WWE News: Jim Cornette explains how much money WWE loses on NXT
What’s the story?
On a recent edition of his podcast The Jim Cornette Experience, Jim Cornette revealed how much money the WWE loses on NXT.
Cornette emphasized that he availed the information from the WWE’s quarterly and yearly reports that can be availed by anyone since the WWE is a publicly-traded company. The veteran professional wrestling personality put forth his in-depth analysis of the humongous funds WWE is investing in building future stars for the organization.
In case you didn’t know…
Jim Cornette is best known for his time as a manager, but also served as the lead booker and part-owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling, which was one of WWE’s developmental territories a few years back.
Nevertheless, one ought to note that Cornette has not worked for the WWE’s current developmental brand, NXT, and the opinion put forth by him is solely his take on the WWE’s handling of its developmental territory.
The heart of the matter
Jim Cornette weighed in with his two cents on how much money the WWE may be losing on NXT—
"NXT in 2016 sold $7 million in tickets and had $20 million in expenses. In 2017, NXT had let's say $6 million in ticket sales and $25 million in expenses... In all honesty, 2016 they lost $13 million, 2017 they lost $19 million and that's not a ton of money for that whole company and organization up there, but can you imagine what me and Danny Davis could've done with Ohio Valley Wrestling if they said, 'OK guys, you can bring in anybody that you want that's not on the main roster or signed to New Japan and you can lose $32 million over the next two years.' Holy f***!"
Additionally, Cornette claimed that at the time he helmed OVW as a developmental territory for the WWE, said territory didn’t lose as much as $32 million within a span of two years. Cornette added that OVW has never lost money since it’s been in operation, and granted that it may not have earned desirable revenues here and there, the monetary losses were nowhere close to what NXT is causing WWE.
Furthermore, Cornette explained that he understands the WWE’s logic behind investing millions of dollars in NXT so as to build future Superstars, however, losing $32 million in a couple of years (2016 and 2017) isn’t an advisable strategy to adhere to at all.
What’s next?
The WWE’s NXT brand continues to feature action-packed performances from the yellow brand’s Superstars, and is expected to serve as the WWE’s primary developmental territory in the years to come.
The vast majority of professional wrestling industry insiders believe that although the WWE may incur short-term losses on NXT, the long-term gains in the form of top-notch Superstars more than makes up for it. For instance—Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman are considered to be NXT developments, and now reign as Monday Night RAW’s biggest stars.
Author’s take
Honestly speaking, the WWE has been spot-on in its handling and investment on the NXT brand. It just goes to show how dedicated the company is towards building the next generation of sports-entertainers.
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