09/08/2025

© WWE/AEW

F-5 or FU?

In a two part article, Trish Speirs explores WWE’s decision to bring back Brock Lesnar whilst being mentioned forty-four times in an ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit against the company, and how it will form part of the promotion’s PLE launch on ESPN, before looking at WWE’s counter programming efforts against AEW and what the upstart company can do in response. 

In the last moments of the August 3rd “Summerslam” in Metlife Stadium, John Cena stood in the ring alone. His final “Summerslam” moment being given the close of the show over the new two time WWE Champion as the most important moment of the show. Rhodes’ second title win was not worth as much as this moment, and it would be even less important to WWE than what was about to follow. The opening chords of “Next Big Thing” hit and the WWE audience in New Jersey went insane. Back was former WWE Champion and UFC fighter Brock Lesnar, to take out John Cena and set up a final match between the two as part of Cena’s retirement tour. Sounds like standard WWE nostalgia driven stuff right?

Except it isn’t.

Brock Lesnar has been absent from WWE for two years, and it hasn’t been down to a contract issue or disagreements over creative. He had been due to return at the 2024 “Royal Rumble” after taking leave post “Summerslam 2023” but was pulled from the event after the first filing of the Janel Grant lawsuit against WWE, Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis. Lesnar was not named in the first filing but was quickly identified by the press in regards to being a listed party. He was named in Grant’s later amended complaint and appears in the suit forty-four times. He is not a defendant; however, he is alleged to have had McMahon offer Grant to him as part of contract negotiations, requested personalised sexual content from Grant (which Grant alleges she was directed to fulfill by McMahon) and had agreed to meet Grant for a sexual encounter that ultimately never happened.

The 48 year old was never suspended by WWE, instead being paid in full to sit at home for the remainder of his contract. The original story upon his return was that he was being brought back in order to obtain value from a high price contract, but this is not the case, with Dave Meltzer reporting that Lesnar has signed a new deal with the promotion after a period where he was out of contract. Bryan Alvarez, also of the Wrestling Observer, reported that Lesnar was added back to the WWE active roster two months prior to his return, with the same website also noting that WWE Legal had “cleared” him to return a month after that had occurred. This led to speculation that there had been a change in the status of the Grant case or that Lesnar had been “cleared” of any wrongdoing, but neither had occurred at the time of writing. Nor has there been any public statement from WWE or responses to requests for comment in relation to the move.

© WWE

In fact, WWE decided that they would ensure there was no direct scrutiny at all, shutting down the post PLE press conferences the night before, meaning that the sole location where in person/ non co-opted media could question the decision had been removed. There is no pretence that the decision to remove these conferences was not influenced by the decision to have Lesnar return. From WWE’s perspective, it makes a tonne of sense; they have enough media partners who will allow for them to get the coverage they require without having to be under scrutiny from other outlets and Paul Levesque, in particular, has a poor record in this format, often creating further headlines from his answers that WWE do not believe they need.

Amazingly, Levesque still managed to put his foot in it somewhat, even under the new format, appearing to put Lesnar’s return solely at the feet of WWE talent John Cena by labelling it Cena’s idea;

“This is John Cena’s wish list. It’s him writing the last chapter of his book, and I think people saw a conversation with us where he said we’d have to screw it up pretty badly to ruin his career, but it’s not about that for me. It’s about John being able to go out the way he wants to go out. To write his chapter. I know what that’s like as a performer. I know what that’s like for everybody to feel that, and I think for John to be able to do what he wants to do. One of the very first things I said to him is ‘Who do you want? And how?’ And we’re working through that.”

That didn’t appear to go down well with Cena, who told interviewer Adam Glyn that he essentially just does what he is told in a pretty diplomatic way. By the next night’s “Raw”, the story had been changed, with Michael Cole taking the time to address the decision and listing Paul Levesque and Nick Khan as those who went out to “bring him home”. Levesque repeated the same terminology in a carefully composed interview with ESPN later in the week, where the focus was on the new PLE deal signed between the two parties. There remained no address as to the reason why Lesnar had been absent from WWE and there was to be no follow ups from WWE’s new media partner.

Paul Heyman, appearing on “The Ariel Helwani Show” adopted a line that Cody Rhodes and others have used a number of times in the recent past, labelling criticism over questionable WWE decisions and business relationships as an example of ‘cancel culture’.

