Roman Reigns Reacts To WWE And ESPN Premium Live Events Streaming Deal

WWE is heading to ESPN in 2026, and one of its biggest stars believe it's a sign of major growth for the company.

The two sides announced on Wednesday morning a major media rights deal that will see WWE bring its Premium Live Events to ESPN platforms, including ESPN's new direct-to-consumer service that will launch later this month.

WWE's entire PLE schedule will move to ESPN in the United States, though it is unclear what is in store for the future of the library at this juncture.

Former Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns will almost certainly headline many of those PLE's in the future on the platform, and he was a guest on ESPN Wednesday morning to discuss the move from Peacock.

.@WWERomanReigns joined First Take to discuss ESPN's new rights agreement with the WWE 🤝 pic.twitter.com/MroASog6Ak
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 6, 2025

"It's almost like the news cycle in itself, it's always something new for us," Reigns said. "It seems to always be bigger and better. I think Nick Khan has done a great job, Paul Levesque 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."

ESPN Makes Major Moves

Roman Reigns appeared on ESPN Wednesday morning to discuss the streaming deal. | WWE.com

The WWE partnership isn't the only major acquisition by ESPN this week. It also announced it was acquiring NFL Network and other NFL media assets in exchange for the NFL having a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN. CNBC reports the Disney/WWE deal amounts to around $325 million per year over five years.

"I think it's a chance to continue to grow. I mean, anytime you can team up with a platform like ESPN, you guys are the sports media leaders. Nobody does it better than you guys," Reigns said. "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 fan base, any time we can grow our form of sports and entertainment, it's always going to benefit our fans."

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ESPN's DTC service will cost users $29.99, though access will be included with an existing cable package.

In addition to the DTC, WWE events will occasionally appear on ESPN's linear platforms, though it is unclear which events that will be.

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