As PWMania.com previously reported, Vince McMahon has been given his old seat on the WWE Board of Directors, and he is currently investigating the possibility that the company will be put up for sale. One of the most likely candidates to acquire WWE is Endeavor, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com was asked about the possibility of WWE reverting back to the traditional format of pay-per-view events if Endeavor purchases the company during Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer said, “Is it possible? Yes, it’s possible. If it’s Endeavor, because of UFC, I believe that they would absolutely look into the possibility of it. Because look at what they do with UFC and they’re similar businesses. I don’t believe it will be done. Now what could be done, the idea of pulling Wrestlemania, or maybe Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble (and) Summerslam, and making them pay-per-views but keeping the other ones on the Network. I could see that. I think that’s probably even the best way to do it, or maybe you even go with Wrestlemania alone and that’s the only one. Because you’ve got two days of Wrestlemania, maybe charge $40 a day, people will pay it because it’s Wrestlemania.
The flip side, the thing is though, is you can’t do it until this contract is over. So I think that the thing is, when this Peacock contract is over, and you’re evaluating all this, you have to look at what is Peacock paying you. Because the amount that Peacock pays, it’s not like they’re paying a certain amount every month. It’s weighed, so they get paid way more for Wrestlemania month than any other month. So are they getting paid more than they would make on the pay-per-view? I don’t know the answer to that. But I would say that in Endeavor is to buy, I would say that absolutely Endeavor would look at the economics and consider it, and they will go with whatever is the best economic idea. You’ve got to remember this is not WWE Network, this is a figure way, way, way above WWE Network. If it was just WWE Network, I would go ahead and say Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, you put on pay-per-view, and the other ones you don’t, because you’re in charge of that. This is something that’s been sold to Peacock on the idea that they’re getting Wrestlemania on their streaming service. So you can’t go away from it. And also they’re getting so much money from Peacock, way more than they would make on pay-per-view or on WWE Network that the economics may very well be that it’s not worth it to them to take WrestleMania back to pay-per-view.”
WOR: Another question from the mailbag, could WWE return to the PPV format after a sale?https://t.co/mYdKSjVF4U pic.twitter.com/t6BjyCWboa
— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) January 16, 2023
(h/t to WrestleTalk for the transcription)
