WWE After Part Timers

By Scott Keith on May 31, 2018

On the blog today you said: “It's a completely moot point because they have successfully built a business model where WWE and the Wrestlemania name are the “draw” and the stars don't matter. For the next five years, they can stop doing arena shows completely and sell zero merchandise and still be insanely profitable.”

Not trying to call you out or anything Scott, but I'm getting really tired of hearing this argument. Meltzer was saying something similar on his show this morning.

The reason WWE was able to get all of this money from NBC and Fox for their shows is because they have built this “total package” media empire, like the NFL, NBA, etc. They are seen as big time because they have a successful touring arena show, tons of merchandise that people actually buy, and recognizable mainstream stars associated with them like Cena, Rock, etc. It's because they have a successful network that, while not on actual cable in the US like NFL or MLB, makes them major league. It's not just demand for DVR-proof pseudo-sports that makes them desirable to the likes of the Fox network, because New Japan, Impact and ROH can all provide similar shows and Lord knows nobody is paying billions to show their programming. Same can be said of tons of fringe sports. It is because WWE is seen as a major league level product. And they need to have packed arenas, visible merchandise, and a robust network to complete that package beyond simply producing 5 hours of television content per week…5 hours, by the way, that need actual drawing stars to keep respectable ratings.

Fox and USA don't just want a TV rights package, they want a major league product for that TV to present. And WWE needs all the arms of their company working in tandem. To say that WWE could lose all their part time stars, run no arena shows, and give up on merchandise and still be insanely profitable is foolish. Yes, they will be profitable for THIS TV deal but where will they be when the next deal comes up? And the one after that?

Sure WWE is making money hand over fist now but if they want that to continue in perpetuity they can't rest on their laurels.

– Neil

It was more of a money comparison model than saying they can realistically stop doing arena shows and selling merch. Point being, They used to depend on house show and merch revenue along with PPV/Network revenue as the primary drivers, and under that model the biggest profit they ever made was, what, $60 or $70 million in a year? And that was with their highest TV ratings in history and biggest buyrates. I'm just saying, with the new TV deals, even if they stopped running arena shows tomorrow and never sold another piece of merch, they'd still have more money than at any other point in their history by a large margin. I'm not saying they SHOULD do that, I'm just using an extreme example to illustrate the point.

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