Former ESPN exec Lee Fitting joins WWE as Head of Media & Production

[Dale]

On Tuesday, TKO announced that Lee Fitting, former ESPN VP of Production, will become WWE’s new Head of Media & Production.

Fitting takes over many of the responsibilities from Kevin Dunn, one of the longest-tenured employees at WWE. Dunn submitted his notice to retire as Executive Producer and Chief of Global Television Distribution at the end of 2023, ending a WWE career that spanned nearly 40 years.


WWE President Nick Khan said about Fitting’s arrival, “Lee is a phenomenal leader and executive known for work that generates both critical acclaim and mass appeal. Lee will be a tremendous addition to our stellar media and production team and play a key role in helping catapult WWE’s growth.”

At ESPN, Fitting oversaw production for college football and NFL broadcasts, including the College Football Playoff, Monday Night Football and College GameDay. ESPN let Fitting go two weeks before the start of the 2023 college football regular season after 25 years at the company.


Fitting’s hiring at WWE may come as a surprise to many. Dunn mentored many in the decades he was at WWE, and for years, it was expected one of those people would be Dunn’s successor. AEW Senior VP and Co-Executive Producer Mike Mansury was someone many speculated about due to his time in WWE learning from Dunn and being highly regarded by Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque (Triple H).

While it may be a surprise, hiring someone outside of the pro wrestling bubble may bring some advantages in terms of having different ideas and perspectives to showcasing the on-screen product. Many fans complained about rapid camera cuts and zoom-ins when shooting matches during WWE broadcasts. Zoom-ins may be minimized if Fitting brings more of a sports-centric approach to production. Off-screen, Fitting’s time at Disney, along with his overall experience in the media industry, may strengthen the relationship between the two companies.

Former ESPN exec Lee Fitting joins WWE as Head of Media & Production

Former ESPN VP of Production, Lee Fitting, will become WWE's new Head of Media & Production. Fitting replaces the retiring Kevin Dunn.

awfulannouncing.com

 

[Deezy]

Thus is what that "game changer" tsg shoukd be used on.

 

[Storm Trooper]

this is HUGE. Dude was revered at ESPN and helped make College Gameday one of the greatest extravaganza's in all of sports television. If he can do to WWE TV half of what he did for ESPN holy crap.

 

[Hoss]

Will be interesting to see his influence on the presentation

 

[Jimmy King]

Hopefully he’ll be a good Fit-ting.

 

[Chris]

 

[Deezy]

So he'll fit right in......weclome to the business.

 

[Storm Trooper]

I was excited for this move. And don't get me wrong guy did great work for ESPN...

But dude's a fucking idiot if he thought the shit they did wouldn't come back to bite him.

They put fake names in as producers for their shows and when they won those trophies were reengraved with the hosts names (hosts aren't eligible for show-based awards because they have their own catergories).

According to the report the fake names were not even all that creative it was same initials and even first or last name was the same or similar. Just ridiculous. Also ridiculous is that this shit went on for well over 10 years before they got caught. Hell it could have been as early as 1997!

Just... fucking bonkers the whole thing.

ESPN caught in ridiculously dumb Emmy fraud scandal

ESPN admitted to submitting fake names for Emmy Awards and then re-engraving real names on the trophies to give to on-air talent.

awfulannouncing.com

 

[Deezy]

It's almost like Emmy's are stupid.....like all these entertainment ego strokes.