WWE CEO Nick Khan on Bill Simmons Podcast January 18th 2023

[ALonelyDad]

He's getting some criticism for this

 

[Busby]

I can tell you one thing about Nick Khan. That boy has a good mouthpiece (pause ) he knows how to spin the situation.

Vinny Mac hired the right guy to handle the business side of things and the media

Vince has Hunter to talk to the sports/wrestling media and Khan to talk to the business media. Contrary to how some of y’all feel…the company is in good hands business wise

Nasty as hell they didn’t even bother to go in depth with the allegations but why would they?

But this interview was needed to have potential buyers be comfortable buying the company. It is what it is…

Also it was quite funny hearing how Vince went on vacation to Italy on his first month in retirement. I can just imagine that man went on a full coke binge “Wolf Of Wall Street” style and fukked mad bytches

 

[prophecypro]

The contrast reaction to this interview is telling

You had shills looking at that clip of him dissmissing Tony and are doing chest bumps saying he sonned him and calling him the biggest babyface in wrestling

And everyone with sense has looking at the clip of him downplaying Vince's accussations saying how tone deaf he is


Also he really really wants Disney to buy WWE, you can tell by him mentioning ESPN how he does and trying to holler and Iger at the BCS and how much hes doubling down on Saudi's didnt even send an offer. Im willing to bet hes hoping it goes to a media company so Vince is ousted and hes the full head of the company....Hes been playing nice with all sides of the board but also been caught being two faced to them to save his goose. Wrestlenomics mentioned when talking about who else might leave, Nick Khan will probably try and stay the full 5 years of his contract cause resigning means he has to give money back.

He'll either be ousted spectacuarly trying to get a proper media company to buy and cross Vince or be the guy in charge of the whole company when all McMahons are gone with Hunter still being in creative.

 

[KateFabersBoyfriend]

I'm listening and does he and Tony have static

Said a bunch of nice stuff about Shahid being self made when asked about competition but just lack of regard for Tony and calling him a kid multiple times. Threw subliminals about it being easy to run a company at a loss then hid hands when Bill pressed on the comment

Spent more time on the dad than about competition

Vince used to do the same shyt with his fixation on Ted Turner instead of the person running WCW, Eric Bischoff.

 

[THE 101]

The contrast reaction to this interview is telling

You had shills looking at that clip of him dissmissing Tony and are doing chest bumps saying he sonned him and calling him the biggest babyface in wrestling

And everyone with sense has looking at the clip of him downplaying Vince's accussations saying how tone deaf he is


Also he really really wants Disney to buy WWE, you can tell by him mentioning ESPN how he does and trying to holler and Iger at the BCS and how much hes doubling down on Saudi's didnt even send an offer. Im willing to bet hes hoping it goes to a media company so Vince is ousted and hes the full head of the company....Hes been playing nice with all sides of the board but also been caught being two faced to them to save his goose. Wrestlenomics mentioned when talking about who else might leave, Nick Khan will probably try and stay the full 5 years of his contract cause resigning means he has to give money back.

He'll either be ousted spectacuarly trying to get a proper media company to buy and cross Vince or be the guy in charge of the whole company when all McMahons are gone with Hunter still being in creative.

Online wrestling fans are in a bubble and vastly overestimate how serious people like Nick Khan take this wrestling "war".

If you're coming to it from a business perspective there isn't no war. There's a noisy little upstart company who are doing fine but nothing more, but because ya'll are in the trenches every day with WWE stans and vice versa, ya'll perceive it as some fight to the death when the reality is that this is closer to WWF vs ECW than WWF vs WCW.

All the 6 star matches and neckbeards in the crowd chanting AEW ain't gonna make a damn thing to someone like Nick Khan. He doesn't give a fukk about anything but the bottom line and he clearly does not see AEW as a threat to the WWE. And after three years I think we can agree that he's correct from a business perspective. If AEW had grown at all you might have a point.

 

[prophecypro]

Online wrestling fans are in a bubble and vastly overestimate how serious people like Nick Khan take this wrestling "war".

If you're coming to it from a business perspective there isn't no war. There's a noisy little upstart company who are doing fine but nothing more, but because ya'll are in the trenches every day with WWE stans and vice versa, ya'll perceive it as some fight to the death when the reality is that this is closer to WWF vs ECW than WWF vs WCW.

All the 6 star matches and neckbeards in the crowd chanting AEW ain't gonna make a damn thing to someone like Nick Khan. He doesn't give a fukk about anything but the bottom line and he clearly does not see AEW as a threat to the WWE. And after three years I think we can agree that he's correct from a business perspective. If AEW had grown at all you might have a point.

