Exclusive: “People Thought It Would Cannibalize”: Vince McMahon’s Genius to Make WWE Profitable Revealed By Former Vice President

Vince McMahon is the man who transformed pro wrestling from a territorial industry to one of the biggest businesses in the world. One of the things that turned WWE into the global juggernaut was McMahon’s ability to be innovative and take risks. He did with the first ever WrestleMania when he brought the element of pop culture to pro wrestling. His ability to evolve with times allowed WWE to stay ahead of everyone. This was again evident when WWE launched its own streaming service, the WWE Network, in 2014.

Although we have a plethora of streaming OTT platforms today, this wasn’t the case a decade back. During the time when the pay-per-view model was still at the top, the launch of WWE Network was a bold step by Vince McMahon.

Former WWE Vice President Rob Kligman recently revealed how the WWE Network gave the company a new impetus and made them more profitable.

Kligman said Vince McMahon was a visionary

There is no doubt about the genius of Vince McMahon, who changed the face of pro wrestling over three decades ago. If WrestleMania established WWE as a leader in sports entertainment, then the WWE Network made them into a sports technology pioneer.

In an exclusive interview on our Essentially Rasslin’ podcast, Rob Kligman talked about how McMahon’s idea of the WWE Network allowed them to get to the next level.

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He stated, “That is a great example of the visionary that Vince McMahon was. Many people thought it would cannibalize our TV rating because our Tv ratings were number 1.[…] Everybody was like why would you put content behind a firewall. Why would you take your PPVs off the PPV model which was 50 bucks. A lot of people thought we were crazy. I think the lesson there is if people think you are crazy, you’re doing that exact right thing.”

Moreover, he added that the Network allowed them to kick start NXT, which was more of an edgier product like the Attitude Era.

Kligman further added that despite going against the norms of the established PPV model, WWE Network proved to be a hit. He explained, “We see the success matured NXT found it’s way to cable TV. WWE network eventually became licensed to NBC Universal, so that was a success. It again goes back to the visionary Vince McMahon was. Not many people would take a chance to sort of break that worked really well that was the PPV model.”

WWE Network brought great success to WWE, as it became a viable financial model. Today, the Network is available in 186 countries and has thousands of hours’ worth of content.

Indeed, it was Vince McMahon’s vision that foresaw the future of sports entertainment. Today, almost all the content we consume is available digitally as part of OTT. McMahon envisioned this and created WWE Network, demonstrating his ability to think ahead.

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