WEBVTT - A New TV Deal & Cuts 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:06.680 of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:10.600 Ready, when you're ready, let's. 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:15.400 Get it all. How's it going everybody? Brian Alvarez here 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.759 on Wrestling Observer Live. We are here every day Monday 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.320 through Friday, New Pacific three Eastern, Sunday three Pacific six Eastern, 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.079 Saturday mornings with a Jim Valley Toenday, and Pacific one Eastern. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.560 And it is a Thursday on this show, and you 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:34.040 know that means we have a lot to talk about 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.640 here today. A lot of business news. Got a new 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:44.120 television deal for SmackDown announced this morning. They've been cutting folks. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:50.879 The main roster cuts have begun and apparently there will 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:55.240 be NXT cuts to come as well. And we're gonna 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.360 talk about all of this in detail after the break 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.760 because there's a lot to talk about, both in terms 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:05.199 of the TV deal and the cuts. And we got more. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:12.560 There's a WWE the essentially they've got a trading card company, Panini, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.000 and they claimed the Panini violated the terms of their 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:17.760 agreement and so they were done with Paninia, and then 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.959 Panini filed a lawsuit saying they were terminated with no 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.560 notice whatsoever. So a lot of you know, not just television, 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.760 but there's a lot of things going down with this merger, 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.640 which we expected, and they did the cuts last week. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.960 One hundred people got cut, you know, office staff and 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:37.319 the like, and I would bet that by the end 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:43.000 of the day we'll probably have several dozen wrestlers, either 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.720 main roster or not even just developmental, but people in 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:48.920 the system. So we got a lot of talk about there. 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.760 We got the NXT ratings, and of course we have 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:56.840 got the aw Dynamite report, the Grand Slam show which 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.320 was Wednesday night, which I thought was an excellent show 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.560 with the exception of two injuries, and we've got something. 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:06.280 You know, we got some updates on the injuries, but 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:09.440 really not a lot from last night and the way 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:11.800 it goes in aw you know, you got to figure 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:14.560 out these injury situations by asking around because they're not 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.720 going to announce anything publicly. So I'll tell you what 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:18.840 we know there and plenty more. So a lot to 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.240 get into here today, back in the Mole with more 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:46.600 Observer Live, back in the show right now, Barez here 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.160 Wrestling Observer Live, Mike Simber Vie also Wrestling Observer dot 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.639 Com A lot to get into today. I'm ben a 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.560 mitted the twitch chatsy along I last I should start 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:02.800 a timer here, but let's start with this. WWE and 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:07.640 NBC Universal reaching agreement for SmackDown to return to the 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:12.840 USA network. TKA Group Holdings in NBC announced today they've 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.800 agreed to a five year domestic media rights partnership for 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.760 the show that will begin in October of twenty twenty four. 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.839 The partnership also involves four specials a year to air 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:31.000 on NBC in prime time. Although financial terms were not disclosed, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.800 the Wall Street Journal wrote people familiar with the pact 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:38.320 valued it at roughly one point four billion, which is 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.040 about a forty percent increase over the deal that WWE 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.480 had with Fox. The deal comes out to an average 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.360 of two hundred and eighty seven million dollars per year, 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.600 a total of over one point four billion. Mark Shapiro 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.520 told The Hollywood Reporter that the deal is expected to 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.520 quote meet market expectations, which was about a forty to 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:05.080 fifty per increase over what they were getting before. And 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:10.760 and that's that now stock way down today. I actually 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:12.240 haven't looked at in a couple hours, but it was 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:12.880 way down. 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.240 On this knee. It is down fifteen percent right now, eighty. 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.919 Six five fifteen percent. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.080 Yeah, it started falling badly in overnight trading. It opened up, 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.200 there was this news. It did not spike it and 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.320 in fact it has continued to go down. 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.080 Well, it's it's down, and then you know a lot 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:35.279 of fans, oh man, they've been relegated to the USA network, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.160 and uh, I do have to say that. 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.920 I want to say that relegation. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.600 The funniest thing about this is can you imagine getting 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:51.240 a forty increase and the stock crashes. I mean, there's 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:55.080 a lot to unpack here. Well, now, a couple of things, 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:56.719 and I think that this is this is one of 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.080 the reasons that this is why I believe that the 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.800 stock is down on the news that they've got a 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.720 forty percent increase for SmackDown. And we still don't know 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.920 where Ron you know, nx T are gonna end up. 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:10.840 I mean, Rock could end up on Fox, I don't know. 