Dwayne Johnson dishes on WWE without Vince McMahon and his hopes for big beverage deals

Dwayne Johnson, who parlayed a professional wrestling career into one of the world’s most successful box office draws, says he believes that World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. could one day be sold to a large broadcaster following the company’s former chairman’s controversial departure.

“I've known Vince for a very, very long time and he's a businessman,” said Johnson in an interview with BNN Bloomberg during a recent visit to Toronto to promote an upcoming film.

“I think the key if there were a sale of the WWE is to make sure that whoever acquires that brand in that property, you've got to love the wrestling business. Of course, you can love the asset, and you can love everything that comes with it, but you got to love the professional wrestling business … because if not, then you could kind of see the writing on the wall; four or five years down the road, what will happen?”

While the WWE has traditionally been known for staging live wrestling events and selling television rights to traditional broadcasters, its shares have climbed by more than one-third since it struck a five-year deal worth US$1 billion to license its streaming platform to NBCUniversal Media LLC in Jan. 2021. McMahon's abrupt exit, along with the ongoing demand from larger broadcasters for exclusive live programming, has resulted in persistent takeover speculation swirling around WWE, which as of the close of trading on Monday had a market capitalization of US$5.6 billion.