WWE and ESPN Respond to Claims ESPN is Unhappy with WWE Deal – As noted, former WWE creative team member Freddie Prinze Jr. suggested that ESPN is unhappy with WWE streaming deal and they may not be seeing the return on investment they expected from the new partnership. “ESPN, by the way, so unhappy with the deal,” Prinze Jr. said. “I was talking to a friend of mine who works for Disney, and he was just like, ‘Yo, they better make their money back on this deal.’ He just said, ‘They’re hot.’”
According to Fightful, an ESPN representative pushed back on that claim, stating that they “haven’t heard that chatter, and have enjoyed working with WWE.” The same report also noted WWE’s side adding that “no one in WWE upper management is aware of Freddie Prinze’s role in wrestling or otherwise.”
WWE and ESPN began their multi-year, multi-million dollar partnership earlier this year, bringing WWE Premium Live Events to the ESPN+ app. The deal was originally scheduled to begin in 2026 but was accelerated with the launch of the Wrestlepalooza event in September.
During last month’s TKO Q3 earnings call, WWE President Nick Khan highlighted the company’s excitement over the partnership and praised ESPN’s immediate commitment.
“By the way, we’re thrilled with the start of it,” Khan said. “It’s obviously a new product, it’s a new platform. If you notice any of the promotion going into our first event with them, WrestlePalooza… you saw wall-to-wall coverage on all ESPN platforms.”
Khan pointed to a major promotional moment on ESPN’s College GameDay, where Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Rece Davis all made on-air predictions for the Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena match. “It was phenomenal,” Khan added.
Khan emphasized that ESPN’s long-term growth plan for WWE content will take time, and said WWE remains patient and committed: “We’ll continue to put on our product the way we think only we can do. Let’s see where we end up.”
WWE and ESPN Respond to Claims ESPN is Unhappy with WWE Deal
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