WWE, the heavyweight professional wrestling promotion, has announced a wide-ranging deal with French soccer giants Paris Saint-Germain as it gears up to stage its first Premium Live Event in the French capital.
The deal includes the pair collaborating on original content, exclusive merchandise, fan engagement initiatives, crossover appearances featuring stars from both sides, and community-driven projects.
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It adds to the existing relationship between WWE and PSG, which saw them unveil a co-branded Legacy Championship Belt featuring PSG colours and logo in March, which was sold across the WWE shop and PSG’s official store, as well as the online store of Fanatics, the exclusive operator of PSG’s e-commerce business and master licensee for its merchandising.
Fabien Allegre, PSG’s chief brand officer, has said: "We are excited to collaborate with WWE at such a pivotal time for their business, as Paris welcomes the WWE Universe for its first major PLE in the city.
“We aim to collectively unite fans across continents in ways that are authentic and true to each brand.”
The pair are looking to use the partnership to diversify their audiences, using WWE’s upcoming tour of France to capitalize on the agreement.
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By GlobalDataThe tour starts with WWE’s Smackdown event being staged in Lyon tomorrow and will also see the promotion’s Clash in Paris, its first PLE in Paris, held at La Defense Arena on August 31.
It will be the second time WWE has visited Lyon, having staged its pay-per-view Backlash event in the city last year.
The promotion’s French tour comes as part of WWE’s internationalization efforts, that has seen it host PLEs around the globe since 2022, including in Cardiff (Wales), Glasgow (Scotland), London (UK), Lyon (France), Berlin (Germany), Perth (Australia), and San Juan (Puerto Rico).
It also stages regular events in the Saudi Arabian cities of Riyadh and Jeddah.
PSG, meanwhile, is looking to capitalize on its global status, having won the UEFA Champions League (UCL) for the first time in June.
In recent years, PSG has attracted massive global commercial interest, in part due to its 2019 kit supply tie-up with sportswear giant Nike, through which it has leveraged the Jordan brand to cultivate global crossover appeal.
Fanatics announced that the 12-hour period after PSG’s UCL victory marked the highest-ever sales period at Fanatics for an individual team win outside the US. Fanatics has also partnered with the club to launch PSG's flagship in-person stores in major cities globally, including Los Angeles and London.
The announcement also comes a week after WWE announced it will be relocating its PLEs from the NBCU-owned Peacock streaming service to Disney-owned ESPN almost five months early.
ESPN’s domestic broadcast deal with WWE, struck earlier in August, sees the sports giant take over the coverage of WWE’s top-line events. Peacock, meanwhile, retains access to WWE’s extensive video library through the remainder of 2025, with WWE NXT (its developmental brand) PLEs continuing on the service through 2026.
In terms of WWE's other broadcast coverage, its flagship ‘Monday Night Raw’ show is covered globally by content and entertainment giant Netflix, through a deal that came into effect in January.
