AEW owners Shad and Tony Khan – who also own Fulham – are “interested” in BUYing rival wrestling promotion WWE… and incredibly could let Vince McMahon STAY with the company following a potential £5billion sale
- AEW owners Shad and Tony Khan plan to merge their promotion with WWE
- The Khan family also owns Premier League Fulham and the Jacksonville Jaguars
- They could keep WWE’s Vince McMahon in the company after a deal
- McMahon recently returned to the franchise to secure a sale to WWE
WWE’s closest rival All Elite Wrestling, owned by Shad and Tony Khan, owners of Fulham and Jacksonville Jaguars, is reportedly keen to merge with its biggest competitor.
Also based in Jacksonville, Fla., AEW was founded in 2019 and over the past four years has grown to become the second largest wrestling franchise behind WWE.
CNBC reports that the Khans could work with a strategic media company to share intellectual property while the wrestling leagues merge, in a deal that could be worth £5 billion (£4.1 billion).
Fulham owners Tony and Shad Khan are looking to merge their AEW franchise with WWE
Vince McMahon returned to WWE last week to sell the famous wrestling franchise
While WWE’s controlling shareholder Vince McMahon is keen on selling the company, it’s not clear if he would be interested in a merger with AEW, which is much smaller.
WWE raked in nearly $1.3bn (£1.07bn) in revenue last year. By comparison, Tony Khan said in September that AEW was on track to generate more than $100m (£82.1m) in revenue in 2022, but still under a tenth of its more established rival .
Sportsmail previously reported that WWE had hired outside financial advisors in connection with a sale to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Other potential buyers include Disney, Comcast, Endeavor, and Netflix.
WWE has several reported applicants, including Saudi Arabia, Disney, Comcast and Netflix
McMahon, who was worth more than $3 billion (£2.5 billion) as of July, helps formulate some of WWE’s complicated storylines.
Meanwhile, Flex-N-Gate owner Shad Khan has a net worth of $7.56 billion (£6.2 billion), and he owns AEW with his 40-year-old son Tony, who is president, CEO, general manager and executive producer of is promotion.
Shad Khan has been the owner of Fulham Football Club for almost a decade and has reportedly spent £200million to buy Mohamed Al-Fayed’s London-based Premier League side.
Fulham’s 2013 purchase came a year after he took full ownership of NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars in January 2012.
AEW only started in 2019, but in four years has risen to become WWE’s closest competitor
However, 72-year-old Khan and his associates have yet to enter into discussions with McMahon or WWE boss Nick Khan about possible moves and the intricacies of a deal to merge their future wrestling franchises, including McMahon’s future role.
The plans were rumored to be allowing McMahon to retain a role in the new wrestling league, although it’s not clear what the 77-year-old executive would do in the continued company.
McMahon left WWE in July amid allegations that he spent $12 million over six years to silence allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.
Stephanie McMahon left WWE in a sensational manner after her father returned to the company’s board
He made a controversial return to the group last week, revealing the move was taken to prove he was serious about a deal to sell WWE to someone else.
His comeback prompted his own daughter, Stephanie McMahon, to sensationally step down as chairwoman and co-CEO of the wrestling franchise on Tuesday. It has led to some speculation that her husband, former wrestler Triple H, may also be retiring from the WWE business, where he founded the experimental NXT arm.
Rival wrestling leagues have merged before. In 2001, what was then WWF, now WWE, acquired World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from Turner Broadcasting.