WWE superstar John Cena, Disney icon Mickey Mouse would make an incredible tag team

It’s a good time to be WWE.

Its stock price is at its all-time high. The WWE Performance Center is a state-of-the-art facility breeding the future of the company, and the debut of the WWE Network ushers in a new era of trend-setting technology for program broadcasting and development.

Not to be outdone, WWE Monday Night Raw and SmackDown are television free agents.

We’re talking the LeBron James of the pro wrestling/sports entertainment world.

The deal between WWE and NBCUniversal expired without a new one reached.

That leaves WWE to shop around all television rights, especially its two most successful programs for a lucrative licensing deal.

Important to note, NBCUniversal can match any offer by another network, so the global entity may remain with its current NBCUniversal television homes -- USA Network for Monday Night Raw and Syfy for SmackDown.

Where will WWE land?

Get out the checkbook.

Like it or not, WWE is more family oriented which means the ceiling for more money is higher. Opening the door to more people at all ages gives the company leverage -- the availability to reach more advertisers, networks, sponsors.

At one point, ABC and ESPN were so anti-WWE that it tried to discredit the company during its heyday of the Monday Night Wars. ABC’s Monday Night Football was losing ratings in its target market to the Monday Night Wars.

That was then, and this is now.

How they match-up

Look, WWE fans are going to watch WWE Monday Night Raw. Football fans are going to watch Monday Night Football, unless it a bad match-up or blow-out, which happens.

So much is being consolidated in today’s television world. Many different channels are within the same company. You’re already competing with yourself.

Instead of battling over who watches Monday Night Raw or Monday Night Football, wouldn’t it make more sense to join forces? It’s already proven there is room for both. You would have Monday Night Football on ESPN, and Monday Night Raw on ABC or A&E.

It appears WWE Network is the future, but the present for Raw and SmackDown is still with a more established home.

NBCUniversal is a strong working partner with WWE, but can you imagine the possibilities with ABC, Disney, ESPN and WWE on the same television team.

WWE often says, “Never say never.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2014 at 4:00 AM with the headline "WWE superstar John Cena, Disney icon Mickey Mouse would make an incredible tag team."