“Everything in life is met with criticism, I don’t pay attention to that. If you were in MetLife Stadium on Sunday, you would understand that return meant a lot to that audience. That audience was shocked to see Brock Lesnar come out and to see him F-5 John Cena. Nobody left MetLife Stadium going, ‘Oh God, they’ve brought back Brock.’ People were just going nuts. That’s our paying audience. They’re happy to see him, I’m happy to be part of a team that presents him.”

“There’s always going to be critics of anything that we do, and very few people ever make it to the top in life without either making mistakes or having skeletons in their closet. Obviously, the decision was made, ‘it’s time to bring back Brock Lesnar’. Whatever that decision is based on, I respect it. If there are critics of it, get over it. He’s here and he’s going to be here and you ain’t going to be able to cancel him. And I’m happy to have him back because the audience is happy to have him back. If we brought him back and the audience rebelled against it, I wouldn’t be happy to have him back.”

© WWE

Heyman is right in some aspects, the crowd in Metlife Stadium did treat Lesnar as a star, with much of the feedback over the decision to use him mainly appearing online. None of WWE’s partners applied pressure around the decision either, with new partner ESPN seemingly more than happy for Lesnar to headline the first PLE on their new service. WWE has calculated that, in the current climate, pushback will be limited against the decision and believe that the short term gain they receive from Lesnar returning to WWE programming is worth it. Between this decision and their now brazen counter programming of AEW, the abandonment of their non partisan political standing and the demolishing of the pretense to being open and honest, WWE have moved away from some of the key non-wrestling strategies that have aided in their recent resurgence, and are now more closely aligned with the outlook and strategy of TKO partner UFC, who recently added Conor McGregor back to their roster despite being found liable in a civil case alledging sexual assault.

Is there any concern from WWE leadership in bringing back a performer who is still part of an ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit against the company, where he is listed as an alleged beneficiary? Is there any plan in place for if this suit goes to discovery and Lesnar, at the very least, is called as a witness? Would any form of discovery look into the previous allegations of exposure made against Lesnar by Terri Runnels? Is there anything at all that would see WWE deter from using or hiring individuals who are part of ongoing legal action or who have been dismissed from past workplaces due to unprofessional conduct of a sexual nature?

When it comes to the current leadership, the line appears to be “they simply do not care”. Nick Khan was even reported by Dave Meltzer in the week after the Lesnar return to work to the line that there is no problem unless there are criminal charges involved. This belief would match up with other hirings over recent years, with current Head of Media and Production, Lee Fitting, having been picked up post leaving ESPN after numerous allegations around his verbal conduct towards women who worked for the media giant over a number of years, as well as the pick up of Jamie Horowitz, who was sacked by Fox Sports for unprofessional conduct after several allegations of sexual harassment.

In the wake of the Grant lawsuit being filed, one of the key questions around WWE is would it lead to any changes in the culture? Would it lead to a more open and honest company? Would there be more consideration for how the women who work for the company feel about the alleged abuses that have occurred, and would it lead to a workplace where allegations of sexual harrassment, sexual assault and sex trafficking are both taken seriosuly and addressed?

Sadly,with the Lesnar return, the focus of discussion has centered on whether he is “cleared” or not and how his return plays into the ESPN launch and WWE’s counter programming efforts, whilst completely ignoring the questions on WWE’s culture. The fact that the only comments expressing disappointment in the decision from women who work for WWE to reporters are ones that they have asked to remain off the record is a statement in itself in that regard. We remain with very little discussion over safeguarding in the workplace, and now, no public statements, no open press conferences and no reports of anything being addressed to staff and talent from WWE.

There is a large part of me though that does not believe that WWE think they are completely immune from pushback over this decision, and that this has been further supported by the usage of a distraction technique for Lesnar’s return to television being completed on the same show as the return of AJ Lee, who was making her first appearance with the company since 2015. There still appears to be some effort to control the perception around the return, and a reason for WWE to take what is a calculated risk, but a risk all the same. 

© WWE

And then we got the answer…

WWE will run “Wrestlepalooza” on September 20th from Indianapolis, Indiana. The show will purposely run on the same day as AEW’s “All Out” PPV from Toronto, as the counter programming efforts are once again stepped up following a three PLE weekend facing off with “All In” back in July, in addition to the continued presence of NXT PLE’s on AEW PPV days throughout the year. The move has already had an effect, with AEW shifting to the afternoon spot in response, which WWE are seeing as a victory in itself.

