ESPN host says they are still in ‘exploratory phase’ with WWE

A few months ago, ESPN announced a major change to WWE programming, where ESPN emerged as the promotion’s PLE partner.

ESPN is currently in a PLE deal with WWE. Earlier this year, ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service became the exclusive U.S. domestic home of all WWE PLEs.

Recently, speaking to Denise Salcedo, ESPN host Joe Fortenbaugh opened up about ESPN’s deal with WWE. When asked about how ESPN covers WWE, Fortenbaugh claimed that they are still in their “exploratory phase” with the promotion.

“Excellent question, because we are still in the exploratory phase with that. What does the viewer want the most? If we sit down and we have an interview with Seth, which we did recently, it aired this morning about tonight’s match, do people want to hear about the match, the history with Roman, his preparation for the match?

“Or do you want to bring in a new audience that might not necessarily watch wrestling, that might not necessarily want to hear about the storyline, but could be interested in the fact that Seth’s a huge Bears fan? They’re a Bears fan or they’re a football fan, now there’s a connection,” he said.

“Now they might be more interested in following Seth because they know something about him. So we’re working to marry those two, how best to serve the viewer. And it’s been fun because some of the conversations, like with Punk last night, we just nerded out over the match.

“I mean, the moonsault, vaulting CM Punk, moonsaulting CM Punk going through the table, having those conversations are always a blast. But getting to know them a little bit, I think there are fans that really want to see the peek behind the curtain, and we’re trying to figure out the best way to marry the two for the viewers,” he finished.

The ESPN DTC service streams all WWE PLEs annually, in their entirety, with selected simulcasting on ESPN linear platforms. All of WWE’s PLEs, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and others, all stream on ESPN.

In the same interview, Fortenbaugh also mentioned how Roman Reigns benefits from his limited appearances and less accessible nature.