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00:00Outrage at WWE ticket prices, a new member joining The Vision, and more WWE titles vacated.
00:07I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.
00:14This is a book called InShittification.
00:17It just came out.
00:18Here's the Merriam-Webster definition of this relatively new word.
00:21InShittification is an informal word used to criticise the degradation in the quality
00:26and experience of online platforms over time due to an increase in advertisements, costs
00:31or features.
00:32It can also refer more generally to any state of deterioration, especially in politics or
00:38society.
00:39Similar forms include InShittify and InShittified.
00:43It's essentially a business practice that starts off with a great product, but has the
00:46ultimate aim to exploit its users, fans and even business customers to extract maximum
00:51profits.
00:52TKO turned two years old last month after being officially incorporated on the 12th of
01:02September 2023.
01:04That was back during a turbulent time for WWE, as it was being wrestled from the moustachioed
01:08grasp of Vince McMahon both in family ownership and creative.
01:12In the first two years now, under Triple H's booking, WWE arguably became the hottest creatively
01:19and commercially than it ever had been before, riding the Bloodline and Cody Rhodes wave to
01:24a peak at WrestleMania 40.
01:27But 2025 has seen several big creative misfires.
01:30The John Cena heel turn.
01:32The return of Brock Lesnar.
01:34Not going with Bron Breaker as a top star.
01:36The onscreen product has become stale, and fan experience has deteriorated, all while the
01:41prices WWE charge have drastically increased.
01:45Before the TKO era, for the last decade, you could keep up with all of WWE for just $9.99
01:50on the network, or through a $10.99 subscription on the cheapest Peacock tier.
01:54But now, to watch the main WWE onscreen product, you need two separate streaming services in the
02:01United States.
02:02Raw is on Netflix, which costs $7.99 at its cheapest, and PLEs are now on ESPN Plus Premium
02:07V2 Direct, which is another $29.99.
02:11That's $38 a month in the cheapest version, and, as InShittification predicts, will only
02:17grow more expensive.
02:18HBO Max, for instance, where AEW TV streams has just suddenly hiked its prices by $1-$2 per
02:25tier.
02:26And two new news stories have the InShittification getting more InShittier.
02:30Netflix signing WWE's international rights was an experiment for the streaming service.
02:35It had built its reputation on binge-watching series that were all released on demand in
02:40one go.
02:41Not for weekly appointment viewing or live broadcasts that Linear TV built its schedules
02:45on.
02:46So when Raw started airing on Netflix at the start of this year, it rather clunkily kept
02:50the commercial break segments for its international viewers.
02:53Those on the ad-supported Netflix tier in the US would get ads, but the rest of the world
02:57would see work shoot interviews from Karrion Kross.
03:00Brian Faddam, a Vice President at WWE, described this back in January.
03:04While you might go to commercials if you're in Texas, if you're in Italy, you're going
03:09to see us continue content.
03:10You're going to see the continuation of a match.
03:13You're going to see exclusive interviews with our talent.
03:16You might see an exclusive package that will only be viewed on that international level.
03:21According to Bodyslam.net, though, over the last few weeks, international viewers have
03:26seen commercial breaks during the Raw broadcasts on Netflix.
03:29This is because the company is slowly rolling out commercial breaks to all international markets,
03:35as the streamer becomes more and more like a traditional TV network.
03:39So now you can watch the ads on the ring mat of your wrestling match, go to ads in a commercial
03:44break, and come back to that ads on the ring mat, and then into a sponsored segment with
03:49the Cone Zone.
03:50At the same time, WrestleNomics has run the numbers.
03:54And they spell disaster for you at WWE live events.
03:59Since the TKO merger, ticket prices have doubled.
04:02In a staggering graph adjusted for inflation, WrestleNomics have tracked the average ticket
04:08prices for Raw and SmackDown television tapings from the 90s through to the present day.
04:14As you can see, it mostly hovers around the $50 to $60 mark, with the highest relative price
04:19actually coming in the early noughties.
04:21But the moment the TKO merger is made official in September 2023, the prices shot up to $70
04:28the following year, and to $118 in 2025, essentially doubling the previous quarter century's average
04:37relative price in the space of two years.
04:41But all live event tickets have become really expensive, you might say.
04:44It's because of Spotify, or Ticketmaster, it's definitely not to do with the insatiable
04:49greed of Taylor Swift.
