Nick Khan Introducing WWE to New World of Opportunities

“Nick was very, very good as an agent, but I knew he wouldn’t spend his whole career as one. He was always interested in the entirety of the business.”

A shade under a decade ago, the contract of popular ESPN broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit was set to expire.

One of college football’s signature voices, it was imperative that ESPN keep him part of the network. Retaining his services represented a top priority for John Skipper, who was the ESPN President.

Herbstreit’s agent was Nick Khan, a name becoming quite familiar among professional wrestling fans. So Skipper arranged a meeting with Khan. Right in the thick of New Orleans’ vibrant French Quarter, Skipper met with Khan to hash out the details of a new contract.

“There we were, at the oldest bar in New Orleans, and Nick took a cocktail napkin and wrote down what he was looking for,” recalled Skipper. “He passes it on over to me, and I write a counter. We keep passing counters back-and-forth, and I can’t tell you how many rounds of counters we made, but we finally came to an agreement on one of those cocktail napkins. Thinking back on that negotiation, it’s easy to remember how it was always a pleasure to work with Nick.”

Skipper led ESPN from 2012-2017. He first became familiar with Khan years prior as ESPN’s Head of Programming and Production, a position he accepted in October of 2005 that made him responsible for all of the talent on the network.

“Nick represented a lot of ESPN talent, so we got to know each other very well,” said Skipper. “The first thing that resonated with me about Nick was the way he thought about what the person across the table from him would care about. Lots of people come in and start with, ‘Here’s what we want and here’s what we need,’ but that isn’t Nick.”

For years, people have wondered what WWE would look like with someone new in charge. With Khan overseeing the company, that question has been answered. As successful as WWE was during the Vince McMahon era, which took flight in 1985 with the inaugural WrestleMania, there were all sorts of gaping holes on the business side. Under Khan’s leadership, even before McMahon exited the executive team, it has been fascinating to see the evolution of WWE occur in a remarkably short period of time.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Nick Khan / Courtesy WWE

Khan joined WWE in August of 2020, accepting the role of President and Chief Revenue Officer–and leaving behind the empire he built as Co-Head of Television at Creative Artists Agency. He was initially connected to McMahon through Paul “Triple H” Levesque–who arranged a meeting between McMahon and Khan. McMahon was impressed by Khan’s dealmaking and skill of negotiating, so he listened closely as Khan advised why McMahon’s company would be best served splitting rights for Raw and SmackDown. Ultimately, that led to Raw on the NBCUniversal owned USA Network, while the WWE brand was elevated when a deal was made to bring SmackDown to Fox.

Now, with every major figure in the company stating that McMahon’s only role in WWE is as a stockholder, the company is no longer in his hands. Khan is the man entrusted with leading WWE into the future. You often hear Levesque declare “a new era” for WWE, a phrase repeated throughout WrestleMania 40–and Khan and Levesque make a powerful tandem. And while Levesque is McMahon’s son-in-law, Khan has proven he can exist within a family business without being too entailed in the family’s business.

“Nick is guarded, but he’s guarded with purpose,” said Skipper, who remains a prominent figure in sports as executive chairman of DAZN and co-founder of Meadowlark Media. “You can get to know Nick, and he’s very personable and genuine. But he’s also guarded because he wants to get to business. He’s not going to waste your time, he doesn’t move the goalposts, and he’s very thoughtful in terms of his negotiations.

“Nick understands business and content, and you’ve seen him create buzz in WWE. Nick was very, very good as an agent, but I knew he wouldn’t spend his whole career as one. He was always interested in the entirety of the business. So it doesn’t surprise me where he is now. Following his career, you’ll see a continued significant upward trajectory.”

John Skipper / ESPN

Under Khan’s leadership, what was once considered off-limits is now another potential revenue stream. Finding the younger eyeballs and evolving from linear weekly television distribution are clearly focal points for Khan. That is evident with WWE’s seismic 10-year deal with Netflix, a move that opens entirely new pathways to success for talent and the brand as a whole.

Now more than ever, the company is focused on international growth. Unlike the tried-and-true approach from McMahon, which saw WWE intermittently tour throughout Europe, the Khan approach is to bring events that matter to international markets. After going to Montreal (Elimination Chamber), Puerto Rico (Backlash), London (Money in the Bank), and Saudi Arabia (Night of Champions, Crown Jewel) in 2023, this year will include stops in France (Backlash), back to Jeddah (King and Queen of the Ring), Glasgow (Clash at the Castle), Toronto (Money in the Bank), and Berlin (Bash in Berlin), and this is after already traveling in February to Perth (Elimination Chamber). The strategy also creates more demand in the United States, which further grows WWE’s media rights fees.

Speaking with numerous contacts surrounding Khan, one of WWE’s potential explorations is to engineer a collaboration with other professional wrestling promotions. That is an area WWE rarely explored during McMahon’s four-plus decades of leadership, so it represents a new realm for Khan to make a lasting impact. He was the one responsible for giving Levesque the green light to work with then-TNA Wrestling President Scott D’Amore, which led to emerging star Jordynne Grace–who is the TNA Knockouts champion–making an appearance in the women’s Royal Rumble match this past January.

The ambitious Khan specializes in event-driven entertainment, creating interest in each event. Building off that mentality, multiple contacts close to Khan have confirmed his goal to expand WWE intellectual property, specifically in Las Vegas, a city that loves entertainment. Vegas, of course, hosted WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace in 1993, an event where Khan served as an usher. While a Vegas residency is possible, even more likely is WWE IP on slot machines at the airport and across the strip.

Interested in the entirety of a business, Khan has narrowed his focus onto WWE. He is a forward-thinking executive, but his personal touch has helped power his success. Both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and CM Punk have credited Khan as the man primarily responsible for their respective returns. Speaking with numerous associates of Khan, each person details Khan’s truly genuine approach.

Khan is the driving force behind WWE. He plans on taking the global brand to places it has never been, quite a feat for the most powerful professional wrestling company in the world.

“The only prediction to make is that, either there or somewhere else, he’ll continue to grow,” said Skipper. “He’s still quite a young man. We’ll hear from Nick for a long time.”