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.479 But and their next day rights because what's the steal 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:15.640 with Hulu's pretty much over. 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:17.640 Yeah, we'll get to that as well. But here's here's 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.680 the thing with this forty percent increase in the stock 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.680 going down. I believe that the stock is down maybe 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.520 because it was overvalued to a degree, but also because 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.560 of the idea. And this is true that by moving 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:35.160 from Fox to USA, even on the same day and everything, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:40.159 you're going to UH, you're gonna have significantly fewer people watching. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.200 It's an optical downgrade from those on the outside. You're 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.400 going from network back to USA. 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.359 And you know you will. I mean, we've seen it 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.560 a million times. You put Friday Nights SmackDown on FS 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.960 one in the same time slot and you know, they 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.039 had shows it at eight hundred thousand. You know, the 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.080 last few they put Roman Reigns on there and such 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.280 and it did, you know, over a million. But still, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:07.839 I mean, same day, same time network to cable, you're 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.040 losing a large percentage. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.000 Of two thirds of your audience. 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.000 So I think that that's the main thing here. But 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.760 you know what's interesting about this whole Fox thing. So 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:25.040 I think that some people have short memories and what 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.680 they believe is that you know, we're kind of in 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.320 a and we're definitely in a boom period right now 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.760 if you look at WWE business, and I mean, I 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.760 think people are like, it's because they are on Fox. 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:43.119 And what people are forgetting is that when SmackDown. Remember 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.839 when SmackDown first went to Fox, they signed the deal. Well, 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.480 if you guys recall, you know, Vince was all over 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:51.520 the place going, well, let's just got to lay to 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:56.000 amone period. We're on Fox, and uh, you know, the 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.560 first show did like four million viewers, you know, the 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.400 debut on Fox, and like Vince's. 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:07.599 Are ah, but but they guaranteed Fox. So one eighteen 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:08.760 forty nine, Well. 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.120 Let's let's uh, let's look at what actually happened. It 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.080 did not lead to a boom period. In fact, the 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:20.920 Fox numbers were nothing special for a long time. It 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.080 was only in the last eighteen months that things started 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.280 to turn around and we started seeing increases year over year. 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.200 Before that, there were decreases year over year over year 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.560 over year. So it was not the fact that they 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.679 were on Fox that we are where we are now. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:46.000 What happened was the shows improved dramatically. Various people and storylines, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.160 the bloodline, Sammy Zay, all of that started to like 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:55.440 click with fans, and we sign increases on SmackDown, We 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.000 signed increases on Raw and of late we've seen big 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:04.280 increases on NXT. So it is not that they were 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.920 on Fox that everything turned around. Is that everything turned 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.280 around and they were on Fox. And obviously, because Fox 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.119 is a much larger platform, you know, that benefited more 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:22.160 than anything else from this increased interest. So yeah, obviously 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.920 when they move to USA network, we ain't gonna see 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.120 you know, two point four million people watching SmackDown anymore, 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.040 and you know that could have ramifications. But you know, 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.040 the other deal is this is a one point four 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:40.440 billion dollar deal for a show. We don't know what 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.120 Ro's gonna do. We don't know where Ro's going to 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.199 end up. Whatever NXT is making, they're probably going to 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.480 get a forty percent increase based on the numbers they've 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.360 been doing of late. So I expect that there's going 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.960 to be a uh, you know today's decline in the 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.760 in the stock price, and then I would expect that 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:02.680 somewhat shortly that's going to to return to normal levels. 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.959 So anyway, that's a SmackDown deal. We still are waiting 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:07.360 on Raw and NXT. 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.000 Well, just back to what you were saying about the 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:15.480 viewership and Fox and everything. You know, wrestling habits a 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.000 lot of people didn't watch during COVID, but the habits 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:21.840 for the most part, didn't change. The times didn't change 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.400 wrestling when it came back, you know, when everything started 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.600 to get regular again, Wrestling was well on the track 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:33.680 to do that. And look, Fox and the storylines, it's 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.479 like a hand in a glove here. Yes, the storylines 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.600 are very important obviously for the product you're putting out there, 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.560 but it was the visibility on Fox. It was what 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.680 you were able to do on Fox, where they're going 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.880 to miss that, they're going to miss that going to 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.120 USA because you just don't have that visibility that you 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.640 do on a network. And we'll see how things go. 