3) WWE Making Zero Money From NXT Television?
There has been a rumor floating around that WWE is not actually getting paid any rights fees from the USA Network for NXT.
Mike Johnson of PWinsider noted that WWE did not mention anything to do with rights fees for NXT during their latest earnings report:
In today’s WWE earnings report, it is interesting to note the company was not touting televison rights fees for WWE NXT on the USA Network, but noted that the company has taken on additional production costs for the series with it’s second hour. There was no specific mention of NXT TV revenue in the earnings report at all. So, whatever revenue WWE is deriving from the series has been folded into somewhere else, not specifically noted.
My Take:
- This would be an interesting development because AEW just signed a 4-year, $175 million deal with TNT. NXT getting no (or less) money would be a bad look for WWE.
2) Why Timothy Thatcher Signed With WWE
WWE recently announced that they had signed free agent, Timothy Thatcher to a contract.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Thatcher really wanted to sign in Japan but no promotion was interested in him. As a result, he ended up signing with WWE, who has been interested in him for the past 5 years.
My Take:
- Thatcher is a talented guy and he is a solid pick-up for WWE. I am surprised that Japan wouldn’t be interested though as he has a hard-hitting style that seems perfect.
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