A recent report suggests that ESPN has quietly moved away from issuing letter grades for WWE premium live events following coverage of WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025.
After the event, ESPN combat sports reporter Andreas Hale graded the show with a “C,” which sparked discussion among wrestling fans. According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, ESPN has since discontinued the use of letter grades when reviewing WWE events.
Meltzer commented on the situation via F4WOnline.com and suggested that WWE may have influenced the change.
“If you thought WWE didn’t care about that, clearly you have to think again given they disappeared. The story came up after the weekend show and it was confirmed to me by someone on the WWE side that WWE had gotten it killed.”
However, a follow-up report from Post Wrestling indicates that ESPN maintains the decision was made internally and not at WWE’s request.
“An ESPN spokesperson declined to provide comments for this report. However, one source with knowledge of ESPN’s approach maintained that the decision to discontinue letter grades was ESPN’s alone and that WWE did not request the change. When pressed to explain the reasoning for the removal of grades and whether WWE took issue with the reviews, the source declined to respond further.”
Neither ESPN nor WWE have publicly addressed the situation beyond those reported statements.
The move has generated discussion among fans and media observers, as letter grades have traditionally been a common way for outlets to evaluate wrestling events. Whether ESPN’s approach to WWE coverage will change further remains to be seen.
