AEW is interested in merging with WWE

All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling league owned by the Khan family, is interested in merging with World Wrestling Entertainmentaccording to people familiar with the matter.

The Khans, who also own the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League and the Premier League Fulham FC, could partner with a strategic media company to share intellectual property as wrestling leagues merge, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. AEW has a television broadcast rights agreement with Discovery by Warner Bros.of TNT and TBS.

The idea of ​​Vince McMahon, WWE’s majority shareholder, merging his company with the much smaller AEW is a long shot. AEW has not had discussions with McMahon or Nick Khan, the company’s chief executive, the people said. McMahon may view the sale to the Khans as a failure.

The Khans are open to discussing a potential role for McMahon, 77, after a sale, but have not had those discussions yet, one of the people said. It’s unclear what kind of job McMahon would want with WWE after a sale, but WWE is a much larger and more established organization than AEW. McMahon, who was worth over $3 billion as of JulyHe is also known as the main creative force behind WWE storylines.

sports mogul Shahid Khan, 72, is ranked 292 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $7.56 billion. He also owns the auto parts manufacturer. Flex-N-Gate.