Nah this is American capitalism, not even a wrestling thing. Even a market leader is gonna shyt talk a challenger brand that isnt competing with them per say. Its why brick and mortar stores aint around

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Nah this is American capitalism, not even a wrestling thing. Even a market leader is gonna shyt talk a challenger brand that isnt competing with them per say. Its why brick and mortar stores aint around

Every market leader out here doesn't talk shyt about a challenger or the competition and if they do, they aren't running to every news media outlet out here as Tony Khan likes to do. They do the talking from a business and financial perspective, which exactly what Khan and WWE are doing.

 

[drifter]

Online wrestling fans are in a bubble and vastly overestimate how serious people like Nick Khan take this wrestling "war".

If you're coming to it from a business perspective there isn't no war. There's a noisy little upstart company who are doing fine but nothing more, but because ya'll are in the trenches every day with WWE stans and vice versa, ya'll perceive it as some fight to the death when the reality is that this is closer to WWF vs ECW than WWF vs WCW.

All the 6 star matches and neckbeards in the crowd chanting AEW ain't gonna make a damn thing to someone like Nick Khan. He doesn't give a fukk about anything but the bottom line and he clearly does not see AEW as a threat to the WWE. And after three years I think we can agree that he's correct from a business perspective. If AEW had grown at all you might have a point.

All of that can be true and execs can still take time out to roll around in the pigpen which is what he does in that clip. Tony does it, except more kid like every time a Vince story drops and used to do it a lot more when that company had buzz for that 3-5 months stretch in '21/early 22.

It hits different when it's a WWE official because dogs always bark at the moon but the moon doesn't usually respond. Market leaders will never respond to the 2nd brand directly, it's usually indirectly, so mass deavors and Vince letting Steve & Jericho do a podcast. Vince hoarded everyone because a billionaire with a Turner network deal was coming in. He saw what they were onscreen, probably got intel about what they are off it and didn't see concern. And they haven't done anything to prove him wrong since.

That clip posted is probably the most we'll get to a Vince owned WWE directly acknowledging them in any kind of way outside of that Triple H comment a few years back, it's just something to talk about while we wait for the next sale rumor.

 

[L68]

Good interview

 

[DANJ!]

Vince used to do the same shyt with his fixation on Ted Turner instead of the person running WCW, Eric Bischoff.

Right... it's more like "I'll acknowledge the guy who REALLY runs the shyt because I run this shyt over here, that's my competition. The guy who works for him ain't the real boss, he can get replaced tomorrow." (which, in the end, turned out to be the case). It's different from Khan because I doubt his father would replace him, but the senitment is the same... Tony's the kid who got to open his own store, his father is the guy who makes it possible.

 

[prophecypro]

Every market leader out here doesn't talk shyt about a challenger or the competition and if they do, they aren't running to every news media outlet out here as Tony Khan likes to do. They do the talking from a business and financial perspective, which exactly what Khan and WWE are doing.

is he though? Cause how would he know their business unless we're presuming he knows people in the company

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

is he though? Cause how would he know their business unless we're presuming he knows people in the company

You do know that Khan has connections in the industry from his time at CAA, so he could easily get access to information if he really wanted to do so without having to go through the dirtsheet route to get it. People in the entertainment industry talk behind the scenes.

It also takes time for a company (especially an upstart one) to become financially profitable and anyone with business sense would tell you that.

 

[prophecypro]

You do know that Khan has connections in the industry from his time at CAA, so he could easily get access to information if he really wanted to do so without having to go through the dirtsheet route to get it. People in the entertainment industry talk behind the scenes.

It also takes time for a company (especially an upstart one) to become financially profitable and anyone with business sense would tell you that.

Anyone could, even reporters outside of the dirtsheets also but I've never seen a vocal operating at a loss take when talking about them.

Anyway I think he needs to spend more time trying walkback his Vince shyt in this interview than anything

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Anyone could, even reporters outside of the dirtsheets also but I've never seen a vocal operating at a loss take when talking about them.

Anyway I think he needs to spend more time trying walkback his Vince shyt in this interview than anything

Nick Khan has always been the blunt type from his time at being over a talent agency, which is how he got to where he is now so there's no need to change up. There's no need for him to walk back his Vince comments as Vince brought him there in the first place as his replacement and to help facilitate the eventual sale of the company.

Khan outlasted Vince kid's and currently has the throne, so he won

 

[itiswhatitis]

Anyone could, even reporters outside of the dirtsheets also but I've never seen a vocal operating at a loss take when talking about them.

Anyway I think he needs to spend more time trying walkback his Vince shyt in this interview than anything

There’s not going to be a vocal operating at a loss take because the people who care about that company (dirtsheets and smart mark community) have a narrative to create.

Dirtsheets didn’t have a dog in the fight in 1999 when WCW was losing millions.