WWE has been acquired by the Endeavor Group, and the billion-dollar wrestling company will now be merged with the UFC to form a new publicly traded entity that will trade under the symbol TKO with a market valuation of $21 billion.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Eric Bischoff addressed WWE’s sale to Endeavor, the parent company of UFC.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On calling the Endeavor deal early on: “I did call the Endeavor play early on, I think I was one of the few people that called that one, but never the less, still surprised. I didn’t think I would see the day when Vince McMahon would actually sell WWE and apparently that’s what has happened.”
On being surprised that Vince McMahon didn’t take WWE private: “I guess that’s what surprises me so much. I was thoroughly convinced that at the end of the day, I really thought that Vince would make a move to take the company private, that was going to be the play that I predicted. But to sell the company, it’s still surprising me, to this day, I never would have bet on that.”
On if WWE will change now: “There’s always going to be change, right? I don’t think we’re going to see anything over the next six months or year that will be noticeable to us. There may be some management announcements made along the way, but for the most part, I think it’s going to be business as usual for quite some time.”
On potential UFC-WWE crossovers: “We’ve seen a lot of that over the years. I don’t know how much value that really has for both companies. It would make sense that we will see more of it but I think the real tangible benefits that will be seen down the road are going to be, you look at the WWE business model and the UFC business model, they are two separate businesses. One is fictional storytelling and one is sport, but there are a lot of similar parallels within their business plan. You’ve got live events, arena events, you’ve got PPV, you’ve got streaming, you’ve got ad sales, you’ve got international television rights, you’ve got licensing, you’ve got merchandise. You’ve got a lot of areas where UFC could benefit from the maturity WWE has in some of those businesses. Now UFC is still a relatively new business and WWE has been around for decades, and decades, and really has a sophisticated business model, so I think you’re going to see a lot of benefits to UFC as a result of the relationship with WWE.”
On if the sale changes professional wrestling as it currently is: “I don’t think so. I think WWE has proven that sports entertainment aka professional wrestling is indeed a viable global media phenomenon. I think AEW is in a perfect position to take advantage of that and benefit from what WWE has done. Just like WCW did.”
On if the sale is good for WWE: “I think it was a good move. I think it was time for the company to take that next step, whatever that next step will ultimately be, but I think the combined strength of UFC and WWE and Endeavor, look, Endeavor is a powerhouse in their own right, gonna be a lot of opportunity that is born out of the fact that Endeavor is the owner of this new UFC-WWE company.”