04:51Well, no, according to WrestleNomics.
04:54While the rest of the live events business has become more expensive in the 2020s, it has
04:58only increased by about 25%, from $114 tickets to $140, far behind the 100% increase of WWE.
05:08Oh yeah, but those are bands and comedy, right?
05:11What about sports tickets, that's the one that's got a most expensive, again, not
05:16as much as WWE.
05:17NFL ticket prices have declined year on year in 2025, according to The Athletic.
05:22NBA tickets have increased, but more in line with the 20-25% of live music.
05:27This could mean that WWE was simply pricing its live events too low before the TKO merger.
05:33If you believe the cost of something should be the maximum amount people are willing to
05:37pay, then that's arguably currently correct.
05:40WWE are still selling more tickets than ever seen at these hugely increased prices, having
05:46their third year of consecutive growth of attendance per show.
05:50The demand is still matching the expensive supply.
05:53WWE also changed their live events business model under TKO, essentially scrapping any B or
05:59C town house shows, and only running the more premium TV tapings and tour dates.
06:05High has been restricted, which will often push up demand.
06:08And the quality of the shows, TV vs. random untelevised live events in Corpus Christi has
06:14increased too.
06:15TKO President Mark Shapiro, however, thinks there is still work to be done.
06:19The prices aren't yet high enough, as he told a Goldman Sachs conference just last month
06:24that he wants the ticket yield to get to the even higher UFC returns.
06:29What do you think about WWE's ticket prices?
06:32Let me know in the comments.
06:33WrestleNomics interestingly compares this to AEW's US ticket prices, which have clearly
06:38fallen in demand from the CM Punk highs of 2021-2022.
06:42They were $58 in average in 2022, now they're 15% lower at $49.
06:49But as we saw with WCW, it doesn't matter how bad or good you make your wrestling show,
06:54sometimes your survival comes down to the large corporate overlords at the very top.
07:00AEW's biggest existential threat in the next few years isn't WWE counterprogramming
07:05Jon Moxley's Death Riders or even Disco Inferno.
07:08It's the absolute mess that is their parent company of their TV network and streaming service,
07:14Warner Bros Discovery.
07:16Discovery bought Warner Bros in 2021, in what can be best described as a snake trying to
07:21eat an elephant, the Eaton was far larger than the Eater, and there is zero brand similarities
07:27between them.
07:28Unsurprisingly, it hasn't worked.
07:31So they're currently trying to split into two companies.
07:34One with all the cool or new stuff like movies and Batman and HBO and streaming, and the other
07:41with all the lame and old things, like linear TV.
07:44AEW straddles the two.
07:46This big money deal, which provides the majority of AEW's revenue, is with the lame and old
07:51side of the company.
07:52TV rights to Dynamite and Collision on TNT and TBS.
07:56But it also has a deal with HBO Max, the calling you half, for its TV and pay-per-view streaming.
08:02Now WBD has issued a press release that has the line, they are doing a review of strategic
08:08alternatives to maximise shareholder value, which is business, business, business speak
08:13for.
08:14Someone please buy us.
08:16Paramount Skydance, which will start a seven year rights deal with the UFC from January,
08:20has reportedly already made a lowball offer that WBD turned down.
08:24Netflix and Disney are also rumoured to want to buy WBD.
08:28If Netflix wins, it's unknown what that could mean for AEW's future.
08:31It has a TV rights deal with WBD that runs through 2027, with an optional 2028 extension,
08:38but if Netflix wants to put everything in one place, like Disney Plus did with its purchase
08:43of Fox, surely WWE would block AEW from appearing on the same platform as them.
08:49Thank you again for indulging me talking about business and numbers for seven minutes when
08:53all you want to hear about is Mr Iguana.
08:55You were very good and you sat very still, so I'm going to give you what you want.
09:00But not you, Jeff!
09:01I know you skipped ahead in the business story section watching right now.
09:04You have to go back and watch the last three minutes properly.
09:07No, no, not in double speed.
09:09In .75 speed.
09:11Because you have wasted everyone else's time, so we're going to waste yours.
09:15But for everyone else.
09:16Mr Iguana's next WWE match has been announced.
09:20It's Mr Iguana.
09:22He's got an Iguana!
09:23This weekend we'll see the next NXT PLE Halloween Havoc.
