In late December 2017 I was writing for "TV By the Numbers". The announcement of the FOX/Disney merger had occurred. What would remain of 21CF, the company I had worked for since 2000 until retiring in August 2015, was FOX Sports and the FOX network. The news channels and the papers had already been separated. FBC would no longer have a sibling studio as a primary supplier of programming.
Around this time Vince McMahon announced that he was going to take a second run at the XFL and there was some speculation of him selling WWE.
I thought about all this and decided to write the following for the TVBTN website. It ran under the headline "HEY RUPERT MURDOCH - WHY NOT BUY THE WWE?"
Here it is:
"You’re Rupert Murdoch. You have $53 billion, more or less, in your pocket after selling off most of 21st Century Fox to Disney (pending government approval, yeah right). What’s a lad to do with all that money?
Let me digress for a minute.
Over my career there were three occasions when I almost got involved in what many of you who read my stuff know is one of my passions: professional wrestling. All occurred when I was at NBC.
I was in audience research in 1985, when Dick Ebersol made a deal with the World Wrestling Federation to carry Saturday late-night wrestling on weeks when “Saturday Night Live” would take a break. I got to know the head of syndication for the WWF. He would call to discuss the ratings, and we developed a friendship. When he was leaving the company, he called and offered me his job. I would have taken it but for the traveling, as the Masked Daughter had just been born.
A year or so later, I was approached by Turner about a creative job on the West Coast. I met with Brad Siegel and said I would consider it if part of my responsibility was overseeing World Championship Wrestling (Ted Turner’s answer to the WWF). That was a no go, so I turned down the gig.
The third occasion was in 1997 and it’s what got me thinking about how Rupert should spend his money. We lost the AFC Sunday football package to CBS (which had lost the NFC package a few years earlier to FOX), and I was thinking about how we could fill the void on Sunday afternoons.
I thought about how much money we spent on the NFL and how, for a small piece of that, we could create a professional wrestling organization and put on matches every Sunday afternoon as an alternative to football. We could try to lure a few of the name talent and then scout the independent scene to fill out the roster. I thought about the merchandizing possibilities and did some research on the “Monday Night Raw” ratings vs. “Monday Night Football,” which at the time was on ABC.
I went in to see my boss, Warren Littlefield, and we decided to go up to Don Ohlmeyer and pitch him on the idea. Don was intrigued but a few days later told us it was a no go. I think Dick Ebersol may have put the kibosh on it, given his relationship with WWF head Vince McMahon.
Anyway, a few days ago there were rumblings that Vince McMahon was thinking about reviving the XFL, which was a disaster for him and NBC. There’s a really good ESPN “30 for 30” on it. I follow the wrestling business, and I read some articles about Vince thinking of cashing out a la Dana White and the UFC. My Spidey Senses started to tingle.
What if Rupert Murdoch bought the WWE? I looked up the market cap for the WWE. It’s a bit over $2 billion. That may be lying in the crevices of Rupert’s couch. It would give him two nights (minimum) of programming and a promotion base for FOX’s more male-skewing entertainment shows (assuming they stay in the scripted game), as well as their sports programming.
WWE is also in the entertainment field, and they could develop some scripted shows featuring past and current WWE Superstars. They would also get a streaming channel in the WWE Network. Merchandise and house shows generate revenue as well.
Given that FOX Sports remains part of the family, this would fit in just fine. ESPN has made a big push in pro wrestling coverage over the past few years. It is no longer the bastard child. Think about it, Rupert. It’s some free advice, and you may actually lure me out of retirement in the process."
A few days after this was published I got a one sentence email from a high ranking 21CF executive:
"How did you know we were talking to the WWE?"
I told the exec I didn't know but was just thinking about how FBC could be programmed after the merger and I assumed there would be a greater emphasis on sports. It just made sense to me.
Anyway in the summer of 2018 I had the opportunity to talk with the major players at 21CF about the new company. The first meeting took place the day after the five billion dollar SMACKDOWN deal was announced. The WWE weekly live show would move from the USA Network (COMCAST), where it aired on Tuesday night, and start running Fridays on FBC beginning October 2019.
