WWE General Discussion Thread

[LK3185]

So, no one is talking about it here, so I might as well get the ball rolling. Yesterday, news broke of WWE and Fox making a deal for Smackdown where Fox will pay WWE 1 billion dollars over the next 5 years (205M Annually) just for Smackdown. It will reportdly air on the Main Fox Channel, on Fridays, Starting October 2019.

Its not offical offical but no one has come out denying it. It was the big news item yesterday. Raw isn't even signed to a new deal yet.. but NBCU is strongly linked to keeping Raw.

This is a huge deal for WWE that pretty much means they could keep the same booking trends and not lose a single dime over the next 5 years. The revenue will be that insane.

It also means that Friday Night will have to be a live taping and I imagine that will have to change the whole touring schedule. No way did Fox pay for a taped show.

[Powder]

The only thing that sucks is that Smackdown will be on Friday. That is one of the worst nights for TV. People go out with friends and family and usually do not sit at home and watch TV.

[SirSam]

So is it confirmed it will be a live taping or will it be a pre-record like it used to be?

Also this is going to change Mania weekend too because now it will go:
Friday: Smackdown
Saturday: TakeOver
Sunday: Mania
Monday: Raw

Does take out HOF though so who knows how they will work that out. Also that is a LOT of wrestling and that doesn't even take into consideration all the indy shows that are on too.

[LK3185]

Its not confirmed that it will be live.. but like I said, can't see Fox paying this much for non live content. Especially when they will be promoting it around Football the night before.

Friday is a bad tv night here but you're still gonna have that WWE core audience..Even if it declines, the deal is paid for so it doesn't matter, really.

[LWO4Life]

Actually though, it could be a good thing. Fridays use to be big for TV, More people stay in, and I'm sure for that much money if it fails on Friday then you move dates. Fox and WWE have played this game so long that I don't see either side allowing this to fail. It actually sets up the rivalry better with both being on different stations and I feel well open the doors to Raw being in network TV one day.

[mizfan]

Yeah, I imagine it will have to be live. There is a big bubble for live sports/entertainment right now because it's harder to move that kind of stuff to streaming (that or the sports industry has just really, really resisted doing so). As scripted series move more and more to the internet, TV is looking to stay alive with this kind of content. I'd guess the bubble is going to burst sometime in the next decade but for now WWE is riding high, and they have an advantage with the Network already being established so they can fall back on that when the bottom eventually drops out of these big TV deals.

I guess some people have taken this deal as a big "gotcha" against people who dislike WWE. I'll say for sure, anyone who thought WWE was in bad shape business wise in the past few years was fooling themselves, so fair play to anyone who has been using that bad take. I don't think it necessarily reflects on the creative quality of the WWE but it definitely reflects on their success of making the brand name more valuable than it's been in a long time. So if you like what WWE has been doing, expect a whole lot more of it for the next 5 years! And if not, there's never been a better time to check other stuff out, it's literally never been easier to do so.

Overall, I'm just loving how wrestling is riding high now across the board. It's not a boom in the traditional sense but everyone seems to be making more money, in and out of WWE, and that's a great thing.

[LK3185]

Its kinda of weird because if you are into WWE Business on any level, you'd know that they don't allow themselves to appear in trouble. Not recently anyway. The only trouble spots they've had is overestimating their last rights deal, which pissed stock holders off and getting the network off the ground. Now, people could say creative decisions and lack of star making will effect business long term.. but the next five years, we won't see those effects.

[mizfan]

Exactly, and with recent happenings WWE is more motivated than ever to please TV Networks and other sources (foreign governments??) rather than listening directly to fan demand. There's always going to be an overlap with that anyway, but yeah, the motivation to change gears even if they get boos from the live crowd will be low.

[LK3185]

I do think Fox paying WWE a Billion dollars will come with some expectation though. That doesn't mean the quality of the product will be better though. It just will make the TV product even more important...Maybe less actual things happen at the Network events.

[mizfan]

I had that thought too, but honestly they have a billion extra dollars now, so they can throw even more money into the Network if they want to, so I'm hoping it means the opposite as far as the Network continuing to get better is concerned.

Maybe they can double the size of the division that cleans up old footage and gets it posted!

[comfortablynumb]

Use the extra resources to broadcast house shows. We don't need production, just a fixed camera.

[mizfan]

I always thought that was a damn good idea, and it doesn't seem like it'd be that difficult. Just bonus content for the true hardcores who want to watch even more.

The only rationale I can think against it is it could cut down on live house show attendance, but that doesn't hold much water to me since being there live is a totally different experience.

[SirSam]

I guess some people have taken this deal as a big "gotcha" against people who dislike WWE. I'll say for sure, anyone who thought WWE was in bad shape business wise in the past few years was fooling themselves, so fair play to anyone who has been using that bad take. I don't think it necessarily reflects on the creative quality of the WWE but it definitely reflects on their success of making the brand name more valuable than it's been in a long time.

This struck me as extremely true. While the creative has been pretty bland from a week on week perspective (outside of a few bright points) I'd actually suggest that brand WWE has almost never been in a stronger position, at least not since the 80s.

Wrestlemania is slowly becoming a SuperBowlesq institution that gets tons of mainstream coverage and more views than ever, guys like The Rock and now Cena are genuine breakout stars who are identified as ex-WWE and the company has a great name from all te charity work they do.

[mizfan]

Right, it's not mainstream like it was in it's biggest booms, but it's more mainstream adjacent, and maybe it's just me but it does seem like there's less of a knee jerk "that's stupid" vibe than in the past.

Like it or not, a lot of that is probably because of the big PG push of the past decade. Some of the clownish inappropriate characters were fun, but they were sure was hard to explain to outsiders. The downside is now there's often not much to explain at all, because most guys are more than a little generic these days. But it created a baseline for the brand which they're now profiting from.

[LK3185]

I think what they have done, is tried to make everyone more or less from the same mold and not separate the middle class from the top as much.. In doing so, they created a stronger brand to market, adding more equality with the women has defintely helped because in the Attitude era, they were sex objects... but also, most characters have the same, bland quality. The TV product doesn't take risks and things like Lashley's sister seg stand out like a sore thumb.. in a bad way.