Tony Khan didnt just go head-to-head with WWE he tried to buy the company outright after placing a bid on the promotion back in 2023. According to POST Wrestling, thats the major update coming out of newly unredacted court filings tied to the ongoing WWE shareholder lawsuit, which reveal that Base 10 a company connected to the AEW boss officially submitted a bid during WWEs 2023 sale process. And this wasnt some minor inquiry. The documents confirm Khans company was one of four serious bidders, alongside Endeavor, Liberty Media, and KKR, during the process that eventually led to the creation of TKO. The filings even lay out why Base 10 was viewed as a logical bidder in the first place. According to the court documents, Base 10 offered $76.83 per share putting the total valuation at around $6.9 billion. That made it the lowest bid of the four. KKR reportedly offered between $90 and $97.50 per share, Liberty Media came in between $95 and $100, and Endeavor ultimately won with an all-stock deal valued at $95.66 per share before synergies. Instead of cash, WWE shareholders ended up converting their shares into TKO stock which has since climbed to around $200 per share, nearly doubling the value from the original deal. That gap in valuation likely explains why Base 10 didnt move further in the process. In fact, theres no indication Khans group even made it to the stage where bidders were given access to WWEs internal data room something that Endeavor, KKR, and Liberty Media were granted as the process moved forward. And theres another wrinkle here. The filings note that Base 10 would have needed additional equity and debt partners to actually complete the deal suggesting the bid may not have been as fully developed as the others. At the same time, the lawsuit itself is raising bigger questions about how the sale was handled. Shareholders allege the process wasnt truly competitive and claim Endeavor was effectively positioned to win because its CEO, Ari Emanuel, was willing to guarantee Vince McMahon a continued role in the company. The defendants including McMahon, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque, and others have denied those claims. Khan himself is not named directly in the complaint, but the connection between Base 10 and AEW is clearly established. Separate records also show Base 10 was incorporated in 2014 with Khan listed as its sole officer, tied to the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium address. When asked for comment on the report, Khan declined to respond. Theres also one more thing worth noting despite speculation at the time, none of the major media giants like Disney, Amazon, or NBCUniversal actually placed bids for WWE. And those rumors about a Saudi-backed purchase? They never materialized either. So when the dust settled, it came down to four real players and one of them was WWEs biggest competitor. From rival promoter to almost owner. If Khans bid had landed differently, the entire wrestling landscape could look completely different today. Do you think WWE would have changed for better or worse if Tony Khan had pulled this off, or was the Endeavor deal always the right move? Drop your thoughts and feedback below. G Add as a preferred source on Google
