Recently, Variety honored 54 individuals and organizations as the top dealmakers in the entertainment industry this past year.
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The list specifically looks at people who worked on behalf of their clients and showed innovation in their dealmaking.
Right at the top of that list was All Elite Wrestling (AEW) President and CEO Tony Khan.
"In October, five years to the week after Khan launched professional wrestling promotion AEW as a direct competitor to Vince McMahon's long-dominant WWE," the article read, "he closed a multi-year media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, worth a reported $185 million a year, that calls for AEW's shows and events to be broadcast on TBS and TNT and stream on Max."
"The company is now valued at more than $2 billion, making it the third-most-valuable combat sports company in the world."
"Our new arrangement signifies that AEW will make history as the first professional wrestling promotion to simulcast events weekly on top cable channels and a top streaming platform," Khan said, per Variety.
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While WWE fans may be upset to see the AEW president at the top of Variety's list, don't worry. WWE is represented as well.
Variety also stated that Ariel Emmanuel, Nick Khan, Mark Shapiro, and Andrew Schleimer, representing both TKO and WWE, were also some of the best dealmakers this past year for making Netflix the home of Monday Night Raw in 2025.
"Last year, Endeavor merged Ultimate Fighting Championship with World Wrestling Entertainment under the TKO Group Holdings banner," Variety said. "In January 2024, TKO's leadership quadrumvirate closed a $5.2 billion, 10-year deal to make Netflix the exclusive home of WWE's flagship show "Raw" in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Latin America and other territories beginning in January 2025."
"As part of the pact, Netflix will be the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. from that date forward, giving roughly 80% of international territories immediate access to 100% of its content, with the rest of the globe filling out their WWE lineups as outstanding deals expire."
"While the money is extraordinarily important, the downstream impact and ancillary benefits to being with the distributor and just south of 300 million homes globally was something that got us very excited," Schleimer said.
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