WWE More Profitable Now Than During Attitude Era

Money, money, money, money, moneeeee-eeeeey...

by Andrew Pollard
Vince McMahon Steve Austin WWE Champion 1999
WWE.com

Across this past year, we've all seen WWE proudly championing record revenue while likewise making several mass rounds of releases due to "budget cuts", and there's now new information out there to indicate that WWE is currently a more profitable company than it was during the white-hot days of the Attitude Era.

As per the ever-impressive Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, the "increased value of live sports broadcast rights" is the driving factor in all of this.

Of course, WWE has huge deals in place with FOX and USA Network domestically, with significant rights fees likewise incoming from all across the globe, such as BT Sports for UK audiences, and also the reach of the WWE Network and the subsequent Peacock deal tied to that for US fans. Then there's the obvious financial rewards offered up as part of WWE's deal to put on two Saudi Arabia-based specials per year.

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While clearly the Attitude Era days were watched by a ridiculously larger amount of people than the current product, the simple fact is TV deals then were nowhere near what they are today. Similarly, it was during that period that the then-WWF became a publicly traded company.

As a fun aside, the most watched segment of the Attitude Era - Undertaker vs. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin on the 28 June 1999 episode of Raw - was watched by nearly 11 million people. For comparison, last week's Raw averaged 1.82 million viewers across its three hour.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.