Warner Bros. Discovery are believed to still be in contention for WWE RAW.
In recent weeks, the battle to acquire the media rights for Monday Night RAW has ramped up. The current deal with the USA Network, who have played host to WWE’s flagship show since 2005, is set to expire in October of next year, and in contention are services such as Disney and Amazon, with Warner Bros. Discovery previously considered out of the race.
However, in the latest update provided by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, it’s said that Warner Bros. Discovery are ‘not dead’ when it comes to their interest in acquiring the media rights to Monday Night RAW, with WWE looking to finalise a deal soon.
“They’re shopping it around and WBD obviously being one of them, and WBD seemed to be dead. And it’s not dead, that’s the basic thing with Punk there and everything like that, it’s not dead. It’s not like people should go on like “Oh my god this and that with AEW”, there’s no way of knowing anything more other than they did have a meeting and it’s not dead, that’s all. WWE as far as the RAW deal, the talk is that they’re finalising, the belief is that they’re finalising pretty soon. (Paul) Levesque was at RAW Monday, missed the one RAW if you remember because of whatever they were doing. They’re trying to close that deal. That’s pretty much it.
-Dave Meltzer
In particular, Meltzer attributes WBD’s recent re-entry into contention for RAW to the recent arrival of CM Punk, saying that the 45-year-old’s return may have opened a once closed door when it comes to negotiations between WWE and the network that currently hosts AEW.
“Punk opened up what may have been a shut door. How open that door is or what is gonna transpire, I don’t know. Punk, he’s a significant player and that’s one of the reasons he’s gonna be at the house show in Los Angeles this week because I’m sure that the people who they are courting… everyone’s headquarters is in L.A.”
-Dave Meltzer
The RAW deal remains the last major point of negotiation for WWE in terms of TV deals, as SmackDown is already set to head to the USA Network on a five-year deal in 2024 while NXT will head to CW. As mentioned, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque was absent from the Raw immediately following Survivor Series as the company look to reach an agreement for the brand’s media rights.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on negotiations for Monday Night RAW’s media rights as we hear more.
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