I was surprised - maybe I shouldn't have been - when my friend told me about the reports that WWE is moving to BT Sport.
Yes, WWE is no longer going to be on Sky as of - I believe - the end of this year.
Sky and WWF/E have been tied together for years in this country. Over thirty years in fact. This news is just unbelievable.
But, like I wrote at the start, it shouldn't be THAT much of a surprise.
Sky Sports' ratings for the live airings of Raw and Smackdown have declined massively over the years. Not only that - WWE kind of undercut Sky with the launch of the WWE Network over here in the UK and Ireland as the company was offering live PPV events as part of the £9,99 package while Sky was left to offer the single-purchase events at a little under £15 a month.
What a choice?!
Selfishly, I will be okay with the BT Sport move because I get the channels in high definition and 4K (even though WWE isn't filmed in 4K yet). I don't subscribe to the HD Sky Sports channels, so that's the only positive I can draw from it as it benefits me.
Big picture - this is bad news for British wrestling fans. It's bad news for wrestling in general because BT does not have the amount of potential viewers as Sky has.. or rather had.
Some of my childhood and young adult memories have had Sky and WWE in the background. It's going to be really weird not to watch the shows on those channels anymore.
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