The Fox and WWE Deal is Bigger Than 'How it Affects Your Friday Night'

Live recording of a WWE SmackDown Live match, which will be a FOX broadcast program come October of 2019.

By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)

5/21/2018

Alrighty folks! It’s time to get serious! This acquisition of Smackdown Live by FOX will come with excitement, speculation, a lot of complaining, but very little dissection and attempt to understand the greater good. There is a big picture, positive effect at work here and failing to recognize that (in the day and age of fast moving information and reactions) is going to make you feel silly, come October of 2019.

What I want to present today is how this move is a large step in the right direction. The direction of legitimacy for the WWE and pro wrestling. A step towards making the sports entertainment world more relevant to the main stream, but also more accessible and believable. And I’m not talking “believable” in the sense that wrestling is real, but believable in the sense that this is a legitimate form of entertainment and could be enjoyed by a larger audience.

As much as some wrestling fans want to cling to pro wrestling like a scared child to their security blanket, pro wrestling’s audience needs to grow and that blanket needs to be shared. As much as we talk about how great pro wrestling is for the hardcore fan today (with AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, and Nakamura all in the same ring at the same time), forgetting the casual fan will hurt the bottom dollar and the potential for added value in the future. Don’t forget, added value doesn’t just mean more access or content. It means the possibility that the WWE continues to take chances on guys like Adam Cole. If Adam Cole can’t get the casual fan interested, then there’s no point in grabbing guys from the indies anymore.

Never forget that pro wrestling fans (or hardcore fans) aren’t going anywhere. And for us to enjoy and consume great wrestling battles involving Seth Rollins, Asuka, the Miz, Ricochet, Cesaro, Charlotte Flair, or Becky Lynch, the WWE needs to be filling seats, selling network subscriptions, and putting shirts on backs. Without that participation from the masses, the WWE turns into something else, and we lose.

So why is FOX so important? Why does that help the WWE brand?

Well, let’s go back to FOX’s most recent transaction before this. We are talking Disney’s acquisition of FOX properties. While that transaction might not be complete yet, it still says a lot about what FOX wants to be going forward. Disney was going to be picking up a lot of film properties, television properties, character licenses, and Hulu ownership, it was not getting the FOX broadcast network and FOX’s sports channels (among a few other things). As FOX sees the landscape changing in regards to consuming network television (we as millennials being more likely to watch Netflix, Hulu, or some other streaming service) they had fallen behind severely. While I can’t rightly speak for FOX, they seemed to be hanging on to properties that will still require live, in home audiences: Pro Sports and News Coverage.

If FOX is going to evolve into a live media service, then Pro Wrestling should be on their radar. The audience has gotten smaller over the years, mainly because there hasn’t been much to be excited about when it comes to the casual audience, but its the hardcore fan that is of value to FOX. A fanbase of phone wielding, loyal, diverse, wrestling nut-jobs who tune in on a weekly basis to absorb all of the oiled up masculinity, along with snickers sponsorships, music partnerships, and pizza roll advertisements.

Even at its lowest level of viewership, the WWE still owns the social media/live video popularity contests. Check out what has been trending on Twitter and Facebook between 8pm and 11pm every Monday, for the past 5 years. At some point in that timeframe, the WWE is at the top of the social media conversation. That exposure isn’t something to ignore. As marketing and advertising evolve along with the viewer, the WWE has quietly become a perfect source for certain brands to get multiple opportunities to build awareness. It is ground to be gained, simultaneously, on social media and broadcast television. FOX would now have an opportunity to gain ground on a growing side of the entertainment business (since they sold off their Hulu ownership) and connect with future businesses as well as consumers through their own broadcast television and digital media.

