Big news today on the WWE home video front. An announcement released this morning reveals that WWE and Warner Brothers have just agreed to a big distribution deal that’ll be in place for years to come. Here are the details, straight from the WWE press release:
BURBANK, CA AND STAMFORD, CT – November 19, 2014
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) and WWE (NYSE: WWE) have announced a multi-year partnership for home video distribution of WWE programming that will start on January 1, 2015 and include US distribution rights for physical and digital formats.
The new agreement will provide WBHE the home entertainment distribution rights to release new documentaries, match compilations and pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania® and SummerSlam®, as well as a robust catalog of collectible titles throughout the US. The companies have recently worked together on two animated series tied to the Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones franchises.
Personally, I’m curious if this will tie into the WWE Network at all. I remember rumors of a third party getting involved somehow, but it appears that Warner hasn’t just stepped in and bought the whole WWE tape library, as the rumors seemed to flagrantly suggest. Cooperation is definitely the way to go here – what would Warner Brothers do with days upon days of old World Class Championship Wrestling footage, anyway? Also, I really hope this means that the Scooby-Doo WrestleMania movie will be hitting the Network soon, because the talk of Sin Cara Grande heading to Lucha Underground turned out to be false and I really need my fix.
