WWE is on a gravy train with biscuit wheels, setting their all-time gate record for an arena event at Money In The Bank and pulling in more than three million viewers for this past Friday’s Smackdown. Much like Roman Reigns, it seems Wall Street is acknowledging what the soon-to-be Endeavor-owned entity is doing these days, as the company has hit a new benchmark today for its stock value.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics was the first to report that the WWE stock price went as high as $112.22 earlier today, the highest the stock has ever been valued. By comparison, a year ago at this time, just as the Vince McMahon allegations were gaining steam, the stock was priced at $62.69. In the year since Paul “Triple H” Levesque has expanded his creative presence, Nick Khan has continued to help the company grow internationally and secure lucrative content rights fees.
WWE will look to keep its momentum going this Friday night on Smackdown as the build to the rumored Jey Uso versus Roman Reigns match at SummerSlam continues. As mentioned above, The Bloodline segment that opened this past week’s Smackdown garnered over three million viewers, with more than a million in the coveted P18-49 category most appealing to advertisers. WWE’s current one billion dollar, five-year deal with FOX to carry Smackdown expires in October of 2024. Fox’s exclusive negotiating window with WWE recently expired, and the company is free to talk with any provider interested in their highly-rated programming.
TV rights fees are a big topic of conversation these days in pro wrestling circles. All Elite Wrestling’s TV deal with Warner Brothers Discovery will expire in September of next year. If their Dynamite viewership stays strong, and Collision can find an audience, they could be in line for a new TV rights deal valued at or over one billion dollars.