ESPN's Partnership With WWE Is A Game- Changer

Professional wrestling is real.
That would be the implication of WWE
highlights appearing on—or, as some may
consider it, blaspheming—the hallowed grounds
of the world’s premier sports network.
During Tuesday’s edition of SportsCenter, ESPN
announced a partnership with WWE to feature
weekly segments of wrestling highlights. The
partnership couldn’t have come at a better time
for both industry-leading franchises.
ESPN has been struggling with declining
subscriber numbers and ratings. Ad revenue
was off 3 percent in the three months ended
June 27, according to the Wall Street Journal,
which dissected the network’s troubles in
detail here . ESPN’s ratings dip is tied in part to
the rise in popularity of online streaming
services like Netflix , which is
posing big problems for the television industry
at large .
ESPN cut ties with three of its biggest stars this
year — Keith Olbermann, Colin Cowherd and Bill
Simmons – in an exodus that was not without
its share of controversy . ESPN is now looking to
regroup by ” nurturing big-name stars ,” as
President John Skipper put it, in a climate where
ratings are shrinking.
Sound familiar?
WWE has had its own share of struggles that are
eerily similar to that of ESPN’s. Monday’s
edition of Raw once again drew a record-low
viewership, 3.285 million. With John Cena
nearing the end of his run on top of WWE, the
promotion is in a transitional period as first-
time champion Seth Rollins (who guested during
the aforementioned SportsCenter broadcast)
looks to be one of many fresh faces to lead
WWE into the future.


ESPN’s flirtations with WWE have drawn ire
from journalists in the past. In April, Michael
Bradley of the National Sports Journalism Center
wrote a critical piece, entitled “Let’s hope media
outlets remember what ‘E’ in WWE means.”
Contrary to that point, the “E” in WWE is
identical to the ”E” in ESPN. That powerful
letter has allowed the sports juggernaut to cover
a wide range of competitive genres that now
includes gaming, otherwise known as eSports.
Like any great partnership, ESPN and
WWE’s relationship has the potential to fill
needs that these entities cannot fulfill on their
own. With highlights on ESPN’s flagship show,
WWE becomes more mainstream, something it
hasn’t been since the Attitude Era of
the late-90′s. The underground stench of pro
wrestling will slowly begin to dissipate, opening
the door for more advertisers and sponsorship
deals.
With WWE, ESPN can re-energize its ratings. In
December of 2014, the USA Network issued a
press release announcing it was the No. 1 cable
network in total viewership for the ninth
straight year. This streak will only continue as
long as WWE remains in its impressive
portfolio. In the first paragraph of USA’s
presser, the network noted:
There’s no telling how far this partnership can
go. Perhaps it blossoms into a future hour-long
news program similar to NFL Live. Maybe
a broadcast of a WWE live event on ESPN.
Real or not, WWE is entertainment, as is ESPN.
And two ”E’s” are better than one.