The stepping up in the nature of this head to head is interesting in itself, the attempts to obtain a TV deal for TNA and the running head to head by NXT have attempted to portray AEW at a lower level, whilst running a heavily loaded card in this instance against “All Out” infers that WWE sees them as a greater threat. As much as it could potentially damage the AEW PPV number, it also gives the show far more prominence in discussions than it may have gotten without it whilst raising two further questions;- Were WWE aware that this would be AEW’s first PPV on the MAX platform and/or is this further retaliation for the poor performance of the “Saturday Night’s Main Event” back in July that subsequently has become the last of those events to air on NBC?

There have been rumours within the industry over the past few months that WWE are aware of AEW’s MAX numbers and that it is substantial enough to upgrade the level of opposition they are now providing to AEW. This is supported by the purchasing of advertising by WWE during AEW programming on MAX. AEW’s ability to convert their PPV buyers into MAX subscribers, preferably direct subscribers, will help to dictate the value of their next deal, so it feels like “All Out” is a natural date to target if WWE were aware of it prior to the WBD announcement.

This PLE is able to run in this spot because of it being WWE’s debut on the new ESPN Direct To Consumer app that launched late last month. ESPN had acquired WWE main roster PLE’s for $1.6 billion over five years in a deal which was originally due to begin with next year’s “Wrestlemania” weekend but has now been fast tracked to beginning on September 20th. WWE had been able to come to an agreement with previous rights holder Peacock for this to happen due to having fulfilled their year quota of PLE’s and hours of content up to this point (which puts an entirely new spin on the running of the “Evolution” PLE), giving them the opportunity to join ESPN early.

© WWE

It has not come without consequence on the Comcast side though, as “Saturday Night’s Main Event” will now be a Peacock only show, having aired on NBC since its relaunch last year. The WWE spin has been that this is a way for Peacock to keep WWE subscribers to their platform by keeping a part of their offering on the streaming service, but this is four shows a year that were previously linear broadcasts for WWE, and means that John Cena’s retirement will not be broadcast to anywhere close to as big an audience as it previously would have been.

Comcast have also turned down WWE’s request to move the Cena retirement show from December 13th to December 27th, so that it would run head to head with AEW’s “World’s End” PPV on the grounds of having a Peacock exclusive NFL game that night, which will be the focus of their promotion on that weekend. It makes complete sense in having the WWE show on a different date to the NFL in order to maximise potential subscribers to both for Peacock, but highlights how WWE’s constant need for counter programming may come up against network ambitions and just wanting the largest number possible. For opening night though, ESPN appeared happy enough to run with another event on the same day, having potentially been placated by WWE loading up this first card and having been able to gain access to broadcasting the PLE’s earlier than they were previously able to. The pulling of all AEW content from the ESPN website also suggests they are currently more than happy to be involved in such games, and is also another blow for sports media coverage being separate to big money media deals.

One of the most discussed parts of the ESPN deal is how hard they will be pushed by the cable network and the DTC platform in the runup to the event. Peacock have been very strong on their positioning of WWE in recent years, both in advertising and on the platform itself, whilst ESPN also have college football, the WNBA, the chase for the MLB playoffs and their now most important partner, the NFL to promote durig this fall period. At the time of writing, there has been very little promotion for the PLE on ESPN programming, in a completely opposite way to how we saw FOX and Netflix ramp up their promotion for their launches a month or so ahead of time. WWE have also had very little part in the launch of ESPN’s new app as well. It is expected that ESPN’s level of promotion will increase over the final fortnight but it will still fall far short of previous launches and likely to be at a lower level for the rest of the fall and winter, with the amount of much higher profile sporting attractions ESPN has to promote over that period.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the first broadcast is that there are currently no plans for any part of the show to be aired on ESPN’s cable stations in the US. TKO COO Mark Shapiro had suggested at the time the deal was signed that the first part of the PLE’s could be broadcast on cable or linear to help encourage uptake to the app to view the rest of the show, and it would make most sense for this to occur for the first broadcast, but current scheduling is currently dominated by college football across ESPN 1, ESPN 2 and ABC.