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.600 They got Obviously they made tons of money off of this. 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:05.120 But also I don't think it should be discounted that 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.480 the stock price was going down yesterday and it was 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:11.680 down in overnight writing. And sure some of it was 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:16.120 the speculation about this, but we're also now seeing Axios 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.920 put out a story today that Vince McMahon is setting 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.520 things up for his possible exit. We saw a large 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.120 feature in the Los Angeles Times which went back a lot, 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.960 and for people that already know the story, there was 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.280 a lot of repetitive things in it. But what it 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.800 did mention was that obviously Ignues Lahude stepped up and 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.320 was one of the two people with Manjit Singh that 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.640 said I disagree with this, and he's now on public 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.480 recon for stating it when he didn't have to. And 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:50.680 you had the former Council for the Securities in Exchange 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.199 Commission that they quoted saying that you know, Vince is 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.520 still in peril here, and by being in peril here 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.559 with the sec and with the federal government, he puts 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.600 t k AO and WWE in peril. So there is 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:05.640 still a lot that we have to see how these 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:08.760 investigations go. There's still a lot that needs to be seen. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.360 But as far as the stock price goes, I agree 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:13.199 with you. I think it's going to rebound back. I 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.080 think it's going to be in triple digits again very 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.600 soon because the bottom line is the bottom line, and 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.920 they did get forty percent more out of USA. We'll 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:24.920 see how it goes when it comes to some of 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:26.880 these other deals and what we're also going to see 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.840 two when these deals are announced, if they happen to 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.520 be with an Amazon or an Apple or something like that, 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:34.960 where it tends to ends up being a streaming thing. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.840 We're going to see how the market responds to that. 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.800 Because network and a major cable operation, you know, we 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.120 see that. But look the PAC twelve in Apple got 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.000 a lot of rolling eyes at it. There. There have 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.120 been a lot of connections between a week and go 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:54.240 to streaming. That again, the financial markets and some people 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.880 have looked at and been very tentative about. So we're 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.880 going to get a true feeling if they do go 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.440 to a streaming service on what the market really thinks 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:02.920 about that. 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:04.920 That's I don't know where they're gonna get for raw, 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.400 but I mean I don't think it's out of the 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:10.160 realm of possibility. They could get one point eight billion 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:13.679 for raw and NXT add that to one point four billion. 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.360 You're talking a three point two billion dollar television neal 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.720 over five years. I think everything is all right, but 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.160 it's not all right for a lot of the talent, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:33.280 as we'll get to after the break Observer Live. Well, 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:34.240 I made it a segment. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.600 I'm out me too. You know what I see this, 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:39.720 I got it up right now, and you know what 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:41.680 gone out of here. 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:43.720 I got a lot of other stuff to talk about 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.320 here done. I cannot deal with people saying NXT is valueless. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.120 Come as it was literally number one on cable this week. 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:56.240 Now we have more to talk about. The cuts have begun. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.400 Unfortunately, we got. 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.839 Main roster cuts, including Mustafa Ali who was scheduled to 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:08.400 face Dominic Mysterio for the umst it All Atlantic Title, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.880 North American title. Well, he was gonna show up, He's 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:14.400 gonna show up on Monday, but then he's he's got 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.360 a championship match. He's already he had it not anymore. 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:24.960 And also cut Aliyah, Rick Boogs, Elias, Riddick Moss, Top Dollars, 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:31.200 Shelton Benjamin and Dolf Ziggler. And uh, you know, I 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.040 don't like to see anybody get cut, but I can't 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.840 remember the last time we saw a Leah or Riddick, Moss, 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.600 or Elias or Shelton. Ziggler made like an appearance once 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:46.280 or twice. A few months back, Boogs made an appearance 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:51.000 or two man Elias. This guy, it's like Vince didn't 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:52.600 want to do anything with the guy, and then Vince 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:54.199 was out, and then Triple H didn't want to do 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.760 anything with a guy, and then Vince came back. It 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.920 was like this guy had no chance. So he's gone 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:05.040 and then I guess we'll see what happens. But the 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.920 word in WWE is that there's expected to be a 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.680 number of cuts from NXT coming up later this afternoon. Now, 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.960 maybe we're happened today, maybe it'll happen tomorrow. I don't know, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.000 but the belief is that like a lot of cuts 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.240 are coming. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.800 they're gonna cut no? M dar Well, NXT cuts includes 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.240 the people that are in developmental and we talked about 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:31.720 this months ago, months and months ago. Their new deal, 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.240 before there was ever a sale or anything, was every 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:42.200 six months, its evaluation time every six months. And they're 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.080 gonna look at everybody. And I don't know if it's 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.040 like can this person main event wrestle meaning because that's ridiculous. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:52.560 But if you're not like moving along, if you're stagnant, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.480 you're out of here. And so I would not expect 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.720 like big names to be cut sssarily, but they could. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.360 But my guess is that it will largely be people 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.760 in the system. They've been there for a while. They 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.440 don't appear to be showing a lot. 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.000 But they can't bump, they can't roll, They can't do this, 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:14.840 they can't do that. 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.720 Well, not even that. It's like if you've been there 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.600 for a long time and you still are exactly the 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.120 same as where you were two years ago. I mean, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.120 you could be on the chopping block. Well, and there 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:26.880 are people like. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.000 That, well yeah, I mean we talked about one in 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.880 particular yesterday who was a tag team partner of somebody 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.000 you think is going to be a big star one day, 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.480 and she very well maybe, but she has been at 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:40.240 the same level for a long time. I do, for 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.160 humanity's sake, worry about people like that. But I also 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.360 think about all of these nil people that they keep 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.160 putting in and nil is not going anywhere because kids 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.960 want money to just visit college campuses. So you're gonna 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.120 see nil money continue on and ww's gonna throw it 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.920 out there and they're gonna bring people in. And I 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.200 think there are some people people where it's like, okay, 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.280 you know, we got a little bit of a look 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.640 at you. But if you don't have the aptitude for this, 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.560 you know, I think you're quickened out of there. You know. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.520 With a lot of the people that have been there, 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:12.680 I think it's a lot of people that we've seen 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.520 on the main roster, same sort of way, where if 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.560 you've been forgotten about, if creative has had nothing for you, 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:20.880 if you've just been in the you know, stuck in 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:24.600 the meyer for a while. Unfortunately, I would be very 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:25.440 worried right now. 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:29.520 And then we got more business news the Hulu deal 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.080 could be coming to an end some WWE content and 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.360 the service showing it will expire in the coming weeks. 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.680 Hulu support was asked. They responded to a question on 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.720 social media regarding this, stated, it's streaming rights with the 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.800 WWE expire shortly, so a lot of deals coming do 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:50.120 all at the same time, which is very beneficial for WWE. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:57.440 As they're you know, we're gonna know what is Yeah, 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.000 I mean it happens every time, dude, every time there's 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.080 like a contract year, they happened to magically be up 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.879 year over year. It's incredible, it's incredible the uh, whatever 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.679 you want to call it. I don't want to say 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.320 it's a coincidence. But it's not like they try to 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.520 be down year over year. It's just like they're always 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.200 trying to be up. Hey, and you know, they were 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.960 down down down, down down, and then the last contract 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:25.680 year was like what was it twenty eighteen or something 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.240 like that, twenty seventeen when they were negotiating, they were 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.920 up and then they signed, and then they went back 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.600 down again and it was like down, down, down, and 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:36.280 then you know, we're in a contract year and guess 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.840 what they're up. So it's pretty impressive. 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.600 Ever since they had to crawl back to USA after Spike. 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:46.000 You know that was the last time, and I know 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.320 there have been you can debate from business purposes, but 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.040 from there it has just been working your way upwards. 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:57.080 And they call it a contract year in sports, you 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.879 know that last year somehow, some way. You know, the 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.280 I who's been hitting two twenty and you know, striking 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.359 out more times than he gets on base, all of 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.119 a sudden is hitting three thirty and has got thirty 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.119 home runs in thirty stolen bases. That's what WWE has 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:13.320 been doing. It. They've been stealing it, you can say, 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.440 but they've been doing what they need to do. And 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.360 the NXD is interesting because NXT can always fall back 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.840 and have a home on the WWE network. I don't 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.679 think that is anywhere near the chance of happening, but 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.280 it is interesting. If a say a Fox. Let's say 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:34.560 they decide to switch it over. Disney Let's say buys 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.360 the rights to Raw and wants to put it on FX. 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:43.880 If they decide they don't want NXT, it'll be interesting 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.000 to see. Do they offer it as a discount back 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.600 to USA? Do you want to put that on an 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.160 Apple as opposed to and get money there, as opposed 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.000 to keeping it all for yourself and putting it on 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:59.760 WWE network. I don't know where you go that same thing. 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:01.640 When it can Well, here's the thing, here's the thing 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:05.879 to me. Okay, Obviously for Ron SmackDown, you want the 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:10.159 biggest visibility SmackDown. Obviously, if they could have gotten this 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.440 deal to stay on Fox, I'd have been awesome. If 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:18.360 they can get a deal for CBS, NBC, ABC for Raw, awesome. 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.199 You want to expose it to the largest number of 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.919 people possible. NXT you don't need to do that. So 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.720 if if USA says, you know, we'll give you forty 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:32.520 million a year for NXT, and then Amazon goes, hey, 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.320 we'll give you eighty million a year, we want people to, 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.359 you know, get into this Amazon streaming thing. Take the deal. 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.879 It doesn't matter if people don't see these guys on NXT. 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:42.760 For some of them, it probably better. 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.680 That's that's true, and you can make that case for that. 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:50.080 What's let me ask you this, because I you would 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:54.399 be financial suicide and malpractice to your shareholders if you 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:58.000 don't take the biggest deal. But I was so curious 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.720 with a lot of people talking about Smack being the 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.280 show that maybe gets picked up by an Apple or 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.720 wherever and it goes to streaming. It's like, that's bad. 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.119 Going to cable is to me bad because again, the 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:13.320 network still has power. How Fox was able to promote 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:17.000 that show with the NFL with college football. I mean, 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.320 for Fox, they don't care. They're gonna put college football 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.760 on Friday Night next year or whatever. They couldn't care less. 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.840 But wwe misses that. And if you go to a 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.280 streaming service, I mean again we've seen a lot of 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.639 these numbers. They don't get anywhere near what cable gets, 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:36.480 anywhere near what network gets. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:37.520 And that's a. 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.120 Concern, And that's a concern when it comes to law 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.080 or anybody, because here's the thing. Do you take a 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.880 gazillion dollars to be on Amazon or do you take 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:49.680 less money? You have to keep your visibility on you. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.760 You have to wait networks. If if if Fox says 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:57.680 one point eight billion for SmackDown and an Amazon says 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.240 one point eight billion for SmackDown, you're a maniac. If 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:04.080 you go to Amazon. If Fox has one point eight 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.959 billion for SmackDown and Amazon decides they're going to give 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.639 you a three billion to go to Amazon, you go 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.199 to Amazon, way to go to. 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.439 Saudi Arabia, because you're just a slave to that dollar. 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.800 But I think sometimes in the urge to get rich, 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:23.200 you forget about how people are consuming, truly consuming this content, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.240 and you may be overrating your ability to lead them 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.160 by the nose to a streaming service that they'll have 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:34.479 to pay for because you can't even take them by 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.040 the nose and get them from Fox to FS one 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:39.720 when the change is there. So if it goes to 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:43.800 somewhere else, this is all very fascinating, And again this 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.960 may be again. Look, the money doesn't get smaller, I guess, 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:48.840 so they're always going to continue to make big money. 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:51.639 But it'll be interesting to see if, like percentage wise, 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:53.640 this is the best they do for a long time 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.840 because of all of these options, probably going to have 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:58.760 to consolidate over the next couple of years. 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.560 Well, you are the NXTEN numbers the show that is 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:05.639 allegedly meaningless. According to some this show did eight hundred 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.040 and twenty four thousand viewers on USA. It did a 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:12.080 point two four in eighteen to forty nine. It was 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:16.880 the number one show on cable and a year over 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:21.000 year they're up nineteen point eight percent in audience and 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:24.560 they're up sixty percent year over year in eighteen to 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:29.040 forty nine. So obviously, you know the idea of moving 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.719 people from the main roster down. You know, it's funny 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.040 like they do it, and I hear people complain and 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.680 we've been talking about having them do this for years, 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:41.240 Like this is what you should do, because A you 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:44.280 get more people watching the show, and b you know, 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.600 it's great for a Tiffany Stratton having a live, long 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:51.320 television match with a main roster star, or as was 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:54.280