Kemo
11-24-2021, 02:34 PM
Kane recently caught up with The Doug Collins Podcast where he discussed WWE. The Hall Of Famer talked about Vince McMahon and the fact he is always on the cutting edge of technology. Kane used the creation of the WWE Network as an example.
“I think Vince’s real genius, when it comes to his entrepreneurship, was determining where entertainment technology was going and getting to the cutting edge. When he launched the WWE Network, we all thought he was crazy. You have a subscription-based network, wonderful,” he said. “But he moved all of the PPVs over to the Network and we were getting $50 a pop or whatever it was for PPVs. When you go into subscription base, and you get all the PPVs $9.99 a month, so you get them for free, or not for free, but you know, that includes the PPVs. So, the PPVs at the time, were about 50% of the company’s revenue was coming off of the PPV. So you eliminate that whole revenue stream and move it to a different platform. Who in their right mind would do that?
“That is exactly what he did, I thought he was crazy,” Kane admitted. “What I thought he should do is, you keep the major PPVs like WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. You keep those on your PPV platforms and you move everything else. Because those were the big revenue generators anyway. But that’s not how he saw it, and I was wrong. Now you look at the Network and the revenue is bigger than it ever has been. They’ve now exceeded on the Network the revenue that’s coming off the PPV. He’s not afraid to take risks.”
Kane also spoke about how WWE now takes fewer risks. He believes that is just a natural cycle of a company as big as WWE.
“I think as company’s mature, you become more risk-averse,” he stated. “Because you want to keep what you have and you’re afraid of losing that. Unfortunately, the downside is you become less aggressive and you don’t have that growth, just because of where you’re at. That’s not a criticism. It just is what it is, that’s the life cycle of an organization.”
However, Kane also believes that WWE is going to change moving forward, admitting that he is unsure if that will be for better or worse.
“A lot of stuff, as Vince gets older, I think things will change. For better of or worse, I don’t know,” he admitted. “A lot of folks lament, especially the wrestlers, how the company has become more corporate, but they had to.”
“I think Vince’s real genius, when it comes to his entrepreneurship, was determining where entertainment technology was going and getting to the cutting edge. When he launched the WWE Network, we all thought he was crazy. You have a subscription-based network, wonderful,” he said. “But he moved all of the PPVs over to the Network and we were getting $50 a pop or whatever it was for PPVs. When you go into subscription base, and you get all the PPVs $9.99 a month, so you get them for free, or not for free, but you know, that includes the PPVs. So, the PPVs at the time, were about 50% of the company’s revenue was coming off of the PPV. So you eliminate that whole revenue stream and move it to a different platform. Who in their right mind would do that?
“That is exactly what he did, I thought he was crazy,” Kane admitted. “What I thought he should do is, you keep the major PPVs like WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. You keep those on your PPV platforms and you move everything else. Because those were the big revenue generators anyway. But that’s not how he saw it, and I was wrong. Now you look at the Network and the revenue is bigger than it ever has been. They’ve now exceeded on the Network the revenue that’s coming off the PPV. He’s not afraid to take risks.”
Kane also spoke about how WWE now takes fewer risks. He believes that is just a natural cycle of a company as big as WWE.
“I think as company’s mature, you become more risk-averse,” he stated. “Because you want to keep what you have and you’re afraid of losing that. Unfortunately, the downside is you become less aggressive and you don’t have that growth, just because of where you’re at. That’s not a criticism. It just is what it is, that’s the life cycle of an organization.”
However, Kane also believes that WWE is going to change moving forward, admitting that he is unsure if that will be for better or worse.
“A lot of stuff, as Vince gets older, I think things will change. For better of or worse, I don’t know,” he admitted. “A lot of folks lament, especially the wrestlers, how the company has become more corporate, but they had to.”