Just when it didn’t seem things around the WWE could get any stranger, new broke that the WWE is reportedly looking to make betting on high profile matches legal.
CNBC’s Alex Sherman reported that the WWE is working with EY (Ernst & Young) to secure the secrecy of their match results to demonstrate gambling would not be impact by leaks before the matches.
This is a curious move as it brings to mind boxing’s checkered past and numerous accusations of being fixed to make different groups a lot of money.
While there’s nothing that shows that’s the WWE’s intent, as it’s most likely a move to legitimize the company as being unpredictable and possibly boost the worth of the company for their upcoming sale.
Will it end well?
The states the WWE is looking to legalize gambling on their product are Colorado and Michigan, and to do that some potential ideas to secure the results have reportedly been voiced.
The main one is that WWE Creative wouldn’t let the wrestlers know who will win until hours before the match, but will that be enough?
In general, if this happens it could change the landscape of professional wrestling and that may not be a good thing.
Dave Meltzer talked about it on Wrestling Observer Radio. Special thanks to wrestlingnews.co for the transcript.
“I don’t know if the people who are wanting to do this to get in with DraftKings and get sponsorship money, while at the same time kind of like screwing up the booking aspect of wrestling, really understand wrestling. Because they come from different…wrestling doesn’t really fit into the sports thing, there’s so many aspects that do, but most don’t.
“Just the vibes that I’ve gotten from people are just kinda like rolling their eyes, and just thinking it’s really…it’s not a good thing, but it still might happen. It may be one of those changes, and maybe they feel that this will raise the price (value of the company as they explore the possibility of a sale), because now there’s gambling and they can tell the people who they are selling it to that ‘we are going to have a big increase in popularity because gambling will now be allowed on these things’. Andy perhaps the buyers might be fooled…and maybe they may think that that’s the case. It’s uncharted water, it may make it more popular in some ways. But they can’t do predictable finishes 70% of the time, not all the time.
It really screws the main event talent a lot because they’re not gonna know where they’re going, and it screws the booker because he’s gonna have to book in a logical manner and an illogical manner at certain points in time to keep from being predictable so there you go.”
On the surface, this looks like a typical Vince McMahon idea that’ll hurt the business, but if it makes him money it’s okay.
The last time WWE did something like this was pulling the curtain back and admitting it was scripted, but this has the potential to have a far more reaching and damaging affect on the sport.
What do you think about WWE’s attempt to legalize gambling on their matches? Let us know in the comments below.
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