WWE PLE’s headed to ESPN starting in 2026
- Thread starter puppetmaster
- Start date
I gotta dig up my old Justin.tv links
Broke Watch BoysSounds like No Watch Gang is making a comeback and teaming up with the Broke Boys to form a new mega faction
Van Glorious
LB4LIFE
I remember a time when ESPN actually aired pro-wrestling (AWA and GWF) on their main network.
Shut the fukk up nikka
Nikka just be saying anything and expect nikkas to eat it up
I'm retired from interacting with 99% of this board and really IWC as a whole. The only exception being pics threads. It's made viewing wrestling a lot better not being part of echo chambers or reading shyt daily by people with mental needs. But when I saw the news I had to come here and...y'all didn't disappoint
Wrestling fans have this innate ability, whether here, Reddit, Twitter, doesn't matter where, to be completely and totally wrong on anything and everything outside the bubble of wrestling. Including the business of wrestling. Then double down on the mental gymnastics and conclusions that only ever existed in their heads. It's like you all have opinions you think these company need to follow on TV weekly, now you know better than execs handling billion dollar grossing entities for a living. It isn't just a TKO, you all did the same thing with Vince.
This guy and a lot of the rest of you thinking you have one brain cell to offer Nick Khan about his handlings is wild. IWC said the Netflix deal was bad, they'll cancel the deal because of Vince, other shyt you came up with hyperventilating off scenarios you made up. Raw is consistently a top viewed program for Netflix. Let the IWC tell it, wrestling fans have been priced out, they're still selling out venues and hitting near sellouts. At the very least the shows are fuller than 2019 while costing more, while a depression is coming off of Trump. How can Nick Khan be wrong about so much and the IWC be right about it all, yet Nick's the one signing these billion dollar deals and the price structures so far are working, while IWC ain't been asked to sign shyt. They just keep waiting for the next boogeyman that'll "sink the ship". Thought that kind of shyt was supposed to stop with Vince...yeah
Anyway man, carry on. I just thought it was crazy reading comments here and elsewhere about things nobody outside Nick/Ari have the data or enough insight to be having opinions on, having opinions. Not even defending money hunger, if the shyt ain't for you cool then let them know and not watch. Let the ones that actually have an idea about 2030 in 2025 worry about what things look like in 5 years.
If things don't work they'll feel it. They seem to think they'll be fine and if I'm honest they most likely will be. People in the "just watching WWE" category on Netflix & Peacock are most likely few and between. This is aimed to hook more casuals by putting wrestling right next to real sports and further legitimize wrestling as sport instead of just the carnival with steel chairs. But until then when things stop working, take the rest of the summer off and kick your feet up tiger.
Sorry bro I was literally reading the press releases and all the info on it and it all says the opposite of what WWE told Ariel. Even in that quote, he says "it appears", but you know what it also appears? That everything else says the opposite. Only wrestling outlets are saying it will be free if you have an ESPN sub either. Every other financial outlet and ESPN/Disney's press releases do not say that and clearly refer to it as an OTT service that will include ESPN tv for the first time. For the sake of argument, let's say you DO have a sub to ESPN in some form and it does work out that way....that sub is probably more expensive than just the new ESPN thing, what a deal.
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Nothing you gotta apologize for. Like I said, if you don't like what they're doing it's cool, voice that. If it doesn't work they'll inevitably have to work towards the middle and closer to you, but relax.
And no. What ended up happening today is exactly what ends up happening anytime WWE or wrestling news involving something other booking and is bigger than the wrestling bubble comes up. And that's because the world through the wrestling bubble is the only thing IWC understands.
Take a look at the first two posts in this thread, the vague details, and the nanosecond reactions right after. Nobody was interested in finding out more, what exactly's happening, and putting a complete picture together. Only thing we know is WWE, more money, and I hate it. That's all we need for 275 posts. 275 posts of the same 7-8 people left on this dead board not knowing wtf they're talking about. When if people take a step outside of the wrestling bubble and look at news, you'd see the WWE announcement is part of even bigger news. It's continuously happened since WWE was acquired and TKO has worked to move and to be accepted outside the wrestling bubble. The announcement was clear if you read actual press releases and not tweets from wrestling blogs farming engagement.
Now to get to the specifics of the deal, like I said I'm not arguing for companies raising prices on consumers. But I'm not an idiot either and if I was calling the shots, I can't see how I'd move any different than Nick has. IWC took time out of complaining about HHH booking, looked at the tweets with no details behind them, saw $20 more and said, "Well I'm already unhappy with WWE for X and now this, this is the end" which is what this shyt thread is full of.
