“Dana White Didn’t Want Anybody Under WWE Contract”: WWE Legend Calls WWE-UFC $21 Billion Merger ‘Ridiculous’

Earlier this month, the WWE announced that it had finalized its sale, putting months of speculation to rest. UFC’s parent company, Endeavor, bought Vince McMahon’s promotion. The recent acquisition will merge both the UFC and the WWE into a $21.4 billion sports entertainment company. The report triggered reactions from fans and industry insiders alike. And all of a sudden, no pro-wrestling podcasts or interviews were complete without a question about the sale.

The latest expert to comment on the merger is a former WWE Champion, who termed it as “ridiculous”.

Kurt Angle opens up on Dana White, the UFC and WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle had an interesting take on the recent merger that values the pro-wrestling promotion at $9.3 billion, against an approximate market value of $6.5 billion. To start with, he deemed it ridiculous but also gave reasons to validate his statement.

“…when you were wrestling; you weren’t allowed to dabble with UFC, UFC weren’t allowed to dabble with WWE,” the WWE legend revealed on the recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show podcast.

He said it would lead to a talent being turned down in the past and named UFC boss Dana White as the culprit. “…Dana White didn’t want anybody under WWE contract that was in UFC,” the Hall of Famer added. The 54-year-old, however, said that the present merger would benefit both companies.

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Meanwhile, Dana White’s recent statement seems to refute Kurt Angle’s claim about the UFC boss.

White says he’s supportive of the WWE-UFC merger

Dana White shared his thoughts on the recent merger during the post-UFC 287 press conference. He said he’s supportive of it. Furthermore, White mentioned that he had no problems with talents wanting to cross over to WWE if they were worthy.

“If guys leave here and they love wrestling and they’re good enough to do it, before this deal we would’ve been good with that,” White said.

The UFC boss’ statement makes it clear that he was okay with his talents looking for a greener pasture in WWE even before the merger, contrary to Kurt Angle’s aforementioned revelation.

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Whether it’s true or not, one simply cannot ignore the fact that there have been crossovers from the WWE to UFC and vice versa in the past. Brock Lesnar jumped ship to the MMA promotion in 2008 and won the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Similarly, Ronda Rousey made her transition to pro-wrestling from the UFC in 2018.

What do you make of Kurt Angle’s claims about the merger and Dana White? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.