’ They nailed it so much that you saw the other networks on Thanksgiving Day this year with their halftime shows…That’s what we’re looking at. How do we compete with them? So, when we get our numbers coming off of Black Friday from Fanatics, what we’re curious to know is where we compared to the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and by the way, soon we’re going to take the spot of one of those entities. Assume it’s not the NFL or NBA, but we’re going to take that spot and that’s where we want to go,” he said.
He also compared UFC, WWE and boxing stars in how the business works.
“Conor McGregor has made a ton of money in the UFC. Ronda Rousey, a ton of money. Brock Lesnar, who’s now back with WWE, a ton of money. Daniel Cormier, a ton of money. So, if it’s a meritocracy, if you make it to the top and you’re marketable, you get paid. That’s how any job should be, your job, my job, any job. Similarly, in WWE, if you’re Roman Reigns, if you’re Brock Lesnar, if you’re Cody Rhodes, all the guys at the top of our game, CM Punk, they’re getting rich. They’re getting rich or get rich. If you’re in the middle, you’re not getting rich but you have a really good life,” he said.
He also talked about how the WWE makes talent into stars and why that matters to the overall business, gives them the edge over others.
“So, celebrity matters. So, how do you turn someone into a celebrity? Number one, they have to have it in the ring. They have to have the it factor outside of the ring. If they have both of those things you put them into our machine and get them out there. So , even if you’ve noticed, if you’ve been watching any ESPN as WWE shifted its premium live events there in September of this year there’s coverage on College Game Day about who do you think is going to win tonight, John Cena or Brock Lesnar? Now these are established stars. I get it but the more people can talk about it, the better,” he said.
He praised the WWE, UFC partnership under the TKO banner.
“Look at where the stock price is now and I don’t want to jinx anything here, right? Obviously, it’s in a very good, good spot. It’s almost doubled over the last 12 months. Why? Because that marriage is working. So, when you have one sponsorship slash global partnership team and UFC has done phenomenal work in that area, WWE, we’re a little behind, and all of a sudden, you look at the numbers that WWE is producing, which still pale in comparison to what UFC is producing. Look at the sponsorship and boxing again,” he said.
