Latest Report Puts Rumors About WWE's Programming on ESPN to Rest

Well, that didn't last long.

On Tuesday morning, reports began to circulate that ESPN had decided not to renew its content and distribution partnership with WWE. This just as that partnership is reaching its first anniversary and with four years left on the deal.

ESPN took issue with the story and issued a statement that definitively denied the report.

"There is no truth to the report that we have decided not to renew," the statement to Justin Barrasso read. "They never checked with us before publishing and had they, we would have told them that was completely false."

Further statement from ESPN spokesperson regarding today’s story:

“There is no truth to the report that we have decided not to renew. They never checked with us before publishing and had they, we would have told them that was completely false.”
— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) August 25, 2026

Last year in September, WWE began a five-year, billion-dollar agreement. In the agreement, ESPN would begin carrying the WWE PLEs, including WrestleMania, on its newly launched streaming platform, ESPN Unlimited.

The partnership began with the Wrestlepalooza PLE, which featured John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar in a Cena retirement tour match. The show also featured the in-ring return of AJ Lee, who teamed up with CM Punk and defeated Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch in a mixed tag team match.

Early in the relationship, rumors suggested that ESPN might not be happy with the business the WWE events were bringing to the Unlimited platform. However, earlier this year, ESPN expanded on the relationship and began airing portions of the special events on its cable networks.

ESPN, WWE, and Danhausen

ESPN has worked hard to feature WWE programming on its networks ahead of major events. During the week of WrestleMania in Las Vegas, WWE talent and executives were interviewed regularly on ESPN sports shows. These were not only behind-the-scenes and out-of-character interviews, but in-character crossovers as well.

In February of this year, Danhausen joined WWE and was an immediate hit on the ESPN platforms. During the NBA Playoffs, he infamously cursed the New York Knicks. Stephen A. Smith pleaded wtih Danhausen to lift the curse, and he eventually did. From that moment on, the Knicks were unstoppable. The team won the NBA Championship and Danhausen was live inside Madison Square Garden for one of the games.

WWE, ESPN, and Danhausen also partnered for a major integration activation during SummerSlam weekend in Minneapolis. ESPN created a Danhausen ice cream truck featuring Danhausen's face on the front of it. It appeared around the city in the lead-up to SummerSlam earlier this month.

WWE won't be on ESPN with a PLE until October. That event is the annual Money in the Bank event, which will take place in New Orleans.

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