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ESPN gives WWE/Wrestling their own section


raul

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I wonder if ESPN would be interested in getting back in the wrestling game and having a program again like the AWA/GWF shows?

 

Did ESPN Classics carry Herb's UWF at one point or am imagining that?

 

 

Yes, I want to say they also briefly ran that weird AWF group that had rounds like World of Sport.

 

Also the worst part of this will be endless Dave Meltzer rants on how ESPN isn't treating wrestling like a sport and how that's such a black eye to their journalistic cred (when in reality that ship sailed when they became official PR departments for the sports they cover).

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I wonder if ESPN would be interested in getting back in the wrestling game and having a program again like the AWA/GWF shows?

 

Did ESPN Classics carry Herb's UWF at one point or am imagining that?

 

 

Yes, I want to say they also briefly ran that weird AWF group that had rounds like World of Sport.

 

Also the worst part of this will be endless Dave Meltzer rants on how ESPN isn't treating wrestling like a sport and how that's such a black eye to their journalistic cred (when in reality that ship sailed when they became official PR departments for the sports they cover).

 

 

ESPN does plenty of good journalism on the sports they broadcast. On the other hand, they've demonstrated neither the ability nor the inclination to do good journalism on wrestling. I'm not even sure they know what that would look like.

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The mistake people make in assessing ESPN is that they view it as one, unified thing. It's actually a sprawling, messy beast of a company. So you have some arms, like Outside The Lines and the Magazine, doing quality, nuanced journalism on the leagues ESPN broadcasts. And you have other arms taking a more compromised approach. But reducing it to "ESPN has no journalistic integrity" is bullshit. Dave is absolutely right to say they have not lived up to their standards with other sports in covering wrestling.

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The problem is that things like OTL and the magazine get a fraction of the push from the company that the afternoon Shouty Head Shows get. Plus you have ESPN Radio where they replace real journalists like SVP with meatheads like Danny Kannell who just aren't sold on head trauma being serious issue, and anyone who thinks so is part of the War on Football.

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If I were Hunter,I try to get NXT on ESPN since its looked at as a way more serious Program than the other WWE brands and they are based out of Orlando.

If he kepts it separate from Raw and Smackdown and kept a more sports like feel he can kinda get away from the WWE stigma and build a broader fan base that are sports fans exclusively that wouldnt mind giving wrestling a chance again.

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The mistake people make in assessing ESPN is that they view it as one, unified thing. It's actually a sprawling, messy beast of a company. So you have some arms, like Outside The Lines and the Magazine, doing quality, nuanced journalism on the leagues ESPN broadcasts. And you have other arms taking a more compromised approach. But reducing it to "ESPN has no journalistic integrity" is bullshit. Dave is absolutely right to say they have not lived up to their standards with other sports in covering wrestling.

ESPN has the same problem that Fox News, CNN, etc. have. They present news and they present opinion shows and the line is often blurred between which is which.

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The mistake people make in assessing ESPN is that they view it as one, unified thing. It's actually a sprawling, messy beast of a company. So you have some arms, like Outside The Lines and the Magazine, doing quality, nuanced journalism on the leagues ESPN broadcasts. And you have other arms taking a more compromised approach. But reducing it to "ESPN has no journalistic integrity" is bullshit. Dave is absolutely right to say they have not lived up to their standards with other sports in covering wrestling.

 

It was inevitable that ESPN would take a compromised approach with WWE because none of their real journalists would take it seriously, plus they employ a couple of personalities who used WWE as a springboard to success outside the company. The media as a whole has overall always done a very poor job of wrestling coverage whenever they've deemed it worth their effort.

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The CMLL/ROH/NJPW working arrangement announced last week seems like something that could have potentially been mentioned.

 

I guess this week you wonder how they report on this stuff without focusing heavily on the wellness policy stuff or maybe on Orton being opened up so severely, which did make Deadspin and other places, I imagine.

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