I'd argue most casuals looked at the news, probably saw "ESPN" & "NFL" first, then saw WWE and thought "I'm paying $11 for WWE on Peacock now. For $19 more I still get that but get all this NFL stuff they're throwing in too." Either that or they're already on the peripheral of being an ESPN DTC sub and this is what helps get them in. That's the difference. So the question to me isn't what the IWC thinks because people in this thread and in Reddit still think they're bigger than the bubble they are. The question is, can ESPN still charge $29.99 if WWE was not bundled in? I think I know the answer and I think you do too. Even besides being a cable sub right now, most people would argue WWE is a throw in for added value to the NFL/ESPN partnership. That's just reality, that says nothing about added hoops to view the big shows though. Then again most people huffing & puffing in here have been asking for links for years, all this extra shyt is performative.
Looks like it's free through Cable Providers. I have Sling I share so we Gucci. But the value was in the library and now it's all over the place.
But if you're an all in cord cutter you probably have a online cable service your paying for along with Netflix so it's not to bad.
But if you're an all in cord cutter you probably have a online cable service your paying for along with Netflix so it's not to bad.
It's not huffing and puffing, it fukking sucks for fans to break apart all their shows onto different platforms you have to pay for separately and much more than when it was all on WWE Network or Peacock. Everyone that wants to watch WWE is going to have to pay way more and across multiple platforms to watch everything 8 months ago they could watch on one platform for 2/3rds the price. Who the fukk is that good for besides the shareholders?
ESPN for PPVs that you either need to have an existing ESPN that you're paying for which is almost surely more than what the $30 is (and that's only for launch subscribers and only for the first 12 months, it absolutely will jump after those 12 months like your internet promos). Or, $30 a month for the PPVs even if you don't give a shyt about any of the other sports.
Raw on Netflix for $12-19 depending on tier and seems to go up every 9 months with less and less other content you might want to watch.
Smackdown on cable and Peacock for another 4 years.
NXT at least is free to watch day after on CW's website. For now.
And then the idea that back catalogue is up for grabs and could go anywhere that will pay, but outside of Youtube, none of the free services like Pluto/Tubi (both of which would be fine for the back catalogue, particularly pre 90s stuff) do not keep content permanently and so it could disappear at any time or rotate like the old 24/7 classics shyt.
How is this better for any fan not even a year ago could watch all of it in one place for one, much, much cheaper price? Kids into this shyt now that want to watch every show having to have 4 different subscriptions just to watch what they could have on normal TV before January and all of it on Peacock before that. That shyt is a fukking bummer and most of us would have completely fallen off as kids if shyt was split up like that.
ESPN for PPVs that you either need to have an existing ESPN that you're paying for which is almost surely more than what the $30 is (and that's only for launch subscribers and only for the first 12 months, it absolutely will jump after those 12 months like your internet promos). Or, $30 a month for the PPVs even if you don't give a shyt about any of the other sports.
Raw on Netflix for $12-19 depending on tier and seems to go up every 9 months with less and less other content you might want to watch.
Smackdown on cable and Peacock for another 4 years.
NXT at least is free to watch day after on CW's website. For now.
And then the idea that back catalogue is up for grabs and could go anywhere that will pay, but outside of Youtube, none of the free services like Pluto/Tubi (both of which would be fine for the back catalogue, particularly pre 90s stuff) do not keep content permanently and so it could disappear at any time or rotate like the old 24/7 classics shyt.
How is this better for any fan not even a year ago could watch all of it in one place for one, much, much cheaper price? Kids into this shyt now that want to watch every show having to have 4 different subscriptions just to watch what they could have on normal TV before January and all of it on Peacock before that. That shyt is a fukking bummer and most of us would have completely fallen off as kids if shyt was split up like that.
get my pool
Superstar
??Shut the fukk up nikka
Nikka just be saying anything and expect nikkas to eat it up
This directed at me?
thenatural
Superstar
I think he was directing it to HHH
and his bundle of lies.No I'm talking to HHH
Every poster crying in here probably stinks.
I can't take this upper management, corporate politician ass double speak shyt he does I don't know how nikkas watch this press conferences when he's speakingI think he was directing it to HHH
siding with espn and wwe with "i'd do the same thing" is some tier zero bootlicking. Imagine the cognitive dissonance to say "we'll they'll figure it out". WTF is this shyt?
you're getting the same content/service for more money and no value added, and you have to add another service to get the same content. Why would you be cool with this
you're getting the same content/service for more money and no value added, and you have to add another service to get the same content. Why would you be cool with this