There’s a tier of WWE talent today that work less of a schedule than ever before while getting paid some of the biggest amount of cash in the history of the business. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar are more or less part-timers that are among the highest paid of the current roster. There are even examples of when full-time top stars like Cody Rhodes or CM Punk simply aren’t booked for the modern abbreviated pay-per-view cards that somehow still run over three hours.
This is quite literally the complete opposite of the golden era of the business, a period where the marathon television tapings were used to promote the house shows and then the grueling road schedule was where the bulk of their money was made. It was a slow process, but the more that professional wrestling went mainstream, the more that it got away from those old business practices, mostly because of how it eventually diversified revenue streams as technological advancements made for wider distribution. There was a time when there was a hour of a local show and then the only way to see the product outside of that was to attend the house shows.
The live gate at the box office was the bread and butter of the WWF territory.
When cable TV gave more access to more content to more parts of the country, the Rock N’ Wrestling era that paired MTV with sports entertainment gave the product a vehicle for the expansion. Of course, Jim Crockett Promotions had their own platform with TBS, albeit on a smaller scale in terms of the pro wrestling operations. Back to the point of wider revenue streams, one of the reasons that Vince McMahon took the lead in the late-80s is because he knew the importance of merchandising the brand. The WWF had action figures, t-shirts, cartoons, lunch boxes, and almost anything else that the logo could be stamped on at the time. The Crockett group had a fraction of that as far as available merchandise, and the majority of it was only sold at the live events. As far as how technology changed the scope of content distribution, the point is that with the concept of closed circuit, an early version of pay-per-view where fans to go to a local arena to watch a live broadcast on the big screen, it was a way to monetize that collective national audience a few times a year for signature events. As the years went on, the ability to order pay-per-view into your home paved the way for more pay-per-views since customers didn’t have to leave the house to watch the PPVs. Ultimately, the ability to watch at home and then order a pay-per-view with your remote rather than waiting on hold with the cable company to order over the phone, cleared the path for the monthly pay-per-view that became the standard by the late-90s.
As we know, there was more of a premium placed on the television programs as well, particularly during the Monday night war because as WWF and WCW traded ratings victories on any given week, each company put the best product they could onto the show in an effort to secure more of the audience. The competition produced some of the most memorable television in the history of the business, even if the hotshot approach burned the candle at both ends in terms of what was left for the industry in the years that followed.
The point is, by the late-90s there was a premium placed on the television product. Sure, the house shows were still a revenue stream because of how popular the genre was, but the focus had clearly shifted toward the platform with the most possible viewers, which was weekly television at the time. The ability to convert those weekly viewers into pay-per-view orders was where the major money was for each company during that specific era.
After the smoke had cleared from the Attitude era, it was eventually the new technology that again pushed the sport even further into the content business. When streaming technology, which could allow the WWE to distribute their own pay-per-views so that they didn’t have to split the cash with cable companies, improved to the point that it was stable enough for mass consumption, the WWE Network was launched with a bulk-pricing model, similar to what Netflix did with movies some television series. Granted, it unintentionally lowered the perceived value over the years of those shows, but the point is, the WWE’s biggest moneymaker became its ability to produce regular content with a steady audience.
While it was the evolution of the media business, not the popularity of the WWE brand, that secured the corporation such massive media rights fees during more recent years, the biggest takeaway was that the ability to produce countless hours of content was the way to make the most money possible in the modern era. Peacock paid $1 billion for the rights to the WWE Network for five years, Fox paid over $1 billion for the Smackdown deal, and USA paid around the same amount to retain Raw in 2019. Networks were willing to pay top dollar for live programming that was considered DVR proof in an effort to maintain ad rates for commercials on the channels, and at the same time, streaming platforms threw a lot of money around for content to be able to secure their piece of the pie of the emerging streaming market. Within the past five years or so, we’ve seen how the oversaturation of the streaming market has seen the consolidation of some entities, which is still happening today in terms of how many streaming properties the market will support, but the point is, the WWE has a consistent audience so the organization was able to cash-in on the climate of the media business.
As we know, the paradigm has flipped in many ways, as the flagship show that was on free television for more than 30 years, went behind the paywall of the previously mentioned Netflix for the staggering 10-year deal worth $5 billion. The pay-per-views that were $4.99 a month or even free on Peacock were back to a more traditional price of $30 for an ESPN+ subscription. However, the fact that content is king was cemented when the media rights contracts brought the company record-setting profits.
In some ways, it only makes sense that if your going to pay to rent the building, fly in the roster, and pay the production crew that the shows to broadcast to the biggest audience possible to generate the most money possible. Keep in mind, the Netflix contract mentioned prior truly globalized the product, allowing the publicly-traded corporation to monetize the international market more than ever before.
The “opportunity costs’ of that so to speak is two fold. House shows basically became an antiquated concept because, with the exception of Madison Square Garden or a short holiday tour, the live gate as the primary revenue stream for an event simply wasn’t worth it when there was exponentially more money to be made from broadcasted events. Smackdown is on USA, and Saturday Night’s Main Event is usually on NBC so even without the paywall premium, the ad revenue from commercials make the televised shows more profitable. As I said, the evolution of the media landscape is one of the main reasons so much cash in on the table for content so the WWE made the wise decision to capitalize on it.
Aside from the staple of a previous generation being partially phased out when house shows became more rare, the other part of those “opportunity costs” was the intrinsic value that those live events have for developing talent. It can’t be understated how important it is for the performers to be able to work in front of a paying audience since it’s something that just can’t be duplicated at the Performance Center. I could be wrong, but I’d go as far as to say that one of the reasons that the younger crop of talent today usually doesn’t seem on the same level of some of the top talent and thus be in the position to elevate themselves to the position as the next money-drawing star, is the lack of valuable experience at non-televised shows.
It’s more than just getting the quality reps to hone the craft, but also the ability to make mistakes on the smaller stage and learn from them to be able to present a more polished act on the global stage. Granted, smart phones are everywhere and will eventually cause the downfall of society, but that’s a different discussion for a different time. It’s less about the botch being caught on camera, and more about the ability for the younger talent with true potential to be able to work those main event type matches in front of an audience before they are on the global stage of a pay-per-view.
The problem is, if you want to draw a crowd for those young performers to work in front of, you must have the established stars on the card. We all know that pro wrestling is a risky sport and each time a star is in the ring, the potential for injury is there. I’m not sure exactly what the answer is or will be for the WWE, but there’s a valid argument to be made that it’s too risky for a performer to get hurt in front of a few thousand fans at a house show that could derail the plans for a pay-per-view with millions of dollars on the line.
A prime example of this was just a few days ago when Liv Morgan was almost injured ahead of her Queen of The Ring match against Iyo Sky this weekend at the Night of Champions PPV. Sol Ruca accidentally landed on Morgan’s leg and the spot looked brutal. Thankfully, Liv Morgan looked to be fine on Raw this week before the crew travels to Saudi Arabia for the pay-per-view. As we know, the Saudi events are among the most profitable on the WWE calendar. There was also the clip online that looked like Jacob Fatu was almost hurt before his main event match against Roman Reigns at Clash in Italy last month.
My two cents on the matter would be somewhat of a measured approach for the risk/reward ratio. As I said, it’s understandable that house shows are secondary today because the money is based on the production of content. At the same time, I don’t think it’s possible for the next generation to truly become legitimate money-drawing stars without more experience than just the weekly television tapings. Maybe putting one or two top matches on the line-up with either Cody Rhodes or CM Punk as the headliner during the international tours for a few house shows can give the younger talent on the roster more experience with a limited amount of risk involved for anyone on the card.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
