This weekend was a fantastic weekend for fight fans. You had the third incarnation of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden. AEW held their annual All In event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX. You also had a big weekend for the WWE holding three live events with the Great American Bash, Saturday Night’s Main Event, and the second edition of the all-women’s premium live event Evolution in Atlanta.
Saturday night after a long two-day move of my home, I caught the WWE’s presentation of Saturday Night’s Main Event. The program is the company’s lone network television production and is modeled as a throwback to the show’s history on NBC television from 1985–1991. The turn-back-the-clock graphics and red, white, and blue ropes surrounding the squared circle bring out the nostalgia of the event as must-see television.
However, instead of leaving as a satisfied wrestling fan, I left confused, sad, and somewhat despondent. The WWE has become what it never intended to be—choosing business over fans.
The 40th edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event was a two-hour live event at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA. The match card was filled with top-name superstars. You even had an appearance by Jelly Roll, only to get into a shoving match with Logan Paul.
Raise your hand if you had country music superstar in a fight with social media influencer on national television on your bingo card!
Placing Business Over Potential Progress
The match card, while only three matches total, was primed to tell a solid story and build for an epic two-night SummerSlam coming in three weeks. Instead, what viewers were treated to was a massive number of ads, no real story-build, and a cut-off retirement of one of their biggest superstars in the history of the business.
Is this good for WWE business?
I’m not foolish enough to believe the WWE is doing bad business. They are a cash-generating entertainment brand that spans the globe. They sell out nearly every venue they hold events in and continue to grow exponentially, reaching new fans every day through strategic partnerships and digital media.
However, what I saw on Saturday night was the WWE missing a massive opportunity with their stand-alone network television product. Saturday Night’s Main Event is the opportunity to reach a new audience by showcasing the top stars of your promotion while mixing in a strong dose of that nostalgic feel to help guide memories of the past.
The broadcast featured more ring entrances than action in the ring, commercial breaks following 3–4 moves that cut off any match momentum, and rushed action during segments to fit into limited time before the next break.
Saturday Night’s Main Event was a two-hour paid commercial—not for the WWE, but for every advertiser that paid a higher rate because the WWE had time on network television instead of cable or Netflix.
Negative Feedback Is Still Feedback
WWE President Nick Khan is a smart businessman and highly respected around the globe. He recently sat down with Stephanie McMahon on her new WWE podcast What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon (Presented By Fanatics). Khan told the story of how WWE approaches negative feedback on social media and how they program their product more for the universe than for those on social media.
“I’ve never once searched my name on X, on any social media platform, on Google,” said Khan. “If it says something positive, it has no relevancy to me. If it says something negative, it has no relevancy to me. I love hearing that Paul [Levesque] says that to you. I know he believes that. It’s something we encourage our creative team and writers: don’t program for that [social media]. Program for the universe, not for a small portion of the universe who wants to criticize you. That doesn’t matter. Move on, put on a good product. The money will be there, the fans will be there, the results will be there.”
While I agree that you shouldn’t program solely based on what social media says about you, to simply ignore negative feedback is a bigger issue. If you search the feedback on Saturday Night’s Main Event in its latest incarnation, instead of memorable moments, you see more critiques of commercial time than anything else.
Why isn’t the WWE listening?
The NFL has recently cut back on commercial time during its broadcasts. MLB has made changes to speed up the game for a better overall viewing experience. The NBA has cut down the number of timeouts to improve game flow.
All of these changes were made because of negative fan reaction—including on social media.
Why can’t the WWE do the same?
It’s not a bad thing to adjust and pivot. In fact, it’s beneficial. If the storyline can be changed because of fan backlash on social media, why not re-think your commercial time on network television to offer a better overall viewing experience?
The advertisement on Saturday Night’s Main Event should be the WWE. Instead viewers were treated to ads surrounding medications, life insurance, and the latest food and drink sensations.
If you ever needed a reason for change, this past weekend was it. As Bill Goldberg’s return drove your viewership for the broadcast, to not plan for enough time for his retirement speech is shameful. The WWE chose commercial time over a moment that could have been etched in time.
Or maybe I just remember when it was a true Main Event.
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Five Findings From The Weekend
- Moving stinks when you get old. What’s worse is music radio playlists when you’re moving. If so-called “modern rock stations” don’t become more modern rock with what SiriusXM and listeners of streaming outlets are listening to, there will be no reason for rock and roll to call radio home.
- A benefit to the new place where i live is I don’t have to pay for a streaming service to watch baseball again. My new home comes with cable television as part of the rent, and now I can watch the entire AL East at the click of a button and not have to shell out a fee per service just to enjoy some MLB action. If cable is dying, hopefully it’s a slow death because I’m really enjoying the ability to just sit and watch baseball again.
- The feedback I received from my Friday column about radio ratings not mattering anymore I hope catches the eyes of those that can make decisions for change. As someone who lost their job in part due to the poor way ratings are measured (despite revenue gains), it’s a sad state of affairs where one singular person can turn the tides for an entire market when it comes to judging success. My hope with the column was not to hold those accountable or sound bitter in any sort. It was to show that there are better ways for stations to tell their story and still continue to drive revenue without the chance of that one person maybe not listening to your product.
- I saw the St. Louis Blues announce that they will be simulcasting their television play-by-play on 101ESPN beginning next season. This is nothing new. I remember running the board for Chicago Blackhawks games on 670 The Score with the play-by-play coming off a 32-inch television and routed to the radio. It does however show that radio play-by-play is becoming less of a focus as consumption becomes more digital. Now the television play-by-play will be heard through the NHL.com stream, traditional radio, 101ESPN’s stream and also on FanDuel Sports Network. Free to listen, pay to see.
- The MLB All-Star Break is this week which means for a lot of sports radio stations around the country, it’s summer vacation. With literally no sports outside of the mid-summer classic, its always been a go-to week to plan for a little down time. For stations around the country, this is also a perfect time to try out and give opportunity to your young and up-and-coming staffers who put in the hours they don’t get credit for. The ones who come in early, stay late, work from home, and yet only work under the 29 they’re getting paid for. Reward them this week, they deserve a crack to see if they can hang with the big boys. The opportunity goes father than you think.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
