Paramount+ Reportedly Had Talks With an Undisclosed Wrestling Promotion Before Signing UFC Deal

Paramount+ reportedly had talks with another wrestling promotion before signing a streaming media rights deal with UFC last year. During today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (via F4WOnline.com), Dave Meltzer revealed that Paramount+ had talks with another wrestling promotion, but the talks went cold after Paramount+ landed a deal with the UFC.

Meltzer explained, “There is a story that I was told that I did not know, that there was a company, a wrestling company, that was negotiating with Paramount+ a little over a year ago. And they did not have a written deal. They were confident in a deal.” He continued, “They were negotiating with people at Paramount, top people, one of whom ended up losing his position in the Skydance merger, because people lose their position. One of them was still there.”

The promotion that was said to be negotiating with Paramount+ was unnamed. Meltzer further elaborated that the unnamed wrestling promotion was confident a deal would be made, as Paramount+ didn’t have any pro wrestling content on the platform. However, after the UFC deal came up in August 2025, talks for the deal went silent.

Meltzer continued, “But the company was confident that they would get on Paramount+ because, at the time, there was no wrestling on Paramount+. And as it came down to the wire, they had nothing signed or anything like that, and then the UFC deal came in. And once the UFC deal came in, all of a sudden everything got cold with them completely.”

The UFC is under the TKO Group Holdings, LLC banner, along with WWE. As noted, Paramount+ parent company, Paramount Skydance, settled with California and 11 other states attempting to block the corporate media conglomerate’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The lawsuit was the last major roadblock for Paramount Skydance to complete its merger with WBD.

WBD is also the main broadcast partner of AEW. AEW and WBD are currently in the midst of a multi-year media rights agreement, which runs through the end of 2027, with an option for a fourth year if it’s picked up, which would take the deal through 2028.