Saudi Arabia has bought the WWE

[The Q]

If it is Khan, will they do a similar scene as we saw back in 2000 with WWE/WCW?

Hopefully they do it better

And then don’t ruin sting by putting overrated nepotism trash over him

 

[calsnowskier]

I was gonna bring this up next

Aew
ROH
Wwe

Seems unlikely

Despite the options in other countries I can’t see it flying

I don’t know that the industry is big enough to get any anti trust attention. And besides, as you said, competition exists in other countries. And WWE/WCW was allowed, and I think that was bigger than AEW/WWE

 

[The Q]

I don’t know that the industry is big enough to get any anti trust attention. And besides, as you said, competition exists in other countries. And WWE/WCW was allowed, and I think that was bigger than AEW/WWE

I don’t know all anti trust law, but that easily could’ve been a distressed asset sale where since it was “losing money” (this is debated to this day) and if no one else will buy them it was gonna close…

Not sure that matters. But it is different in that way that Warner was willing to kill it entirely

 

[calsnowskier]

I don’t know all anti trust law, but that easily could’ve been a distressed asset sale where since it was “losing money” (this is debated to this day) and if no one else will buy them it was gonna close…

Not sure that matters. But it is different in that way that Warner was willing to kill it entirely

I think antitrust is vague enough that the government has the ability to basically step in when they want or to look the other way when they want. Ripe for corruption and selective enforcement.

 

[The Q]

I think antitrust is vague enough that the government has the ability to basically step in when they want or to look the other way when they want. Ripe for corruption and selective enforcement.

That describes more than just antitrust

 

[wildturkey]

Would Tony Khan be able to purchase it right now with the whole anti trust?

For one, to be perfectly honest, I doubt the gov't would care enough to bother to enforce it even if it were. They rarely look into anything pro wrestling related because it pro wrestling and they look down on it. That's largely why Vince was able to get off the hook with scandals back in the day like steroids.

But more to the point, I don't think it actually qualifies. For one, Impact exists as well as MLW (even with it being pretty small). New Japan, while it was once trying to expand more into America but has slowed its plans since, are still doing some stuff stateside. And there's loads of other indies. If Tony Khan were to own WWE, it'd basically be no different than when Vince bought WCW/ECW and there were no anti-trust issues then. There's enough smaller feds, some that are on TV, that it passes the test

 

[wazzu31]

I don’t know that the industry is big enough to get any anti trust attention. And besides, as you said, competition exists in other countries. And WWE/WCW was allowed, and I think that was bigger than AEW/WWE

Two things are different now though IMO
A. The AOL merger was semi fresh so they had all the ducks in a row from wanting to get rid of WCW for years
B. Wrestling wasn’t really considered an industry, hence the biggest media company in the nation selling it.

Won’t pretend to know anything about anti trust law but if one dude owns the entire domestic industry it just seems like that is the definition.

 

[calsnowskier]

Two things are different now though IMO
A. The AOL merger was semi fresh so they had all the ducks in a row from wanting to get rid of WCW for years
B. Wrestling wasn’t really considered an industry, hence the biggest media company in the nation selling it.

Won’t pretend to know anything about anti trust law but if one dude owns the entire domestic industry it just seems like that is the definition.

1st…

I also know next to nothing about antitrust laws. I am talking out of my ass as well, and could be 100% wrong about everything I am saying here.

That said…

Tony Hinchcliffe controls the entire industry of nationally televised comedy open mics, but no one would accuse him of having a monopoly. The industry is just not nearly big enough to get that kind of attention. While wrasslin’ is a much larger industry than that, it is still much too small, imho, to warrant getting any kind of antitrust attention.

 

[Judge Fudge]

What about Fox being the other entity?

 

[The Q]

What about Fox being the other entity?

Fox would make a lot of sense

Disney/espn tried to buy the whole company when they were shopping steaming rights that eventually went to peacock

It’s sad that I maintain the product will be the best far away from these entities

 

[wazzu31]

1st…

I also know next to nothing about antitrust laws. I am talking out of my ass as well, and could be 100% wrong about everything I am saying here.

That said…

Tony Hinchcliffe controls the entire industry of nationally televised comedy open mics, but no one would accuse him of having a monopoly. The industry is just not nearly big enough to get that kind of attention. While wrasslin’ is a much larger industry than that, it is still much too small, imho, to warrant getting any kind of antitrust attention.

I can see your point about Tony and have zero rebuttal cause I have no background or understanding of anti trust law. WWE is going to be selling at a minimum of 6 billion dollars so I can’t imagine it not being considered a big industry. I truly don’t know, but it just seems like the letter of the law he shouldn’t be allowed to be involved, but the same argument as was pointed out when Time Warner essentially paid WWE to take them off their hands.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Fox would make a lot of sense

Disney/espn tried to buy the whole company when they were shopping steaming rights that eventually went to peacock

It’s sad that I maintain the product will be the best far away from these entities

The question about Fox buying would be is what would happen with the WWE Network?

 

[The Q]

The question about Fox buying would be is what would happen with the WWE Network?

Wwe network is just for international fans. So I imagine it has some value.

I think espn would just wrap it into espn+

 

[The Q]

I can see your point about Tony and have zero rebuttal cause I have no background or understanding of anti trust law. WWE is going to be selling at a minimum of 6 billion dollars so I can’t imagine it not being considered a big industry. I truly don’t know, but it just seems like the letter of the law he shouldn’t be allowed to be involved, but the same argument as was pointed out when Time Warner essentially paid WWE to take them off their hands.

Yes.

I do wonder if some circumstances can allow leniency

Or maybe they just didn’t care back then

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Wwe network is just for international fans. So I imagine it has some value.

I think espn would just wrap it into espn+

I don't think ESPN/Disney would be interested. Probably too high of a price since they're trying to cut costs right now from what it sounds like. But if they did somehow find money for it, Disney+, ESPN+ or Hulu would be where I'd expect it to go.

 

[The Q]

I don't think ESPN/Disney would be interested. Probably too high of a price since they're trying to cut costs right now from what it sounds like. But if they did somehow find money for it, Disney+, ESPN+ or Hulu would be where I'd expect it to go.

I hope not since there’s enough PG and ridiculous woke bullshit in wwe as it is

Putting Disney in control would make it a disaster

 

[wazzu31]

Yes.

I do wonder if some circumstances can allow leniency

Or maybe they just didn’t care back then

I’d assume lobbying. I have been reading the Nitro book, and the higher ups in AOL Time Warner were politically connected, haven’t gotten to the part where they sold it yet but damn those guys hated wrestling.

 

[The Q]

I’d assume lobbying. I have been reading the Nitro book, and the higher ups in AOL Time Warner were politically connected, haven’t gotten to the part where they sold it yet but damn those guys hated wrestling.

Oh yeah.

They basically allowed other departments to stuff losses into wrestling

Which sounds super illegal, but I’m not an accountant lol

 

[Duffman]

Time to change the title of this thread

 

[The Q]

Time to change the title of this thread

Damn

Not sure what this does for the product but doubt it’s a good thing