WWE’s smaller rival AEW interested in merger, sources say

All Elite Wrestling, a professional wrestling league owned by the Khan family, is interested in merging with World Wrestling Entertainment, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Khans, who also own the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars and the Premier League’s Fulham F.C., could partner with a strategic media company to share the intellectual property while merging the wrestling leagues, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. AEW has a TV carriage rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery‘s TNT and TBS.

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The idea that Vince McMahon, the controlling shareholder of WWE, would merge his company with the much smaller AEW is a long shot. AEW hasn’t had talks with McMahon or Nick Khan, the company’s chief executive, said the people. McMahon may view selling to the Khans as a non-starter.

The Khans are open to discussing a potential role for McMahon, 77, after a sale but haven’t yet had those talks, one of the people said. It’s unclear what type of job McMahon would want with WWE after a sale, but WWE is a much larger and more established organization than AEW. McMahon, who was worth 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 292 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $7.56 billion. He also owns auto parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate.