ESPN and WWE, two dominant forces in the sports and entertainment worlds, officially announced a new multi-year partnership Wednesday morning that will bring WWE’s biggest premium live events—including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and the Royal Rumble—to ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming platform starting in 2026.
Paul Levesque, better known to wrestling fans as ‘Triple H’ and now WWE’s Chief Content Officer, joined Get Up for a live interview shortly after the deal was made public, calling the move “incredible” and the “perfect marriage” between two global brands.
“For what we consider the worldwide leader in sports entertainment to be with the worldwide leader in sports, there’s no bigger opportunity for us than this right now,” Levesque said. “And on top of that, to be in the Disney family—we’re thrilled and can’t wait to get rolling.”
The deal comes as ESPN prepares to launch its direct-to-consumer streaming service on August 21. This agreement will bring WWE’s signature shows to the platform, signaling a major content expansion as ESPN continues evolving in a changing media landscape. While the full scope of the WWE content has yet to be revealed, Levesque hinted at elevated production and spectacle for longtime fans.
“Nick [Kahn] and I have been thinking about this for a long time. It is the right home for it,” said Levesque. “It’s something we’ve been trying to work through for a long time. Jimmy Pitaro [ESPN Chairman] made it happen.”
The announcement followed a massive SummerSlam weekend at MetLife Stadium, which hosted back-to-back nights of action in front of over 113,000 fans. Levesque called it a “massively successful event” that represented WWE’s current momentum and cultural relevance.
“When we get together, events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble are going to be bigger than ever,” he said. “They’re going to be more of a spectacle than they’ve ever been before. We’re going to light the world on fire.”
Levesque also teased the return of Brock Lesnar, calling him a generational figure who “does whatever the hell he wants,” and didn’t rule out future crossovers with ESPN personalities—joking that former NFL linebacker Bart Scott might have a shot in the WWE ring.
With WWE’s developmental pipeline strong and mainstream popularity surging, the partnership with ESPN is the latest sign that professional wrestling continues to evolve into a major player in the broader sports media ecosystem.
“We see the ecosystem—NFL, NBA—and we’re right there,” Levesque said. “People just want to be entertained, and we feel like we do that better than anybody else.”
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