Will WWE fans follow ‘WresteMania’ to ESPN’s new streamer?
Will WWE fans follow ‘WresteMania’ to ESPN’s new streamer?
Premium live events from WWE are changing hands. Are fans going to follow them?
Even for viewers who don’t follow wrestling on a consistent basis, a WWE premium live event (PLE) can be an absolute blast to watch. Watching WrestleMania with friends or setting up a betting pool for the Royal Rumble is a ton of fun, but next year, viewers will have to change their viewing and subscription habits if they want to keep tuning into these high-profile events. On Wednesday, ESPN announced it had struck a deal with WWE to air premium live events (PLEs) on its new streaming service, pulling them away from their current home of Peacock. That means that starting in 2026, fans will have to log into the soon-to-be refreshed ESPN app to watch the PLEs. While Peacock subscriptions start at just $11 per month, the ESPN streamer will run $30 monthly. The news has angered legions of wrestling fans who are making their voices heard on social media. But, is the deal as bad for fans as some believe? Will a mass exodus of casual WWE fans lead to lower ratings and revenue for the promotion? We dive into all of the factors surrounding the new, more expensive home for the WWE’s PLEs.
Key Details:
- Big price difference: Peacock Premium costs just $11 per month, versus $30 for the new ESPN streamer.
- Who has to pay?: Viewers who get ESPN with a pay-TV plan don’t have to purchase the ESPN streaming service.
- Customization to the rescue: ESPN could lure more wrestling fans by offering personalized features.
The most understandable reason why WWE fans are upset about the move of premium live events from Peacock to the new ESPN streaming service is the higher cost involved. Currently, Peacock offers WWE PLEs at no extra cost to all customers on its Premium plan or higher, so viewers can watch for as little as $11 per month.
While ESPN’s new streaming service will have a base rate of $12 monthly for the select plan, to watch the PLEs, fans will need to be signed p for the ultimate plan, which will almost triple the cost of watching PLEs. The ESPN ultimate plan will cost $30 per month for subscribers who are signing up for the service directly. While the ESPN streamer will offer a wider range of sporting events, it won’t carry any on-demand entertainment as Peacock does. Peacock comes with a wide range of original shows and movies, favorites from Bravo and NBC, and movies from Universal, none of which will be found on ESPN.
Of course, there are other savings involved with the move to ESPN, as viewers will be able to bundle the sports streamer with Disney’s entertainment services Disney+ and Hulu, which should mitigate the additional costs somewhat. However, the price of the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN bundle will still hit $30, and that’s only a special introductory price for the first 12 months. After a year, the price of that bundle will rise to $36 per month, and even if the price of adding Disney entertainment streaming services isn’t an issue, there’s still the fact that wrestling fans might enjoy the NBCUniversal content they get with a Peacock subscription more than Disney’s streaming libraries.
While the cost of the service has been the main reason for much of the wrestling world’s uproar, it is possible that many of the fans don’t yet realize that they quite possibly could be getting ESPN’s streamer for free. The streamer will be available to use at no extra cost for customers who get ESPN linear channels with their pay-TV plan via many of the largest cable, satellite, and live TV streaming distributors in the country. While the number of people signed up for traditional linear TV packages has plummeted in recent years, nearly all who do have access to ESPN programming.
Despite linear TV’s downward trajectory, some rough math indicates that north of 44 million homes are still in some sort of pay-TV bundle, which beats out Peacock’s subscriber total. Comcast’s most recent earnings report indicates that Peacock has 41 million customers, so perhaps ESPN doesn’t stand to lose a substantial audience when WWE PLEs move over after all.
CNBC's Alex Sherman, not all TV distributors have signed on to provide their customers with authenticated access to ESPN’s streamer. As of publication, ESPN has not come to terms with Comcast and Cox cable providers, Dish satellite services, and YouTube TV and Sling TV live streamers. While this is likely only a matter of when, not if, these agreements are finalized, if something doesn’t get worked out by the time the PLEs migrate over to ESPN, it could leave even more fans without access.
Fortunately, however, as of now, the premium live events will not be pay-per-view events, like they once were. Despite the WWE being owned by TKO Holdings, the wrestling federation will not follow in its corporate sibling’s footsteps and putting its marquee events behind a double paywall. TKO also owns UFC, which hosts its PPVs on ESPN+. So, mixed martial arts fans not only have to pay for access to ESPN+ (which will soon move to the larger ESPN app), but they also have to pay the $70 PPV fee.
“That was a tough barrier to get across for our fans, and frankly something that generally made them unhappy,” TKO COO Mark Shapiro said on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. “Still, we succeeded, and it’s been a monster success with UFC and ESPN+. … We’re not concerned about that whatsoever [with WWE].”
Even if TKO doesn’t put the WWE’s PLEs back on pay-per-view, there’s more at play here than simple dollars and cents. Sports fans are increasingly frustrated by the seemingly never-ending swapping of sports rights and rising prices, especially now that streaming services have entered the fray. Viewers have a hard time keeping up when sports switch from one outlet to the next, and there may be an audience segment that keeps away from ESPN’s presentations of WWE PLEs out of sheer principle. WWE has plenty of blame to shoulder in this arena; the wrestling promotion moved “WWE Raw” off linear TV to start 2025, and put live episodes of that weekly series on Netflix instead. The promotion’s other shows like “WWE Smackdown” and “WWE NXT” have also changed homes in the past year.
So, what can ESPN’s new streaming service do to win over reluctant wrestling fans? Perhaps its personalization options will help; ESPN’s streaming service will offer viewers ways to track their favorite teams and players, and even a unique version of “SportsCenter” tailored specifically to each individual user’s particular fandoms. If ESPN brings a dedication to making wrestling fans feel as if they get a viewing experience they didn’t come close to on Peacock, perhaps it can make the case that the higher price of streaming PLEs on its platform is worth it.
Only time will tell if the modern features on ESPN’s new streaming service will be enough to get cost-conscious WWE fans over the sticker shock of ESPN’s platform. It’s worth mentioning again that ESPN’s new streamer will have a huge amount of sports, including college and NFL football, NBA and NHL games, and everything else viewers will find on ESPN linear channels. For WWE lovers who are also fans of other sports, that factor will likely mitigate anger over the higher price required to watch WrestleMania and other PLEs — but how much?
Are you a WWE fan who isn’t too happy over the move of WWE premium live events to the new ESPN streaming service? Let us know in the comments how you feel, and if you’re willing to purchase the new ESPN streamer to get access to these events in the comments section below.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” “The Office,” and original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports and NBC programming, including the NFL, MLB, WWE, the Olympics, the Premier League, NASCAR, the French Open, college football and basketball, and the PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.