An unnamed wrestling company apparently thought it was getting somewhere with Paramount+ before everything suddenly went ice cold — and the timing couldn’t be more interesting. The promotion had been talking with high-level Paramount executives and believed a streaming deal was within reach, only for those conversations to fall apart after UFC came crashing through the door with its massive media rights agreement.
Dave Meltzer dropped the revelation during Wrestling Observer Radio while discussing what Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery could eventually mean for AEW. Meltzer said he had been told about another wrestling promotion that was negotiating with Paramount+ a little over a year ago, but stressed that nothing had ever been signed.
“And there is a story, you know, that I was told that I did not know, that there was a company — wrestling company — that was negotiating with Paramount Plus. You know, it would have been a little over a year ago, and they did not have a written deal. They were confident in a deal.”
According to Meltzer, these weren’t just random conversations with somebody buried inside the company. He said the promotion was dealing with top Paramount figures, although the Skydance shakeup later changed who was still sitting at the table.
“They were negotiating with people at Paramount, top people, one of whom ended up, you know, losing his position in the Skydance merger because people lose — one of them was still there.”
The wrestling company apparently liked its chances because Paramount+ didn’t have a major wrestling promotion locked into the service at the time. Then UFC arrived, and the temperature changed fast.
“But the company, you know, was confident that they would get on Paramount Plus because at the time, you know, there was no wrestling on Paramount Plus. And as it came down to the wire, you know, they had nothing signed or anything like that.”
“And then the UFC deal came in, and you know, once the UFC deal came in, all of a sudden everything got cold with them completely.”
Paramount officially announced its blockbuster UFC agreement in August 2025, locking down the promotion’s entire U.S. slate for seven years. The deal moved UFC’s numbered events and Fight Nights to Paramount+ beginning in 2026 and was valued at $7.7 billion, turning the streaming service into one of TKO’s biggest media partners.
Meltzer said the unnamed wrestling company had its own theory about why Paramount suddenly stopped showing interest. The promotion apparently suspected TKO boss Ari Emanuel may have played a role, although Meltzer made it clear they didn’t actually know that for certain.
“And, you know, they don’t know, but, you know, their thought was it was Ari Emanuel.”
That is a massive distinction. Meltzer did not say Emanuel called Paramount and killed somebody’s wrestling deal. He said the unnamed company believed Emanuel may have been involved after negotiations suddenly went cold following UFC’s arrival. The timing also makes the story relevant to AEW, because Emanuel has a close relationship with Paramount boss David Ellison while TKO controls WWE and UFC. Meltzer openly called Emanuel a “wild card” while discussing AEW’s future under Paramount ownership.
That concern isn’t coming out of nowhere. Ringside News previously covered Nick LoPiccolo’s claim that Paramount is “not real” as a future AEW destination, with LoPiccolo claiming Warner Bros. Discovery already passed on AEW months ago and pushing back hard on the idea that Paramount represents some automatic lifeline.
There has also been plenty of chatter about TKO effectively covering the waterfront when it comes to major media partners. Ringside News previously covered concerns that WWE and UFC’s aggressive media strategy could leave fewer major landing spots available to competing wrestling promotions.
The unnamed company itself remains a mystery. TNA was openly shopping for a bigger television and streaming deal around that same period, with Ringside News covering TNA’s push for a $10 million-per-year media agreement and its conversations with multiple potential partners. However, Meltzer did not identify TNA as the company in question, so connecting the two would be nothing more than speculation.
That unnamed promotion eventually had to look elsewhere after its Paramount conversations died. TNA ultimately landed
