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Do you think Comcast/NBCU regret not purchasing WWE when they had the chance? They could have had Raw/Smackdown/NXT—7 hours of live content a week—all in-house and cost controlled, and kept the PLEs/other content on Peacock as long as they wanted. Since WWE content is the top-viewed content on Peacock, with the free subscription going away that content is what customers are most likely to pay for. Now, with Endeavor in charge, they will absolutely want to extract maximum value for their property, and won’t care about existing relationships; they’ll just want the most money. Any hope of not paying top dollar to keep Raw/WWE content on Peacock is gone, and Endeavor WILL get top dollar for the next TV/streaming deal, whomever it is with.
To me, Comcast seemed like the most obvious buyer all along, for all of the reasons that you just mentioned. With that said, they are also a very well run company and they know what value that they put on acquisitions vs. what kind of revenue they would generate from the company if they bought it. I don’t know what value they placed on WWE but at the end of the day my best guess is it was less than what Endeavor placed on it. They are definitely taking a chance because as you said, Endeavor will be looking for top dollar when they sell product going forward. At this point, I can’t say if they will regret it or not. If it ends up that WWE can’t get the rights fees that they want, NBCU may be able to get the shows at the same price, or lower. Or, it could go the other way. Time will tell on that.
With Cody losing at this years Wrestlemania, do you think it's HHH mirroring the Dusty vs Flair feud from Starrcade 84-85? Have Rhodes lose the first year to build him up for the next WM?
I can’t say I think he is doing that but I can say I wouldn’t be surprised if he is. HHH is an old school booker (in the best way) and it’s clear to me he has been influenced by Dusty’s booking. I have said for a while now that the reason I wasn’t sure Cody would win at Mania is that he hasn’t been through any storyline hurdles with The Bloodline and if he hit the mountaintop on the first try, it would have been too easy. HHH is a long term storyteller so my hunch is that was how he saw it, provided it was his decision to make of course.
Vince McMahon signed a new employee agreement binding him to the company’s Code of Conduct and Non-Harassment Policy, but wasn’t that all ready in place prior to resignation as a standard practice for any business for its employees? Or is it different that it does exclude him as a majority stockholder with power? I am not understanding how he can still have stock and power when he had violated those policies. It kind of reminds me of the Donald Sterling controversy with the Los Angeles Clippers.
In a nutshell, violating that agreement could technically cost him his job, and for a while it did. But all along since he had control of the company through his stock, he could have come back at any time and basically flipped the bird to the violation. In Sterling's case, he was part of a league so he didn't have ultimate power like Vince does, at least until the sale goes through.
While I totally agree that the Elite acted inappropriately in the incident with Punk and they should have lost their roles as EVPs, the one word that has been bothering me this whole time is "uninvited". I don't like the Elite and I'm biased towards Punk as I feel they acted aggressively when they need to be held to a higher standard as EVPs. The one issue I have is that I think (not 100% sure) that Punk said during the media scrum, if they have an issue they know where to find him. Is that not an invite? That doesn't change the fact that they never should have been there.
I have seen some house organ types making this excuse so I will tell you why it holds no weight at all with me. First of all three officers of the company, joined by a fourth, were involved. I know that a lot of AEW friendly outlets don't know anything about how business actually works, but The Bucks and Kenny are OFFICERS IN THE COMPANY. They are held to a much different standard than, say, Jon Moxley. It's amazing to me how many people don't understand what being an officer in a company means. Beyond that, Punk said, "Anyone". He didn't say, "Any group of three people". He also never said, "Barge into my dressing room without knocking, where I could be butt ass naked or taking a dump when you come in". So no, what he said doesn't make it OK to enter someone's private space without permission. Had they knocked and/or yelled for him to come out and face them, then the house organ apologists would have a point. But, that is not what happened.
I enjoyed your column about your future here at the site and I am glad you are staying around. Do you think there are some people that hated hearing that?
Boy, I sure hope so! If some people don’t despise you in this business, you aren’t doing your job.
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