MR. TITO: Why Is Everyone Complaining About WWE RAW on Netflix’s Ring Having Advertisements?
Right now, fans online are complaining about the multiple ad placements on the canvas of the WWE ring. Prior to RAW beginning on Netflix, we saw maybe 1 ad, as Logan Paul’s PRIME drink logo was on the canvas at Wrestlemania 40. Initially, there was a panic, as Vince McMahon seemed to have a long standing tradition of keeping inside the ring looking bare. But then you realized that you were watching the AMAZING Wrestlemania 40 and moved on.
Well, RAW being on Netflix seems to have created a shock for many wrestling fans seeing at least 9 ads splashed all over the ring canvas. There’s one in the center, a centered ad for each side of the ring (4), and then 4 at each point of the ring in the corners. With one of those sponsors being Hulk Hogan’s Great American Beer, that created additional indigestion for wrestling fans for other reasons.
“Too many ads” inside the ring, as if angels came from the sky to deliver that canvas and it must be a pure as humanly possible… Even though blood and beer have been sprayed all over it repeatedly…
Here’s the thing, folks… I think you’re complaining about the ads inside the ring because you have NOTHING else to complain about with the WWE. They’re feeding you quality entertainment right now. Freakin’ Penta jumps ship from AEW to WWE, and suddenly, he looks like a well polished worker who can improvise inside the ring. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes suddenly improved when the joined the WWE, too. Bloodline has been killing it for the past 2-3 years, we have the Rock involved again, John Cena is back, NXT is exciting to watch again, new superstars like Gunther and Bron Breakker are making it, and we’re witnessing arguably the 2 most talented females ever at the same time with Rhea and Bianca with amazing veterans surrounding them.
Right now, the NBA has ads on EVERYTHING… Many on the court, many on the backboard and the structure holding the backboard, on the players’ jerseys, on the scoring table, all over the television broadcasts, and everywhere throughout the arena. But is professional basketball getting complaints JUST about their ads? No! Their players force trades and team up to play with each other, load management, jacking up too many 3 pointers, and a perceived lack of toughness has caused NBA to lose like 24% of its viewership year-over-year.
But WWE numbers are up… Attendance is up despite higher prices (we discussed this in my last column), viewership is steady on Cable/Satellite but higher on socials and YouTube, and merchandise is selling like crazy.
Why does WWE have ads suddenly on the ring? Well, for RAW, it’s a matter of Netflix paying $500 million per year. Very simple as that and they’re probably getting the bulk of the money of the ads on the ring.
WWE is more corporate now… WWE went from a publicly traded company that was mostly owned by Vince McMahon and his family to now being mostly owned by Endeavor and the company that bought them last year. Just as purchasing the UFC was expensive for Endeavor, so was purchasing WWE. What’s an easy way to help paydown that debt? Put ads on everything. UFC is seriously littered what advertisements and do UFC fans complain? No, they want someone’s teeth to get knocked in or to see someone tap out in an important fight. Ads become secondary if you’ve seen them for a while.
The point with UFC is that if the product inside the heavily sponsored Octagon is still great, why complain about the ads?
Problem is that the NBA’s product ISN’T great right now, particularly the regular season, and hence having “too many ads” is a complaint there.
For the WWE, having “too many ads” seems like it’s a new concept, but it’s not. WWE has had lots of advertising here, there, and everywhere for their live events, TV shows, and selling of their own products.
For example, WWE RAW was just on USA Networks. Didn’t we all complain that the 3-hour RAW that we’ve endured for the past 10 years had TOO MANY commercials? I seem to remember that and several websites actually timed the actual on-screen WWE content versus ads run.
And hasn’t the WWE been taking sponsors for their events for YEARS? I remember when shows were just called “In Your House” during the mid-1990s and they always had a sponsor for the event. Furthermore with those sponsors, WWE would lend their wrestlers for commercials for those very sponsors. Lots of wrestlers eating Snickers bars or playing with toys that were sponsoring PPVs that were later renamed to PLEs.
For the past 10 years, WWE has revamped its ringside. Gone is cloth that surrounds most of the ring and now we have LED billboards. The ringposts often have LED stuff on them, too. The ring barrier now has LED boards on them, too. What do each of those new ringside decorations have in common? THEY RUN ADS THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT!!!!!
Anytime the WWE rents out an arena or stadium for an event, they have control of the scoreboard and other electronics per the lease agreement. What does the WWE run on those? ADS!
How about this one? Since Vince McMahon Jr. bought the company during the early 1980s, what has he tried to sell you with his television shows?
