Why The WWE Network FAILED

by Michael Sidgwick
Kevin Owens Vince McMahon No
WWE Network

They were only perversely interesting.

Kevin Owens asked Vince McMahon if he liked his WrestleMania 33 match. Vince shook his said "No," seething in silent fury. Ricochet insisted, between footage of his own decline, that he was still happy to be there. In Liv Morgan, barely and erratically used, there wasn't even a subject to cover. Dean Ambrose's Chronicle portrayed a man plagued by doubts over who he wanted to be, and becomes fascinating in retrospect, looking at his rebirth as Jon Moxley. The man is mulling over his decision to leave on a documentary covering his big comeback. WWE, in effect, recorded its own decline and sold it, inexplicably, as something to promote. For £9.99 a month!

This "original content" was meant to supplement and deepen our connection with WWE's stars. It just made you wonder why you bothered, in the end.

WWE exists now as a bloated and homogenised content factory coveted by streaming services under a ballooning WalMart-adjacent model in which volume trumps art. The vast library and the streaming framework were made for one another, as President & Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan so astutely surmised.

The Network failed because the content did.

The End.

Except it doesn't work like that anymore. Increasingly, it's hard to figure out how it does at all.

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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!