Does WWE Make Money From Angry Fans?

by Michael Sidgwick
Daniel Bryan Andrade Almas
WWE.com

More soberingly still, WWE will make more money from the Saudi Arabia arrangement—several times over—than ALL IN generated. The Greatest Royal Rumble was a show most of us received with concern, but, just over a week later, new complaints surfaced. Yes, it’s bad that the women didn’t travel east, because they are people too, but Samoa Joe just put Roman Reigns in a chinlock for five minutes.

The humanity!

This is a by-product of the content overdrive. Our anger constantly mutates to an extent that it can’t foster complete apathy. There’s too much going on. Our money is almost immaterial in WWE’s new material world. Wrestling economics expert Chris ‘Mookie’ Harrington suggests that, by 2020, corporately-driven revenue will account for 51% of company revenue. Our anger doesn’t matter any more than our enjoyment of the product matters. The fans are almost incidental to WWE’s immense recent success, which is precisely why it’s so depressing to be a fan in 2018. We don’t matter. What we want doesn’t matter, and does not dictate WWE’s creative direction. WWE does not directly make money from angry fans, but we are complicit in the main roster malaise.

This is a take even richer than WWE, given your writer’s recent output, but at this point, it’s best to enjoy what happens in WWE in a vacuum.

Enjoy Ronda Rousey’s incandescent star power. Enjoy those thrilling, hard-hitting, different Daniel Bryan Vs. Andrade Almas TV matches. Enjoy Samoa Joe’s über-menacing heel promos. Enjoy Becky Lynch’s brilliant character work—in a vacuum—even if the principle behind her (retconned) heel turn provides a grim insight into the company’s shrugging detachment from the consumer.

Because WWE is hoovering up revenue, regardless.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!