On a recent episode of Something to Wrestle With, WWE Hall of Famer JBL offered candid thoughts about WWE’s transformation under the TKO Group Holdings banner and weighed in on how WWE’s fanbase compares to that of UFC.
Addressing Karl Anderson’s recent remarks that WWE now feels like “TKO” rather than traditional wrestling, JBL didn’t hold back.
“I completely agree. Yeah, I completely agree. I go back, and it’s completely different… And I feel the same way that, you know, guys would come in to WWE when I was there and it got hot with Steve and Rock, and they’d say the same thing that I’m saying now, ‘This isn’t wrestling, this is completely different’… It’s different. It’s completely different. I go back now, it’s a complete different company. Hardly anybody there. It’s very corporate, but they’re printing money. I’d take it every day of the week.”
JBL also addressed the idea of crossover appeal between WWE and UFC, expressing skepticism that the two fanbases overlap significantly.
“I’d be interested to see how many crossover fans you actually have… I think both companies, internally, don’t think it’s as big a crossover… When we had the Monday Night Wars… we realized that it was actually two separate audiences that were watching, which is hard to believe… They think the same thing right now is that it’s almost two separate audiences with UFC and WWE.”
JBL’s comments reflect a growing sentiment among veterans that WWE’s modern era under TKO feels far removed from the product they once knew — even if business is booming.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
