WWE PLEs Officially Moving To ESPN Platforms in September, Wrestlepalooza Indianapolis Announced

It looks like WWE premium live events will be moving to ESPN ahead of schedule. Just announced by WWE and ESPN, the exlusive landmark rights agreement between ESPN and WWE is launching earlier than previously announced. WWE PLEs will kick off on September 20 on the new ESPN Direct to Consumer service starting with WWE Wrestlepalooza Indianapolis 2025.

John Cena is announced as headlining the event, which will be held at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. As previously reported, it’s rumored that John Cena versus Brock Lesnar will be taking place at the event. Tickets for the card go on sale on Friday, August 22 at 10:00 am EST. Presale access for tickets starts tomorrow at 10:00 am EST.

Other Superstars announced for Wrestlepalooza include WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch, CM Punk, and Drew McIntyre, who are all slated to compete in major matches at the event. It will be held in partnership with Indiana Sports Corp, marking the last time Cena wrestles in Indianapolis.

Wrestlepalooza will stream live on the new ESPN App, ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service, starting at 7:00 pm EST/4:00 pm PST. Also, starting on September 20, ESPN will become the exclusive U.S. domestic home of all WWE PLEs. All the PLEs will be available to ESPN DTC subscribers with the unlimited plan. Additional WWE PLEs that will be streamed on the service later this year include Crown Jewel on Saturday, October 11 and Survivor Series on Saturday, November 29.

The WWE and ESPN PLE deal was originally expected to launch later next year. This means that this weekend’s WWE Clash in Paris will be the final WWE PLE to stream live on Peacock. According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBCUniversal’s Peacock had to give its approval on the new deal. ESPN reportedly did not buy out Peacock’s remaining rights for WWE premium live events. Under this arrangement, it’s said that the deal for WWE PLEs to exit Peacock early was brokered between WWE and Peacock and brought to Disney-owned ESPN.

THR notes that WWE had actually fulfilled its agreement with Peacock early by splitting WrestleMania and SummerSlam into two nights each. WWE and Peacock also reportedly worked out a deal to include new main-roster WWE programming to stream on the service. Details on the programming are expected to be announced later on.

Under the new partnership with ESPN, ESPN DTC will stream all PLEs annually, in their entirety, with select simulcasting on ESPN linear platforms, including such marquee events as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, Money in the Bank, and more. WWE PLEs will be available to all ESPN DTC subscribers who have the unlimited plan. The new DTC streaming platform, and a new set of features on an enhanced ESPN App launch on Thursday, August 21. More details are available at the DTC service’s website.

WWE Clash in Paris, the final WWE PLE to stream live on Peacock, is scheduled for Sunday, August 31 in Paris, France. WWE also released the new preview video for Wrestlepalooza Indianapolis on ESPN DTC below: