When they start collecting 55 mil for ONE show.....maybe we can call them competition.
They making money, not much the way trust fund Tony spends his daddy's money, but they making money. But let's get this straight, they are not competition, and probably will not be, unless they get an IPO, a billion dollar TV deal and the sponsors who WWE have partnered with.
No, that's not what he's saying. WWE is a juggernaut, but WCW was able to compete with WWE at scale, whereas WWE competed at brand recognition.
The difference here, is Tony Khan loves wrestling, but he answers to a "Ted Turner." Cody Rhodes is currently the modern day Jeff Jarrett. A founder that masquerades as superstar.
Thing is, though WCW was great at marketing in the 90's. It didn't have a strong brand. Even I, marketing guy at 38, can tell you in 1990, it WAS brutal for WCW to grab fans to TV. I ALMOST didn't discover WCW. You know why? Because it was just another wrestling show. I can say the same thing for Ring of Honor the TV show. But, that's only because of the production isn't there yet for them.
[I watched WCW with my parents for the first time, but didn't care too much. I watched WWF for the first time, with a friend. Didn't care, either... Hogan on WCW, Hart on WWF. Crazy a kid not interested? BUT... somehow, I discovered Stone Cold Steve Austin a lil later, I became a huge fan, because of how well done Austin's storylines were, based on his gimmick. WCW? nWo, baby. But I did not see Hogan's heel turn until about a week or two after. I think I made my point here.]
I know Ring of Honor has the biggest names in wrestling went there. But you can't sit there and tell me they can draw 5th of what WCW could do. But AEW is doing it... slowly, and slowly.
It's not an insult to call AEW the next WCW, we're talking about scale vs money.
Investors do.
Actually.
I am a startup founder, and I can tell you its more nuanced than that.
Investors do care where the money comes from, but Vince McMahon is cutting deals behind the scenes that HAS NOTHING to do with the product.
In the last few years...
- Saudi Arabia deals causes one show a year IN Saudi Arabia. (Crown Jewel, WWE's "King of the Ring" replacement.)
- WWE Network launch, partnership with MLB, leads to Fox partnership.
- WWE Network "sold" to NBCUniversal to keep stock price from freefalling.
- NBCUniversal puts WWE Network on Peacock.
Vince is C.E.O. but his focus isn't on consumer spending, which means buying shirts, buying tickets, buying video games, DVDs, Blu-Ray, and so on.
His focus is advertising to COVER COSTS of operations.
WWE damn near died during the pandemic during WrestleMania. You didn't notice that... but I did. If it wasn't for Vince cutting deals with Fox in the months before WrestleMania, we wouldn't see A WRESTLEMANIA. One year without WrestleMania.
That. ALMOST. HAPPENED.
Thing is, though... investors don't care where you make the money, as long as the money lands into their pockets.
The next big crisis is ahead, and sadly I don't see a scenario where Vince can cut backroom deals and get away with corporate scrutiny.
Vince is going to be called out for this, eventually. But his current focus is backroom advertising deals and not what the company's original metrics.
Which is:
- Brand Power
- Merchandise sales
- TV Ratings (related to advertising)
- PPV Buyrates
- Arena attendance/Ticket sales
Like, Vince's focus is advertising at the expense of everything else.
Oh, and then, there's streaming, which is a market he wants into when its popular or more mainstream. Right now, it's not. We're in the early honeymoon phase with streaming.
