The Disturbing Truth Behind WWE's FOX TV Deal

WWE has evolved into a lean, mean, money-making machine that has never been so efficient at squeezing every last cent out of its shrinking audience. Still, their projections for the next few years depend largely on the FOX money coming through. That's why it's so vital that they make this work.

A 60% increase to 3.3 million viewers could literally happen overnight come 4 October, though the first week's numbers probably won't be sustainable. Settling in at that level will be much, much harder, and if they don't do it, there's every chance FOX executives could step in to guide the product down routes Vince McMahon and co. might not necessarily want to take. We've already seen this with USA and Raw (the Wild Card Rule was supposedly a compromise between Chairman and network).

This situation means that although 2019 has been one of wrestling's most newsworthy years since WCW died, 2020 could be even crazier. TV viewership figures will be at the centre of it. Following SmackDown's FOX fortunes could be every bit as gripping as the so-called Wednesday Night Wars, so let's hope, for the good of the sport, that McMahon, Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, and co. finally have the solution to this decades-old problem.