The new partnership between WWE and ESPN has created uncharted waters for the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
On the one hand, WWE is now one of the network’s top properties via a reported five-year, $325 million deal to air the company’s Premium Live Events. On the other, while WWE touts itself as “sports entertainment,” many sports fans consider it to be far more “entertainment” than “sports.”
On Wednesday’s episode of Sports Media with Richard Deitsch, the show’s host asked ESPN president of content Burke Magnus how his company plans to fit WWE into its coverage. And when presented with the hypothetical of a show like SportsCenter covering major developments on WWE programming like a world tile change, the longtime ESPN executive didn’t rule it out.
“That is a really active conversation right now,” Magnus said. “My gut here is that there will be coverage. But we’re figuring out what that looks like in the context of what the WWE is, right? It’s unequivocally entertainment and entertainment is a part of sports, and it’s athletic and it’s what we do in every way other than the storylines are scripted and it’s presented that way and everybody knows that. But there’s a full appreciation at ESPN of how compelling their content is from an entertainment perspective. So the answer is ‘yes’ for sure. But I’m not really prepared right now to tell you or give you examples of what that might look like.”
While WWE talent was all over ESPN’s airwaves last week, Magnus noted that was primarily to promote the Wreslepalooza PLE, which marked the promotion’s first show on the network’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. Reading between the lines of Magnus’ answer, we shouldn’t expect such a PR blitz ahead of every PLE, but the network does plan to cover WWE on-air in some form or fashion.
One way in which that has already manifested itself is with WWE-produced recaps from events, which have aired on ESPN programming dating back to last month’s Clash in Paris PLE. Moving forward, it would make sense for ESPN to continue to utilize that approach, putting its WWE coverage in the hands of the promotion as opposed to on-air talent who may not be as familiar with the product.
Admittedly, the idea of a SportsCenter segment being used to share WWE results still feels a bit strange. But that’s simply a reality of the new partnership, in which WWE isn’t just receiving a hefty payday, but the full power of ESPN’s hype machine.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.