Nick Khan Thinks NBCU Would Support More Blood On WWE TV
It appears that WWE’s TV partner NBCU may be open to showing blood more during matches in the future, according to recent comments from Nick Khan.
Nick Khan is the current CEO of WWE which specializes in running the business side of the company. As a former sports agent with CAA, Khan has a lot of experience working on big deals and was a major force behind WWE’s last TV deals, which led to the company hiring him in an executive role.
While Nick Khan is focused on the business side of WWE, he recently said that Triple H remains the Head of WWE’s Creative Team as the Chief Content Officer with Executive Chairman Vince McMahon offering advice to Nick and Triple H whenever they need it.
Following the announcement earlier this month that Endeavor has acquired WWE to merge it with UFC, Khan will have a new job title as the President of WWE.
Since 2008, WWE has been a PG company meaning it’s a more family-friendly product despite the performance standpoint of pro wrestling still being a “fight” or a match between two or more combatants.
Prior to that, WWE was a TV-14 product that would often have people bleed during matches to help tell a story. In pro wrestling, the term “blading” is used to describe when a wrestler will cut themselves in order to draw blood on their forehead. It’s a practice currently seen in other wrestling companies like AEW, which some people believe has too much blood during matches.
In a recent interview with Lightshed Partners, Nick Khan talked about how WWE’s TV partner NBCU, which owns USA Network, could be open to WWE spilling some blood during the third hour of Raw.
“Look, when we’re specifically talking about the 10 to 11 hour on RAW, we’re specifically talking to NBCU and ourselves about what we do what that moving forward.”
“We ask, what do we do if we tweak this, that 10 to 11 hour, it is basic cable, it’s not broadcast, as you know. We think that NBCU would be supportive, but we’re not on a final conclusion on that.”
While WWE’s Monday Night Raw has been on NBCU’s owned USA Network for most of the last 30 years, that deal expires in October 2024, so it will be interesting to see if USA Network remains the host of Raw when WWE negotiates new deals. Nick Khan will obviously be heavily involved in that process.
There are also incidents during matches that lead to accidental blood. When Edge faced Finn Balor at WrestleMania 39, Edge threw a ladder at Balor’s head leading to an immediate cut. The match was actually stopped for over one minute while WWE’s medical personnel tended to Balor to make sure he was okay. Nick Khan spoke about seeing Balor’s injury up close.
“At that moment, I was very close to ringside and to see him take staples in the middle of the action and to jump up and take up the cage like that, it’s such a performance.”
After WrestleMania took place, Balor needed 14 staples in his head to cover up the wound.