10 Things We Learned From Vince McMahon's Variety Interview

3. NBCU Are Expected To Follow FOX's Lead

Triple H Stephanie McMahon WWE FOX
WWE.com

The beauty of WWE's negotiations with FOX is that the USA Network had to stump up more cash if they wanted to renew their own contract for Monday Night Raw. That meant more money for WWE to complement an already ridiculously gigantic $1 billion deal with FOX. It's win-win for McMahon.

There's now a lot of onus on USA to become as all-in on WWE's product as FOX are. In the interview section of the article, Vince said that "NBCU (USA's parent company) is going to step up". Maybe that means McMahon will be able to get his wrestlers on USA staples like Law & Order or Modern Family as well. Who knows?

The aggressive approach from FOX has changed the game for anyone else who fancies carrying WWE programming. Vince clearly enjoyed how determined they were to both pursue and pay good money for SmackDown, and he now expects everyone else to conduct themselves the same way.

This, reading between the lines, puts WWE in a much stronger position with NBCU than they were five years ago when USA were the only serious bidders in North America for Raw.

Advertisement
Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.