Nick Khan is the current President of WWE and sits on the board of directors with TKO Group Holdings, which is the publicly traded global media company that serves as the parent company of both WWE and the UFC. Prior to his time at WWE, Khan was the co-head of television for CAA, where he represented some of the biggest names in sports media.
Recently, Khan sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Stephanie McMahon on her What’s Your Story? podcast to discuss his upbringing, his career with WWE, and where he sees media evolving in the coming years. In addition, he referenced McMahon’s other venture with ESPN+ called Stephanie’s Places. Khan was complimentary of the episode featuring WWE commentator Pat McAfee, calling the former Colts punter a true American success story.
“You got emotional in the clips that I’ve seen. You have an innate ability to bring that out of people. McAfee, to me, is a true American success story,” said Khan. “A guy who goes to what’s considered a lesser school. A guy who gets his way into the NFL and sort of finagled his way into a tryout…. They show the players at the beginning of the game, ‘hey, I’m so and so. I went to the Ohio State University.’ He would say, ‘I’m Pat McAfee. One day, I want to be a professional wrestler.’ In his mind, he saw it.”
Furthermore, Khan went on to praise McAfee for never allowing himself to be boxed into a single identity. He explained that the path McAfee carved out in his professional life serves as a powerful example to others in business of how success often requires forging your own way.
“He forged his own path,” said Khan. “For others who have had the good fortune of succeeding professionally in life, you got to see it a moment in time before everyone else sees it, and then you just got to go do it. There’s no blueprint, there’s no waiting, there’s just do it. You’ll fall on your face. You’ll make a bunch of mistakes, but you got to keep moving forward.”
Since 2018, McAfee has been involved with WWE, beginning with his first appearance at an NXT show in Indianapolis, where he got involved in a match between Adam Cole and Aleister Black. Over time, his role expanded. The host of The Pat McAfee Show on YouTube and ESPN officially became a full-time announcer with WWE in 2021.
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