Why the WWE/UFC merger probably isn’t good for wrestlers, fans, or the industry

This merger isn’t good for anyone except the billionaires at the top.

Months of speculation ended on Monday when Endeavor, the parent company of the UFC, formally announced it reached an agreement to purchase 51 percent of WWE with the plans of merging the companies. It brings together two of the biggest combat sports brands on the planet, with UFC representing the unscripted athletic side, while WWE will continue its sports entertainment brand.

On the surface it might seem like this is all fine. In fact, in a lot of ways it’s vastly preferrable to the rumored alternative, which would have been a Saudi takeover of WWE with the purpose of using the brand as part of its “sportswashing” campaign. However, when digging into the similarities and differences of how both UFC and WWE are run, it becomes far more difficult to see any upside for anyone involved — except the billionaires at the top.

How will this new company operate?

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and WWE chairman Vince McMahon sat down with CNBC to announce the merger on Monday and clear the air about how they see operations moving forward.

The intent is to keep UFC and WWE as wholly separate entities under the same corporate umbrella, with Dana White remaining in control of UFC — while Nick Khan will stay on as CEO of WWE. However, in the interview McMahon noted that while he won’t be “in the weeds” with the creative decisions inside WWE, he will be heavily involved in the process.

Veteran wrestling writer Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that McMahon will have final say on all creative decisions inside the company once more. A role he formerly gave up in 2022 when it was alleged he used $3M in company funds to pay hush money to a former WWE employee he had an affair with. McMahon retired from WWE, with his daughter Stephanie McMahon stepping in as co-CEO, and her husband Paul Levesque (former wrestler Triple H) overseeing creative.

This is already bad

The end of the Vince McMahon creative era was widely celebrated by die-hard WWE fans. While McMahon is considered the godfather of modern professional wrestling, it was becoming clear that he was out of touch with what fans wanted. McMahon’s steely resolve when it came to the kind of wrestlers he liked, and the stories he liked were rooted in stale, old tropes. As a result his creative brand was boring and predictable. Professional wrestling quickly loses its allure without even a slight possibility of surprise.

In addition to this, McMahon was consistently cited as a reason that less and less wrestling was on his wrestling show. A substantial amount of WWE’s multiple hours of TV each week was devoted to in-ring promos and backstage interviews, with wrestling itself taking a backseat.

In contrast, Triple H’s control of creative was almost universally loved. The brand had more actual wrestling for fans, and the long-term storytelling often devoid in McMahon’s vision, was back, giving people a reason to tune in each week and stay invested across multiple pay per views.

That’s gone now, and Vince is back to doing Vince things — namely changing the show dozens of times on the fly at a whim and lacking any cohesive vision.

There’s no question Endeavor ownership is bad for WWE talent

Historically WWE is one of the most unfair and anti-worker organizations in all of sports. For decades the company has kept its talent as “independent contractors,” using their employment category as a way to dodge any responsibility for benefits, while treating their wrestlers as full-time employees incapable of pursuing work elsewhere — despite their independent contractor status.

Note that I said “one of the most unfair” employers in sports here, because if there’s anyone capable of carrying that mantle it’s the UFC.

Since its inception UFC built an empire of underpaying its fighters. Entire structures are internally built to hide what fighters are making per-fight from each other. This has helped not only Endeavor keep its profit margins soaring, but also made it nearly impossible for UFC fighters to unionize, because everyone’s personal financial situations are so different.

While it’s true that top fighters are making good money, they are paid woefully compared to other top athletes in their respective sports. A 2022 article from Yahoo! Sports noted that Conor McGregor made $22M from UFC directly in 2021, while top athletes in other sports were making three, or four times as much — with the security of long-term contracts.

The article went on to suggest that a rookie fighter in UFC might only earn $30,000 per fight — normally having two fights a year. That’s $60,000 to a company which had the ability to spend $9.3B on their new WWE acquisition.

During talk of UFC’s unfair pay structure Francis Ngannou revealed that fighters were losing out on sponsorship money, with UFC pivoting to make their own sponsorship deals — locking fighters out of revenue they used to get in the past.

Despite WWE being under a separate umbrella, it’s ridiculous to believe that Endeavor would allow wrestler contracts to remain untouched. With a history of trying to squeeze every last penny out of workers it’s entirely likely we’ll see compensation drop for WWE talent when their current contracts are up for renewal.

Endeavor ownership is probably terrible for fans’ wallets too

Outside of the creative impact of Vince McMahon’s return, there’s a very real possibility that fans get hurt in this transaction as well.

The past 10 years have been a golden age for WWE fans in terms of the affordability of the product. No matter how disappointing the results or match booking may have been, the saving grace is that fans never really felt “robbed” by a poor pay-per-view by locking them in to a monthly subscription service.

The WWE Network, now a part of the Peacock streaming service, has allowed fans to watch each monthly pay-per-view, for free (outside of their monthly subscription fee). This has meant that fans who typically only purchased 1-2 shows a year, now watch all 12 — essentially for the same price they were paying when shows were $60 one-off payments.

Since Endeavor purchased Zuffa LLC (the former owners of UFC), MMA fans have seen the prices of pay-per-views skyrocket. In 2020 a price increase was announced which took pay-per-views to $64.99 (up from $59.99), and the company has increased the cost three more times since, with an event now costing fans $79.99. This is on top of already requiring fans to have an ESPN+ subscription, making it even more expensive to watch.

Much like the issue of worker compensation, it’s impossible to see these two models jiving together — even as separately run entities. At the end of the day this is still an Endeavor-owned company, and their fan-unfriendly approach has pushed revenue into the stratosphere. It’s not fearmongering to be concerned that an existential threat to WWE’s PPV model is on the horizon.

This merger is bad for the industry too

It’s always a case that the market leader sets the tone. For almost 20 years WWE essentially had a monopoly on professional wrestling outside of much smaller brands like Impact. The 2019 arrival of All Elite Wrestling represented the first real challenge to WWE’s throne. While that hasn’t manifested itself in a true “war” like WWE vs. WCW during the Attitude Era, it has put pressure on WWE to be more worker-friendly, and led to a rise in money across the board for wrestlers.

A colossal cut at the top, both from wrestlers released and those who are forced to accept lower contracts will have an effect on the industry. Not only will it mean less competition and onus from AEW to pay its top talent more to keep up with WWE, but truly damage those at the bottom of wrestling’s pay structures.

It also remains to be seen whether WWE’s developmental system will remain intact under Endeavor ownership, and what effect that could have on young talent.

None of this is set in stone, however

At the end of the day all we can do is read the tea leaves. There are a lot of worrying signs that this merger is very bad except for those directly making money off the deal, but ultimately fans still have agency.

The major difference between UFC and WWE is that wrestling fans have a real alternative if they don’t like the product. Sure, there are other MMA promotions — but not with the same caliber of fighters UFC has to offer.

Meanwhile AEW, NJPW, and to a lesser extent AAA and Impact still boast some of the best wrestlers in the world on their books. This means that if Endeavor pushes too hard financially to make WWE a cash cow at the expense of fans, they could easily drive their audience to a competitor.

Fans can talk with their wallets and if any negative elements come to pass from this sale then a pivot that hurts their financials will force Endeavor-WWE to course correct.