There is also the question of how many people will be willing to sign up to the service in order to view the event, with the additional $29.99 price point to the service for anyone who does not currently pay for ESPN as part of their cable package/has ESPN on a carrier which at current does not allow access to the service for no additional price. It is those fans that WWE and ESPN are hoping will sign up for the service, and are the key for ESPN in terms of getting some sort of value out of the deal. It is a big pick up in price point from being able to view the main roster PLE’s on Peacock without the additional value from NXT PLE’s, the archive and “Smackdown” replays before the 28 day delay that will now be introduced.

WWE have turned to nostalgia in order to get them as much interest as possible and  overcome the key price point changes, bringing back AJ Lee and Brock Lesnar, reuniting the Usos and headlining all of the ESPN press releases with John Cena, in much the same way they did with the Netflix debut. It will likely work for this launch, but it will be the value over a longer period and if it drives sign ups without major churn that will decide how successful they are for the service, especially once current top draw and name John Cena comes out of the equation in December. 

Will there be a cost for the decisions made in ths cycle? Eventually, there will be, but right now, WWE is not looking at that. This is for maximum immediate impact, for the strongest start on ESPN and to cause as much damage as possible to AEW. A man who often struggles with live media once said “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”, but for WWE right now, it is a constant sprint where every possible quick fix will be used to keep up their current pace.

© AEW

AEW will make their PPV debut on the MAX streaming service with “All Out” on September 20th from Toronto, Canada. The show will be available on MAX in the US at a $39.99 price point, $10 cheaper than on the other platforms the PPV will still be made available on in the same country. The marketing will be focused solely on MAX in terms of purchasing the event, with a pre show also being aired on TNT/ MAX which will be separate to the pre show broadcast for other platforms, according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. MAX broadcasting of AEW PPVs was part of the WBD deal announcement last fall, but it appears that the technology for the streamer to make this work on their platform is only now in place, with its first big test being on September 20th.

The price point may have been influenced by the success of the $10 credit promotion that was run this past July for “All In” by Amazon. It is not going to move any US buyers who currently purchase the PPVs via a VPN from Triller, but may move those who purchase from other PPV suppliers in the US who currently subscribe to the MAX service or may have been considering doing so.The ambition of this part of AEW’s deal with WBD is to convert the most loyal part of AEW’s audience into signing up to MAX, and preferably directly, as some MAX subscribers who access the service through a partner such as a mobile phone company or television carrier are currently not able to purchase the PPVs. If AEW are successful in driving conversions to the platform, it will substantially increase their value to the WBD streaming portion of the company ahead of their next set of deal negotiations. It is, in this aspect, similar to WWE’s presence on the ESPN DTC service, in that it is important to start well but it is more long term in how they will demonstrate their worth in this venture.

The requirement to start well on MAX is likely behind the switching of the PPV to a 3pm eastern start time, similar to “All In” back in July, which was counter programmed by WWE with a Goldberg retirement “Saturday Night’s Main Event” on NBC. The decision will have been made in part by AEW being up significantly in PPV sales for “All In” and “Forbidden Door” on the previous year (according to Dave Meltzer estimates) despite the earlier start time. It will put the PPV in the path of much heavier college football competition in the US, but will likely help the overall number significantly by balancing that out with international purchases, particularly in Europe, where the show will once again be more accessible than it traditionally is in the North American evening slot.

The change allows AEW to “go first”, essentially, and we have seen the value in that with what happened to the WWE show following “All In”, as well as what happens to Collision when there is an afternoon WWE PLE. It is perhaps more important in markets outside the US where the WWE PLE will be available on Netflix or the WWE Network (yes, it still exists in some markets), and therefore is not the contending price point to discourage people from the WWE PLE in the same way there is in the US. Making it available at a decent time in the UK, in particular, appears to be a worthwhile venture at current considering the higher concentration of buys than normal for “Forbidden Door” and the current positive viewership trends on ITV4.

© AEW

Another market where WWE is available without the additional costing of the ESPN service is Canada, where the PPV takes place. AEW have centered their marketing around the location (in a way that is similar to other sports who are looking to build relationships with cities that generate site fees) and will have a Canadian attraction match on the card with Adam Copeland and Christian Cage teaming against FTR. AEW will not be competing against college football in that market, nor will they have to contend with an ESPN promotional machine in that territory.