09:27In Tuesday's episode, TNA's Leon Slater and NXT's Javon Evans, who for me have the
09:31most exciting in-ring chemistry of anyone in the world right now after that awesome Bound
09:36for Glory match, apart from the finish, said they should form a tag team for Saturday.
09:41This brought out Le Parker and Mr Iguana, who accepted their challenge.
09:45But that's not the only weird thing on Halloween Havoc.
09:48Because the Hardy Boys interrupted a Dark State promo with a video showing them walking around
09:52the Hardy compound.
09:53Where we saw Senor Benjamin tending the garden.
09:57The faction of Hardy children, Rebby Sky, you can probably tell where this is going.
10:02They walked into the Lake of Reincarnation and emerged as Broken Matt and Brother Nero.
10:09Which means their NXT tag title match with Dark State this Saturday will be a Broken Rules
10:15match.
10:16Before we continue, here's a message from Rob Van Dam.
10:18Rob Van Dam.
10:19Hey everyone, Rob Van Dam here.
10:23Did you realize that my brother Sabu was filming his last days all the way up until he passed?
10:32He was working on this documentary.
10:34It was really important for him to share the most intimate moments of the real guy dealing with everyday real life, especially this
10:47part of his life while he was training for his last match.
10:51I hope you'll check out the new Sabu documentary available at Patreon.com slash WrestleTalk.
11:00While you're there, if you sign up, you can get extra materials such as a shoot interview
11:08from Luke and Ali and a director's commentary with Joe Clark and me, RVD.
11:16Not every segment built future plans on NXT though.
11:19Some scup of them.
11:21Sol Ruka addressed the crowd with Zarya and NXT General Manager Ava alongside her, where
11:25she revealed she suffered a knee injury in a tag match against Charlotte and Alexa Bliss
11:30on last Friday's SmackDown.
11:32She doesn't know how long she'll be out of action for, so she's vacating both her
11:36WWE Speed and NXT North American titles.
11:40This means she won't be able to face Blake Monroe at Halloween Havoc for the latter, so Zarya
11:45will fight Monroe instead to decide a new champion.
11:47We don't yet know what will happen with the WWE Speed Belt, not that that really matters.
11:52This isn't the only sudden change WWE have had to make because of an injury.
11:56Nick Aldis has announced that Cody Rhodes will now defend his WWE title against Drew McIntyre
12:01at Saturday night's main event.
12:03Previously that was supposed to be Drew vs. Jacob Fatou in a No. 1 Contenders match.
12:07But Fatou is potentially out for the rest of the year due to a dentist procedure.
12:11He was written off TV last Friday.
12:14And there's also Seth Rollins, who suffered a shoulder injury against Cody Rhodes at Crown
12:17Jewel, forcing WWE to fast forward creative plans by six whole months.
12:23Have Brombreaker shockingly betray Seth, vacate the World Heavyweight title, and then just
12:28do the least exciting follow up possible by having CM Punk vs Jey Uso.
12:34Seth has made his first social media post since undergoing surgery.
12:37A photo of him with his left arm in a sling sipping coffee, wearing a Dusty Rhodes American
12:42Dream t-shirt, and the Chicago Bears cap with the caption, Caffeine and Clarity.
12:48See ya on the other side, peace fingers emoji.
12:51P.S.
12:52I love football.
12:53It's all a ruse, he's costing CM Punk the title in 10 days confirmed.
12:56Before Seth's injury, the reported plan was for Austin Theory to also join the Vision
13:01faction, who would round out the heel team with Brock Lesnar for Survivor Series war games.
13:06Paul Heyman has been a fan backstage of Theory for years, despite him not working in multiple
13:10versions on the main roster.
13:12WrestleVotes have now corroborated that, reporting, sources indicate there are still voices within
13:17the company pushing to keep Austin Theory involved in creative plans, even after the
13:22recent shuffling caused by Seth Rollins' injury.
13:26The idea of Theory joining the Vision was at least discussed, and he still has internal
13:30support moving forward to reappear on TV in a significant manner.
13:35Theory hasn't wrestled since the 14th July episode of Main Event, where he lost to El
13:39Grande Americano.
13:40Of course, Front Breakers should be the World Heavyweight Champion by then, but WWE screwed
13:45up one of the hottest angles of the year.
13:48Watch me rant about this week's episode of Raw by clicking the video onscreen now.
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