As noted earlier, TKO released their third quarter earnings report earlier today and it highlighted a strong quarter for WWE that saw revenue rise to $402.1 million up $75.8 million from 2024. The company attributed that to an increase in live events and hospitality revenue ($31.4 million), an increase in media rights, production and content revenue ($21.5 million) and an increase in partnerships and marketing revenue ($18.2 million). The live events/hospitality revenue increase was due to SummerSlam expanding to two-nights as well as the addition of a new PLE, Wrestlepalooza.
Following the release of the financials, TKO executives as well as WWE President Nick Khan took questions from investors. Below are some highlights:
- Khan said WWE remain "bullish" on their ticket price increases - something that has drawn the ire of fans. Khan felt that their pricing was appropriate for the US marketplace, pointing to an elimination of house shows and their ongoing international expansion as creating scarcity for televised events in America.
- It was confirmed that WWE is receiving $325 million per year from ESPN for the rights to stream premium live events domestically. They also confirmed that WWE took a loss over ending the deal with Peacock early but didn't mention any numbers.
- The executives lauded WWE Raw remaining in Netflix's top-ten shows through all of the third quarter while also pointing out Smackdown's performance on USA, pointing out that the show topped the cable rating charts nine times in the quarter.
- They are expecting revenue in Q4 to be offset by only two PLEs this year vs. three last year as one event that took place in Saudi Arabia last year in the fourth quarter has been moved to the first quarter of 2026.
- At the same time, 2026 will see three PLEs from Saudi Arabia so they will realize benefits next year.
- They spoke of the positive performance of WWE PLEs on ESPN domestically and believe things will only get better. The execs felt that even more people will get ESPN Unlimited especially once ESPN works out deals with other distributors.
