After Steve Cutler was fired, a big SmackDown angle was nixed. Also, could NBC purchase WWE by 2024? That is one theory being floated out there that is worth unpacking.
Big SmackDown Angle Nixed
Once Steve Cutler got himself fired, a big SmackDown angle was nixed as a result. Hard to keep an angle going when one of the components is now not employed.
Cutler found himself out of work when his actions angered his former boss. Those actions just happened to be Steve Cutler getting COVID-19.
So Steve Cutler was released from WWE for testing positive for Covid. No symptoms. He was at a New Years gathering with friends in someone’s home with Deonna Purrazzo.
Vince was said to be livid after finding out and fired him. Rather harsh & “in the moment”…don’t ya think?
— JDfromNY (@JDfromNY206) February 5, 2021
So, just like that, a big SmackDown angle is nixed.
Which one?
Well, according to the Wrestling Observer, we were going to see Cutler team with Wesley Blake and Baron Corbin. That trio was going to battle Rey and Dominik Mysterio with Murphy.
With Cutler gone, the entire match was scuttled. It’s a shame for several reasons.
Instead of WWE sliding in someone else, the entire six man was busted.
That was also bad for Murphy, who has been around the blue brand for a couple weeks, but has not made it on TV.
This could end up going over badly for WWE, for what it’s worth. Fans were quite to point out the bad optics of firing Cutler but not Jaxson Ryker.
That saddest part about Steve Cutler’s release was that it wasn’t Jaxson Ryker. pic.twitter.com/sCmbEBj1ds
— ???????????? (@wrestlelamia) February 5, 2021
Could NBC Purchase WWE By 2024
So, here’s a crazy question, posed by Wrestling Inc.: Could NBC purchase WWE by 2024?
The discussion was an interesting one, and raised a point that I actually had briefly thought about when news of the Peacock deal broke.
To recap that, WWE Network moves to Peacock in a month. That deal is valued at $1 billion and runs for the next five years.
As the folks at WINC pointed out, that’s a lot of money…and with that much spent,one has to think the price tag for WWE isn’t too far off from that.
So, how do we get from a Peacock-WWE Network deal, to a possible purchase? And why in 2024?
Well, WWE does have another broadcasting deal. That one is with FOX, covering SmackDown, and that agreement runs till 2024.
The suspicion then becomes…if longtime WWE ally NBCUniversal is willing the shell out one billion dollars for the WWE Network, what would it take to just buy the company?
It could be a big investment…
Waiting until the FOX deal expires makes a purchase a lot less complicated. It now becomes interesting to watch if that deal gets extended, or if it just runs it’s course.
At this point, it’s not the first time there has been speculation of a possible WWE acquisition. There had even been talk of a possible purchase by FOX not that long ago.
There are reasons to think the deal may, and may not work.
It may work because NBC is all about stockpiling content for it’s year-old streaming service.NBC makes a lot of it’s own content, but more is always welcomed, which is where WWE comes in.
It may not work because it at least partly depends on how things recover from the pandemic. NBC, which is a division of Comcast, has made some big moves of late.
Outside of the Peacock launch, the company is not that far removed from the purchase of Sky. There is also their Parks division, which has taken a hit with things shut down.
While 2024 is a ways off, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where NBC might not be comfortable making the move.
Still, it would represent a big content library, so never say never.
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