This week, WWE announced that its premium live events will be moving from Peacock to ESPN’s new streaming service starting in 2026.
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com and John Ourand, Peacock had the contractual right to match ESPN’s $325 million per year offer in order to retain WWE’s PLE rights.
On Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez provided additional insight into how the deal came together: “Peacock did make an offer, and I guess the offer was allegedly in the neighborhood of about $275 million a year. WWE wanted more, obviously, and they ended up getting the $325 million, which is why they went to ESPN over Peacock. Obviously, if Peacock had offered $400 million a year, they would have stayed, but they didn’t.
Apparently, they were also potentially shopping around WrestleMania as a separate deal. For example, they might have been willing to stay with Peacock but give ESPN WrestleMania for a set amount per year. That was something that was discussed, but they ended up going all in with ESPN.”
The move marks a major shift in WWE’s streaming strategy and could significantly impact how fans access future PLEs, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble.
