Roman Reigns Reacts to New WWE-ESPN Deal
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The Walt Disney Company shocked the wrestling world when it officially announced that it had struck a deal with WWE for exclusive rights to its Premium Live Events (PLEs).
ESPN 🤝 @WWE
Starting in 2026, ESPN's DTC platform will be the U.S. home of every WWE Premium Live Event - including @WrestleMania
Details: https://t.co/JBmWsU5gvS pic.twitter.com/rdGYpPHtOQ — ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) August 6, 2025
Starting in 2026, all WWE PLEs will appear on the new ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service in the United States. This will include iconic events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, the Royal Rumble, and more.
Needless to say, this move has gotten strong reactions from the WWE Universe. And now, this includes the Original Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 02: Roman Reigns makes an entrance before the tag team match during the WWE 2025 SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium on August 02, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 02: Roman Reigns makes an entrance before the tag team match during the WWE 2025 SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium on August 02, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Elsa/Getty Images
During an appearance on ESPN's First Take, WWE Superstar Roman Reigns shared his opinion on the promotion's newest partnership.
"It's almost like the news cycle in itself," Reigns said. "It's always something new for us. It's always something bigger and better. You know, I think Nick Khan has done a great job of leading us and the proof is in the pudding. We just keep leveling up, and this is no different."
.@WWERomanReigns joined First Take to discuss ESPN's new rights agreement with the WWE 🤝 pic.twitter.com/MroASog6Ak — First Take (@FirstTake) August 6, 2025
When it came to the WWE fanbase, Reigns believed that this only meant good things for the future.
"I think it's a chance to continue to grow," Reigns said. "I mean, anytime you can team up with a platform like ESPN, I mean, you guys are the sports media leaders. Nobody does it better than you guys. So to help us tell these stories, to help us reach and have as much attention, it's an obvious partnership.
"So it's huge for our fanbase. Anytime we can grow our art form of sports and entertainment, it's always gonna benefit our fans."
More Pro Wrestling: WWE Announces Major Deal With ESPN
WWE President Nick Khan seems confident that fans will make the move from Peacock to ESPN during an appearance on The Varsity.
"Will the subs follow the product to whatever that new platform is? I think we've demonstrated to Peacock, our subs will follow, they certainly all followed from the WWE Network, and that expanded that subscribership extensively with Peacock," Khan said.
"And there's obviously other product at Peacock to watch, which our fans who subscribe primarily for us were able to sample. Same will be the case with ESPN."
Nick Khan is confident people who subscribed to Peacock for WWE 'PLEs' will follow the product to be subscribers of ESPN to continue watching their 'PLEs.'
'Will the subs follow the product to whatever that new platform is? I think we've demonstrated to Peacock, our subs will… pic.twitter.com/lRISwd61mx — Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) August 6, 2025
While this is certainly a nice sentiment, WWE fans appear to be against the idea in general, largely due to the significant price increase that will come with the move.
Currently, WWE PLEs are on Peacock along with a massive back catalog of content. For all this as well as the rest of the NBCUniversal library, people only need to pay $10.99 per month at the most basic level.
Meanwhile, the ESPN streaming service will cost $29.99 per month, nearly three times as much. While there will be an option to bundle that with Disney+ and Hulu at the same price, that will only be for the first 12 months.
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