The latest WWE pay per view change could see the company go back to the older, and more expensive, format. Also, Johnny Gargano is injured.
Latest WWE Pay Per View Change
With Endeavor owning 51% of WWE, that technically means they have more say than Vince McMahon. Now, Vince will continue to run WWE, but Endeavor can easily override any of his ideas.
The deal is still very fresh, so not much has changed within WWE. Well, creative storylines seem to be once again be micromanaged by Vince, but that has not been confirmed.
A major questions is what will happen to WWE pay per views. For the longest time, those shows were exclusively on pay per view.
Then, the WWE Network was created to feature all WWE content. Since then, the WWE Network was scratched and now pay per views and other shows air on Peacock.
While speaking to Lightshed Partners, WWE CEO Nick Khan spoke about the latest WWE pay per view change that might happen.
“Think about this, the first person to take events out of closed circuit and onto traditional pay-per-view was Vince McMahon,” said Khan. “The first person to take it off traditional pay-per-view and put it on an OTT platform, Vince McMahon.”
“Again, the first person to take his programming off his own OTT platform and take it to a streaming service, Vince McMahon. In 2014 when WWE Network launched, you only had to be the third-best OTT service next to Netflix and Hulu.”
“He has been able to see around the corners on this stuff, so for us, we didn’t like traditional pay-per-view because fifty percent of the dollars go to direct just for plugging in, which is absurd. So, getting out of that and going direct to consumer got around that.”
Khan then discussed how the UFC, which is also owned by Endeavor, runs their cards. Some air for free on ESPN or ABC.
Although, most people need to register for ESPN+. And, if you want to buy a UFC pay per view, the viewer must be a member of ESPN+.
“You see even with the UFC ESPN+ deal, there’s no demand direct,” said Khan. “So, we might consider going back to digital pay-per-views, if it was available for our fans and priced right.”
“We’re open for business. A fifty percent model where half goes to the plug-in is not gonna happen.”
Possible Latest WWE Pay Per View Change Would Likely Hurt Fans
At one time, WWE pay per views went for about $20. Towards the end, the number was closer to $75.
Hopefully, WWE does not bring back the old model as the price is much higher than a Peacock subscription.
So, what are you thoughts on the latest WWE pay per view change being discussed?
Johnny Gargano Injured
Johnny Gargano is consider the face of NXT, so when he returned at Stand & Deliver it felt like a homecoming. Since he is a member of RAW, his NXT return was likely a short-term deal.
Still, he made the most of his time feuding with Grayson Waller. At Stand & Deliver, Gargano walked away the victor in a brutal non-sanctioned match.
Since that match, at the start of the month, Gargano has not returned to TV. According to Fightful Select, Gargano has re-aggravated a recent shoulder injury from late December.
The shoulder injury was considered a grade-2 AC sprain. Gargano competed in the Royal Rumble Match in January and remained active.
He worked 11 matches in March before NXT’s Stand & Deliver. It was also noted that Gargano entered the match with seemingly only one good arm.
The hope is Gargano can avoid surgery and instead rely on physical therapy.
Somehow, perhaps because of his passion for pro wrestling and NXT, Gargano did not let the injury play a role in his match. Out of the entire card, the unsanctioned match with Waller easily stole the show.