So we’ve established that FOX could be strategically placing the WWE into their programming for financial gain, but why would this be good for the WWE? It’s a simple question of what type of programming is considered good enough to be on FOX and comparing that to USA. Now, you could argue that there is better television on USA than any other network (you’d be wrong, because its HBO), but nothing will compare to the large audience that comes with the backing of having FOX in the corner of your screen. Cancel a show on USA…no one cares. Cancel a show on FOX…well…if it’s quality programming like Brooklyn 99, then you have started a firestorm of social media hate and ire. Hate and ire so strong, that it immediately brought that show back to the airwaves in a matter of days. This is a simple example with something recent thrown in for good measure, but it makes sense.

Now, FOX didn’t listen to those online begging for the return of their favorite Cop show comedy. Instead, FOX chose to let the show go, because I'm guessing, it didn’t fit with their plans for the future. After all, if the base of their programming is going to be sports, news, and other media that require a live audience, then good-bye Brooklyn 99 and hello WWE.

Its similar to the question we were all asked in elementary school about having a hamburger business and deciding which employee was going to flip the burgers and which was going to sell them. Putting the right person in the right role means you'll sell more burgers. FOX could definitely get an audience from Brooklyn 99. That isn't being argued. Its the same vein as Ford could still keep selling Sedans, but they won't. FOX has decided its better for them to go in a different direction at this point, meaning those that come along will see a benefit.

The benefits for the WWE would stem from the fact that there is a bigger audience on FOX and the presumed fact (I know, almost an oxymoron. I mean ‘fact’ based on the definition separating it from truth or opinion) that FOX wants to be a destination for sports and other live programming. SPORTS! S-P-O-R-T-S!!!! The one word that seems to be the most hotly contested when describing pro-wrestling.

If WWE programming was going to move forward into being more credible and closer to a real (non-scripted) sport, then FOX would be the best place to go. FOX, whether or not they boast it themselves in the future, will be a sports provider. Including pro-wrestling in their programming is the legitimate nod from television and other media outlets that pro-wrestling desperately desires. If you think otherwise, then you have no concept of how business works. Even for your smallest indie operation that claims to be all about the ‘wrasslin’, they still need cash. If you own the local convention hall and the indie program seems to be bringing in a good audience, you, as the owner of that hall, will increase the cost to rent that hall, so you can be more profitable.

The domino effect will even hurt the owner of the hall. Its simple economics of supply and demand. That being said, cash will be needed at some point. That cash comes from a bigger audience and especially from one that has money. The reason we see so many indie wrestling companies come and go or change ownership is because it is so incredibly hard to branch out and find new fans that are required to keep up with those economic principles.

For new potential fans to even begin considering watching pro-wrestling, they are going to need to be able to find it. That doesn’t just mean they are actively seeking it. It needs to be brought to the place people are. That place is more likely to be the FOX broadcast network than USA. They also need to trust that network to provide good programming. As mentioned, FOX’s track record, while not spotless, is more prestigious than USA’s. On top of that, FOX will more than likely be re-branding or pivoting to what I am projecting as being primarily live audience television. That means sports and that means if WWE programming is found on a real sports network…well…then its closer to being a sport than it ever has been.

A lot of this argument revolves around a strategy or re-branding that I am guessing will happen. For all I know, FOX is going to package this with another deal or the deal will fall through entirely. Ultimately what I’m asking the WWE Universe to do here, with this opinion, is to realize that a move like this is bigger than you and your habits. I think the fact that the WWE is willing to leverage their social media power to find a better network, like FOX, is great for us now, but more importantly, means the WWE is fighting for our ability to watch wrestling in the future.

I have been preaching a need for pro-wrestling and the WWE to find a more relevant spot to occupy (occupy in regards to legitimate sport) since this site began. Since then we’ve seen agreements with UFC, Tapout clothing, the signing of Ronda Rousey, and now this. I think the WWE is fully aware that their loyal fan base is going nowhere. But when there’s opportunity to effect real change and become a more respectable form of entertainment, they are moving in the right direction. While some shudder at the idea of this art becoming more main stream, the bigger fear should be a lack of change or complacency. Because when you’re satisfied with where you are or what you’ve become, you’ve signed your death sentence.

Let me know what you think in the comments, if this is a good move for the WWE or if it’s going to hurt them in the long run.