WWE and TV Rights
Before Saudi Arabia, WWE could always count on one thing to bring in continual mountains of cash. Television and wrestling go back decades but it wasn’t until Vince McMahon decided to try and corner the national market with Raw that everything changed. Even with stiff competition from WCW, WWE has reigned supreme ever since. And it’s this one factor that will continue to allow the WWE to dominate and ever shifting wrestling landscape.
There is no doubt that NJPW and ROH have grown immensely in the past decade. Ring of Honor has transformed from an underground wrestling promotion to every smarky fan’s favorite promotion. The roster often resembles either WWE “rejects” or possible future WWE stars. Packed with that kind of talent you could imagine a world where ROH could easily compete with WWE, but it isn’t so. Often times ROH is following in WWE’s footsteps, setting up major shows outside of cities where major WWE PPV’s are broadcasting. Constantly attempting to live in WWE’s shadow ROH has made some positive strides. More and more often WWE fans are becoming ROH fans, even if it’s just by proxy. Young Buck shirts often outnumber all WWE shirts at WWE shows, and the cultural impact of ROH is clearly visible. However as hard as that might hit Vince’s ego, it isn’t hitting his pocket book.
That’s because wrestling isn’t about selling out arenas anymore. All In might have sold out all 10,000 tickets in under an hour, but that’s not how the wrestling world will change. NJPW is how the wrestling world could change. While ROH follows WWE around the country, NJPW has the luxury of being a world away. Far away from Vince’s reach, NJPW has quietly built up an intense fan base and with Japan a twelve hour flight away, that fan base demands to see their favorite wrestlings somehow. In steps NJPW World, their answer to the WWE Network. It’s no multi-million dollar TV deal, but it’s a forward looking start. It puts NJPW in control of their content and allows them to speak directly to the consumer whenever they wish.
WWE might be on the verge of a $180 million TV deal, but it might be the last. Television is still a dying beast and the WWE Network isn’t growing at the rate the WWE hoped it would. It’s been a long, long time since the wrestling landscape looked this bright and varied. WWE’s continual influx of cash from TV has put a tight clamp on most competition. However, as the internet continually creeps in, ROH and NJPW have real opportunities to realign their fates. Hopefully at least one of them can capitalize because for now, WWE has most of the bargaining chips.
