ESPN is not expected to renew its billion-dollar deal with WWE when the current premium live event broadcast agreement expires.
According to a new report from SEScoops, multiple sources have said that ESPN does not plan to renew the five-year deal it struck with WWE. Neither company has officially confirmed the report.
WWE and ESPN announced the partnership in August 2025. The deal, valued at approximately $1.6 billion, placed all of WWE’s major premium live events on ESPN for the U.S. market, including WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam.
The partnership was originally set to begin in 2026, but WWE and ESPN moved up the start date to September 20, 2025, launching with Wrestlepalooza while keeping the total length of the deal at five years.
SEScoops cited several factors working against a renewal, including the current media market landscape, integration issues between WWE and ESPN, and most significantly, the slow rollout of ESPN Unlimited across major carriers.
That last point created real problems early in the partnership. When Wrestlepalooza aired, only subscribers on certain carriers could access ESPN Unlimited through their traditional subscriptions. Comcast and YouTube TV, for example, didn’t carry the service until later.
There had already been friction between the two sides. In March, POST Wrestling reported that ESPN pulled the ratings from its WWE event reviews following complaints from the company. An ESPN source, however, denied that WWE had directly requested the change.
On top of that, ESPN Unlimited is set for its first price increase on September 17, going from $29.99 to $31.99 per month on the individual plan. Currently, roughly 80% of subscribers access the service through the bundle with Disney+ and Hulu.