The downside of this move, especially so late in the day, is the effects it has already had on numerous fans who had planned to attend the show. The change for “All In” was made three months ahead of the show, which is a much different proposition to three weeks before. Planes and trains into Toronto can be limited depending on the origin point for travellers, and the late notice means that any changes to travel times are likely to incur much higher fees for amending as well as additional cost for the adapted journey, if they can even be changed at all. Added to that are logistical issues related to luggage and hotel check in times that have made things more difficult for fans coming into the city. The travel situation comes on the back of what was a difficult air travel weekend in Canada for “Forbidden Door” back in 2023 as well. The move also disrupts a number of additional events, with local promotions such as SMASH Wrestling being impacted by the time change.

A number of commentators have pointed to how normal this move is for American football and college football, but wrestling is neither of those things and Canada is also not the United States from a logistics standpoint or in terms of fan relations. It is important that AEW attempt to work with those promoting local events around the show (which help make these shows destination weekends) as well as supporting those who have bought tickets for the show who may now require a refund.

Whilst we are concentrating on the competition element of the card and the time change in regards to potential impacts on how successful this show will be, what will ultimately drive it is the interest generated in the card beforehand and the calibre of matches that are on the table. In this sense, AEW are working shorthanded at current, with three recent PPV main eventers, in the form of Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay, all missing the show, while previous Men’s World Title challenger MJF is working lower down the card after missing half of the cycle (with good reason!) and being that he is working (and losing) in Mexico the night before. Max’s absence from the very top of the card takes away the biggest possible main event from the card, from a program which was drawing consistently well over the summer. The decision is also driven by requiring him to be a consistent threat to Adam Page whilst most of the other potential threats are out of action.

It has left Adam Page in quite the interesting position. Having seen his match with MJF relegated to the semi main on the previous PPV, despite his program being the top driver on the show, there is a real requirement to avoid being secondary in a Men’s World Title defense for the second straight PPV. That is something that has not occurred with any previous Men’s World Champion when starting out their reign and would be ill reward considering no other program has performed higher in either cycle so far. Him presented as secondary, indicating the level the company sees him at, was also the main criticism of his first World Title reign in the promotion. There is a strong opportunity to differentiate AEW from WWE by presenting Page vs Fletcher at the very top of the card, whilst also showing support for both men who would be receiving the key spot. There is also much more for Fletcher to gain by being given a PPV main event berth then there is being a challenger outside the main event, whilst there is a lot more to lose for the Champion if he is passed over again for the nostalgia tag match or put behind previous World Champion Jon Moxley for the second PPV in a row.

© AEW

The lack of focus on their homemade top stars in favour of the likes of Copeland/ Cage and the Death Riders faction has been an issue with the build to this show so far, with the decision to put both Adam Page and Toni Storm behind other stories in their respective divisions, as well as in terms of screen time (in Storm’s case in particular) and positioning going into such a high profile PPV feeling completely baffling. It was not improved by the haphazard matchmaking for Storm’s PPV match on “Collision” this past weekend. The focus needs to revert back to their World Champions over the final two weeks of build if they are to distinguish themselves from WWE, in this case by not repeating what are very WWE like mistakes.

The Adam Copeland/ Christian Cage second time team up against FTR should fulfil the PPV’s nostalgia quota, whilst Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley in a coffin match and a stipulation match between MJF and Mark Briscoe (which should have the contract on the line to avoid the babyface looking daft) will add the type of gimmick matches that also helps to differentiate the show from what WWE will produce. The card, in a much similar vein to the previous two “All Out” PPVs, is likely to outperform its build and expectations, and will get the full support from their audience if they can correct some of the issues they have led themselves into over the past few weeks.

The reality is that WWE counter programming is not going anywhere, and that it will always extend far beyond just PPV days. Just this week alone, WWE have announced John Cena’s last appearance in Boston to go on sale on the same date as AEW’s next show in the city, whilst Cena’s last appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York City will now be the same week that “Full Gear” runs in the tri-state area.There also remains an expectation that TNA could be put head to head with “Dynamite” on Wednesday nights.

Ultimately, it is about Tony Khan and AEW knowing which battles are worth fighting and which ways they can counter, but also to ensure that they remain focused on their own offering whilst avoiding falling into the same traps WWE currently are when it comes to being overly reliant on quick fixes and nostalgia. Supporting their talent with strong booking and presentation and delivering for their fanbase is still the best counter punch they have, and it is important not to lose sight of that.

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