The earth-shattering news broke this week that Endeavor is buying out WWE, with the intention of merging the UFC and WWE into one publicly traded company. This was a shock to people like Eric Bischoff, but others weren’t as surprises.

WWE stock shot up after details about the merger emerged. It turns out that a lot of people on Wall Street are looking to cash in on the new TKO stock that is coming up.

While speaking to Ariel Helwani, Paul Heyman opened up a bit on his feelings about the merger. When it comes to Vince McMahon selling WWE, the news of Endeavor’s buyout did, and didn’t surprise Heyman at the same time.

“Yes and no. Vince McMahon loves every micro moment of his life because the most passionate relationship he’s ever had in his entire existence is with building the WWE business and the brand that goes along with the business. It’s the thrill of building the business. He is truly the ultimate disrupter. He disrupted the professional wrestling industry to the point where it’s now called sports entertainment. Then every time he found a niche pattern, every time he found what he was looking for in the industry, he then disrupted that whole game plan and went to something different.

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They were making hundreds of millions of dollars on Pay Per View and he went streaming. We have this whole concept about streaming and then he makes the television license fees the true bread and butter of the company. Then he builds the stock to such an extent that the company is valued at nine and a half billion dollars. He’s constantly disrupting his own business plan and marketing plan. So to that degree, you know, strategic partnerships, mergers, etc, etc.

I could see Vince doing whatever he felt was going to build this to being bigger, better, stronger, more resilient to any kind of storms that could happen in the future, the collapse of television itself, streaming is taken down by a foreign government who’s infiltrated the systems of the United States. Whatever happens, we’re going to survive and we’re going to thrive. So can I see that? Yeah. This particular move? No, but that’s what makes Vince, Vince. I mean, that’s why he has a company that was valued at nine point something billion dollars because he will see things that we common folk don’t.”

Reports have indicated that WWE has no plan to change their Peacock deal or pay-per-view model. Then again, this whole situation has been one lie after another, so take that denial with a huge grain of salt. WWE staff and talent aren’t happy about this situation, that’s for sure.

With some talent saying that they are going to request their releases, to fans saying that they won’t pay $40 a month for a WWE premium live event, it seems that this deal has a lot of detractors. Still, if you’re looking at it from a business sense, it is a good deal for those who stand to make the most money.

What’s your take on WWE’s deal with Endeavor? Sound off in the comments!

Felix Upton

Felix Upton is a seasoned writer with over 30 years of experience. He began his career writing advertisements for local newspapers in New York before transitioning to publishing news for Ringside News. His expertise includes writing, editing, research, photo editing, and video editing. In his free time, he enjoys bungee jumping and learning extinct languages.

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