By Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
In the space of two weeks the landscape of the professional wrestling business has shifted dramatically, from AEW’s official TV announcement to the rumours of WWE moving to BT in the United Kingdom. TV offers maximum exposure, even now in the era of YouTube and Facebook the opportunity to advertise your product via television is still craved. AEW the brainchild of the ‘Elite’ and businessman Tony Khan, who last week officially announced their agreement with TNT, a deal which we all expected but is now set in concrete. The company has also made an announcement that their ‘All or Nothing’ PPV will be available on ITV Box Office in the United Kingdom, as well as their weekly show to be broadcast on ITV4. This Is great news for the entire wrestling community, for the fans it offers an alternative mainstream product for us all to tune in to.
Following the AEW announcement rumours appeared online on 16.05.2019, via the Telegraph that WWE would be leaving Sky later this year and joining BT. This came as a huge shock to many fans, who since childhood have tuned into Sky Sports to watch both Raw and Smackdown, after 30 years of service this was not what people expected. This news has no link to AEW, but in the week of television deals this is another huge development in the wrestling business and WWE’s ongoing portfolio. Sky has been a big supporter of WWE and the reason the company has such a big presence in the United Kingdom, the two have been hand in hand for over three decades, this was a shock to all. When you sit back and look at the situation though you can understand why Sky grew disgruntled, shortly after signing their most recent deal, the WWE Network fully came online in the UK at a price of £9.99. The price to watch WWE’s entire catalogue and new PPV’s was a drop in the ocean compared to a Sky subscription and the monthly PPV cost of £14.95 – £19.95.
If the rumours are true concerning BT’s interest in taking on WWE programming, then surely, they envisage a bright future with the now not so creative company. Those who have worked for Sky on WWE programming must be aware of the current downturn in the product, they no doubt follow the viewing figures in the US and the negative reaction on social media. Maybe the thinking heads at Sky don’t want to be associated with the company that have formed a relationship with Saudi Arabia and have a warped idea of discipline, especially where Lars Sullivan is concerned. Sky have their customers, they are obviously comfortable losing WWE with their current portfolio, and in some cases why hold on to programming that the audience is turning off. BT are building their programming, they currently dominate the European Football coverage in the United Kingdom, they have a selection of the best games form the English Premier League, UFC, so much more and possibly WWE. The question is, will viewers pay another subscription to watch wrestling when the Network is available and where now in 2019 so many sites live stream Raw, Smackdown and PPV’s.
The AEW/ITV agreement could in time make AEW the number one wrestling company in the United Kingdom, ITV4 is available in a lot more homes than what WWE was, and BT could be. There is the potential that AEW could draw in the lapsed WWE fans, plus those who followed TNA at it’s best and who are now looking for a competitive wrestling company minus the PG rated content of WWE. I think that most lapsed fans still want to tune into WWE and see it thrive, they want to see talented wrestlers work great matches, have character develop and absorbing feuds. With WWE we no longer get the slow build, most wrestlers compete week in week out on TV, so by the time we get to PPV the feud has been diluted and the viewer is tired. The only WWE brand that works well is NXT, it has the slow build, character development and huge payoffs at TakeOver events, Triple H has the correct formula at Full Sail. Right now, AEW executives are saying all the right things, signing fan favourites and appearing to understand what the wrestling fan wants. Only time will tell to see if AEW really is the promotion the audience want it to be.