– Buying tickets to his WWE shows.
– Spending money to buy Pay Per Views (later WWE Network)
– Merchandise, merchandise, merchandise
You’d think that the WWE has just been a front to sell other products besides the actual in-ring action. Thus, if you’re reading this in a room while wearing a WWE licensed shirt with replica title belts hanging everywhere, YOU FELL FOR THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS!
Wrestlers get a small portion of those merchandise dollars, as proven fact from many wrestlers testifying that.
Snap into a Slim Jim! Ultimate Warrior and then Macho Man Randy Savage did those ads during the 1990s, and now LA Knight and Biana Belair does them now.
The Miz and Dolph Ziggler did KFC commercials together while they were feuding.
Come on…
Oh, but the precious canvas inside the ring is SO SACRED!
Give me a freakin’ break.
Brock Lesnar was allowed to have ads on his trunks. Yes, I know that only he was allowed to do it, but he still did it and it still happened. So while the precious ring canvas did not have ads when Brock Lesnar performed, he was getting body slammed on that bare ring with ads on his shorts!
So give me a break on this “WWE ring has too many ads on it” crap.
Especially for this homerun point… You really think that ads inside the ring are the tipping point for you?
How about the FACT that advertisers have been controlling the WWE’s content for YEARS?
Can someone tell me WHY Mandy Rose had to abruptly leave the WWE again? Yes, she had a side hustle and was doing adult things on that side hustle, but the main reason she left the company was due to Mattel complaining to the WWE about her. Seriously… The SAME company who allowed their toy buyers the ability to strip Barbie and Ken naked while creating action figures for Mandy Rose that were scantily clad had a problem with her doing some adult stuff on the side. Go look up Mandy’s action figures from Mattel and tell me that there isn’t hypocrisy with a straight face. She legitimately has Barbie’s figure but with wrestling gear on.
The whole PG era was due to advertisers applying pressure on Comcast/NBC/Universal and if WWE wanted to return to USA Network, it had to clean things up and allow their shows to sell MORE ADS.
Remember the Mountain Dew Pitch Black sponsored match between LA Knight and Bray Wyatt? That was just 2 years ago and that was Bray’s last match, as Uncle Howdy jumped and missed hitting Knight with a splash from like 3 feet away.
So spare me on the ads inside the RAW ring right now on Netflix.
Think about this for a second… If the WWE can make more money on advertisements, then maybe it’s less that they can gouge from you?
Maybe that doesn’t feel like the right idea for a second as WWE is jacking up ticket prices, but maybe when business starts to decline, they can absorb more of a ticket price decline with more advertisements around? The more revenue streams that the WWE has, the less reliance on you.
My only worry with “more ads” is that any large dollar investors expect something in return. That goes for pro wrestling but also politics. “No such thing as a free lunch”, as anyone who pays significant amounts of money wants something in return.
Until I see “Bloodline brought to you by Carl’s Jr.”, the ads inside the ring are just an extension of what the WWE has already done with advertisements.
WWE, itself, is a marketing machine. RAW and Smackdown are there to convince you to buy into other WWE products such as live events, financially investing in PLEs, or buying merchandise. Their Cable/Satellite, Network, or Syndicated shows have at least 1/3 of the airtime covered with advertisements if not having sponsors read during the show. Corporate sponsors control what the WWE does and presents. Lastly, everywhere outside of the ring is full of the sponsors, so why not inside the ring too?
Spare me on this sudden outrage on the RAW ring being full of ads for Netflix. You’ve been swallowing advertisements from WWE content for years, many of you have been enduring it for decades. And then when you look around your room and see all of the WWE toys, replica belts, and other merchandise, YOU appear to be easily falling for WWE’s own advertisements. So if you’re falling for WWE’s own marketing machine, then they have the analytics that you’ll fall for any advertisement who wants to pay WWE (or Netflix) money.
For all of the online nitpickers out there… Stop complaining about everything and micro-managing your own opinions. Just let it go and enjoy the quality production that the WWE is finally handing you. Yeah, the 2010s were rough to get through, but Vince McMahon is now gone and others are now getting empowered. Want to keep this current management in place as well as finding new ways to pay wrestlers? Then let the WWE find new ways to drive up revenue. But the in-ring quality is going UP for the WWE right now versus having quality erosion like the NBA is enduring.
You have it so good right now that your best complain is the number of ads inside the ring of a show that is conveniently airing on the streaming app that you’ve had for years. Geesh.
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