AEW is interested in a merger with WWE

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

The Khans, who also own the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League and those of the Premier League Fulham FC, could work with a strategic media company to share intellectual property while the wrestling leagues are merged, the people said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. AEW has a television broadcasting rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery‘s TNT and TBS.

The idea that Vince McMahon, WWE’s majority shareholder, would merge his company with the much smaller AEW is far-fetched. AEW has not held discussions with McMahon or Nick Khan, the company’s chief executive officer, the people said. McMahon can view the sale to the Khans as a non-starter.

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

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