I congratulated the executives and here's why I decided to write this post:
I immediately told them that there are two things that I would suggest talking to WWE about ASAP. One, I will not mention because perhaps it could still happen. The other was NXT. "Get NXT for 21CF!" I then proceeded to tell them why.
A few weeks later I had another opportunity to discuss this with some pretty important people in the organization, I went through the evolution of NXT and I told them something else.
There are legitimate competitors to WWE and the WWE's own product (NXT) is far superior to the main roster shows. In addition, there are other wrestling groups that are emerging as at least creative challengers to WWE and, with the various ways of delivering product to the fans, WWE's hegemony is coming to an end. I mentioned two examples. New Japan Pro Wrestling and the journey of Cody Rhodes and how more wrestlers may follow in his footsteps.
Since those conversations the quality of WWE has eroded although, to give them some credit, it has been better lately. NJPW continues to attract fans and just finished their yearly G1 Tournament which is about the best thing in professional wrestling. The big news though is the emergence of All Elite Wrestling which is funded by the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars with Cody Rhodes as one of the leaders of the organization. They have a deal with TNT to start airing weekly two-hour shows on Wednesday nights beginning in October.
This morning to counter this WWE announced that NXT will be doing a two hour show (I assume live) which will air on USA head-to-head with AEW. For a while the rumor was FOX Sports 1 would be the platform but I think it has something to do with a Big East Basketball Wednesday night commitment by the network.
NXT had been running a one hour taped show which drops Wednesday night on the WWE Network. Now it's in the big leagues.
This morning, on my Twitter feed I tweeted #RIPNXT
I'm not gonna get into that now. I just want to share two thoughts about all this.
I'll start with the positive. Pro wrestling exploded as a result of the "Monday Night Wars" between Ted Turner (WCW) and Vince McMahon (WWWF/WWF/WWE) and I am looking forward to the NXT/AEW battle. Wrestling is best when there is competition and for quite a while the McMahons' stranglehold on the business has resulted in an inferior, highly commercialized product. It led to a resurgence of independent wrestling and it's led us to this.
The other thing about all this is FOX got screwed. When this deal was made I don't think that anyone thought that there would be four hours of product between RAW on Monday (USA) and SMACKDOWN on Friday. I know NXT is a superior product and I have a feeling AEW will be as well or, at least, the shiny new object for a while. There's also NJPW doing two hours on Saturday night over on AXS TV. Oh and the FITE app has Ring of Honor and a few other indy shows every week. Also the WWE Network will probably replace NXT with something, possibly EVOLVE which they could drop on a Thursday night.
Wrestling podcasts are huge and with all this product, and a show on Friday, I wonder if SMACKDOWN will get the attention that RAW, NXT and AEW will be afforded.
One more thing. I have no idea if SMACKDOWN and RAW will be different "brands" each with its own roster. Right now it's sort of pandemonium in the WWE with this bullshit 'wildcard" rule. If they will not be distinct brand that will make Smackdown less special.
I love wrestling. I'm concerned that NXT is going to deteriorate now that Vince McMahon will pay more attention to it. His son-in-law Triple H was fathered and nurtured it. It is an amazing product and their live Takeover shows make watching the WWE Pay Per Views which air the day after excruciating at times. I'm hoping that more NXT wrestlers stay on the brand rather than being called up and buried on the main roster and maybe some (cough Asuka, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe) go back to NXT and thrive again.
I really hope this works out for FOX. It's just going to be more difficult and we'll see what sort of a partner the McMahons will be.Also, if any of the FOX execs I spoke with read this and remember the other idea I pitched, think about it.
October is going to be insane.
Oh, by the way I never took the job with the WWF but, when the Masked Daughter was born we did get a massive box of WWF goodies including all the Wrestling Buddies.
Oh, by the way I never took the job with the WWF but, when the Masked Daughter was born we did get a massive box of WWF goodies including all the Wrestling Buddies.
