ESPN is going to the mat for a special WWE event much sooner than expected.
The Disney sports-media giant will host “Wrestlepalooza,,” a new live event on the professional-wrestling giant’s calendar, on September 20. The two entities had been expected to kick off a new five-year deal that had ESPN getting the rights to all of WWE’s live spectaculars in 2026. ESPN will also show WWE’s “Crown Jewel” on October 11, and “Survivor Series” on November 29.
“Wrestlepalooza” will originate live from from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The event will John Cena, Cody Rhodes, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre in major matches.
“On September 20, WWE and ESPN are coming together for a can’t-miss event to kick off our new partnership,” said WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, in a prepared statement. “The biggest Superstars in WWE. The biggest brand in sports media. Are you ready?”
NBCUniversal’s Peacock previously had rights to show WWE’s series of live specials, which have also included “Wrestlemania.” NBCU said Wednesday that Peacock would stream “Saturday Night’s Main Event” exclusively as part of a new multi-year deal, four times each year. As part of the agreement,. Peacock will get two nights of the program in 2025, with the first taking place on November 1. Meanwhile, John Cena’s retirement match will appear on the December 13th edition of the show.
The addition of the WWE events helps ESPN keep its connection with TKO, the sports-management company that also operates the UFC mixed-martial-arts league, in addition to the wrestling entertainment company. ESPN’s hold on UFC matches will lapse at the end of the year, and TKO has committed to putting all its UFC events on Paramount Skydance’s Paramount+ as part of a new $7.7 billion deal valued at around $1.1 billion per year.
The WWE pact also gives ESPN another way to promote its new streaming service, which launches Thursday. The new ESPN service will, for the first time, make all of ESPN’s offerings available to broadband subscribers, rather than a sub-section of content. As part of the launch, ESPN has unveiled a number of new content agreements as well as interactive features.
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