Former WWE chairman Vince McMahon may no longer be with the company following his ousting after a civil lawsuit accusing him of sex trafficking and abuse, but his leadership of the company, starting in 1982 to where WWE is now, can't be ignored.
On a recent episode of "83 Weeks," WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW executive Eric Bischoff ran down the history of professional wrestling's distribution to fans over the years. He said wrestling has always been on the leading edge of the evolution of content distribution. Despite all McMahon has been accused of over the years, Bischoff said McMahon had a lot to do with getting WWE to its historic Netflix deal.
"Vince McMahon, you can criticize Vince, there's a lot to criticize," he said. "But you cannot criticize his vision and his focus on achieving things from that vision. And the [streaming], to abandoning pay-per-view, which represented probably a minimum of 25 percent of their net revenues. Abandoning that format and taking a new approach with [streaming] is what set WWE up for the Netflix opportunity they've received now."
"Raw" officially debuted on Netflix on January 6,and the event saw a variety of appearances from WWE Legends and other celebrities, while the show's main event pitted former World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins against rival CM Punk.
Prior to his final departure last year, McMahon rejoined the company in 2023 to help facilitate a sale, though WWE ended up merging with UFC to create TKO Group Holdings. The deal with Netflix, moving "WWE Raw" from its former home on the USA Network, was announced on January 23, 2024, and McMahon resigned from his position on the board of TKO just three days later.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "83 Weeks" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
