WWE Shareholder Lawsuit Against Vince McMahon Over His WWE Return in 2023 & Sale to Endeavor Update – WWE’s Media Rights Deals with NCBU & FOX for 2019-2024 Revealed

As noted before, a group of WWE shareholders filed a lawsuit in November of 2023 against former TKO and WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon over claims that McMahon had engaged in a “sham sale process” for WWE’s sale to Endeavor. WWE directors and officers were ordered by the court this past December to turn over documents related to federal investigations into McMahon’s conduct. A judge had ruled this past March for redactions in the lawsuit to be removed.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that recent documents obtained from the WWE shareholders lawsuit revealed details about WWE’s media rights deals with NBCUniversal and FOX for 2019 to 2024.

In regards to WWE RAW, WWE’s media rights contract with NBCU covered the period of October of 2019 through September of 2024. WWE was paid $265 million per year for RAW to air on USA Network over that five-year period. WWE’s deal also included $15 million escalators per year for a total of $1.325 billion for their deal with NBCU.

In regards to WWE SmackDown, WWE’s media rights contract with FOX covered the same time period of October of 2019 through September of 2024. WWE was paid $205 million per year. WWE’s deal also included $12.5 million escalators per year for a total of $1.025 billion for their deal with FOX.

WWE’s contracts reportedly contained clauses that prevented their partners from airing other pro wrestling programs on their platforms. NBCU had agreed to not air any non-WWE wrestling content on any of their platforms. FOX agreed to similar terms with the exceptions of MMA, amateur wrestling, collegiate wrestling, UFC, Bellator, and Glory kickboxing not applying.

In regards to WWE creative, the contracts revealed that WWE had final say over RAW and SamckDown creative plans. WWE’s deal for RAW gave NBCU consultation rights on production and creative elements but all final decisions belonged to WWE. In return, WWE was not allowed to make certain changes to the format of RAW and had to remain the weekly program that NBCU had paid for.

WWE’s deal for SmackDown contained similar terms for FOX in regards to creative power but also included terms that required the company to discuss content for shows before including that content in an episode. These terms reportedly did not allow WWE to denigrate “the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, or other major Fox partners.” WWE’s deal also included terms where FOX was contractually obligated to promote SmackDown in a manner consistent with how they promoted their major sports properties.

WWE’s media rights deal also included terms that gave FOX the right to be the exclusive broadcast network partner of WWE programming for the duration of the deal. This prevented RAW from being allowed to be aired on NBC but NBCU was allowed to air Spanish-language replays of RAW on Telemundo. Despite this restriction, NBC briefly aired WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event specials revival on their network while the FOX deal was active.

In regards to contract renewal negotiations, WWE reserved the right to offer NBCU either a two or three-hour version of Monday Night RAW for a potential new media rights deal. This new deal eventually went to Netflix instead.