Executives at ESPN have claimed that the decision to schedule WWE’s Wrestlepalooza event on the same day as AEW All Out had nothing to do with counter-programming a competitor and was instead driven by the desire to launch their new streaming partnership with a marquee show.
During a media call on Wednesday, September 17, to promote the launch, ESPN VP of Programming and Acquisitions Matt Kenny was asked about the strategy behind scheduling a major WWE event against a rival promotion’s established pay-per-view. Kenny explained that the date was chosen to “super-serve WWE and wrestling fans” as part of the new broadcast deal, not to compete with another wrestling company.
Kenny stated that ESPN and WWE will work collaboratively on future scheduling, but noted that many of WWE’s 2025 dates were already on the calendar before the new deal was moved up. “Really, it had less to do with any particular wrestling competition. In fact, we take a holistic view. We know there is competition everywhere. Certainly in the fall on Saturdays…there’s no shortage of college football competition throughout the day,” Kenny said. “We welcome competition and do take a ‘game on’ approach. We are focused in this particular case to super-serve WWE and wrestling fans on our platforms”.
The scheduling situation arose from a significant shift in WWE’s media rights. The company’s deal to air Premium Live Events on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer service was not originally slated to begin until April 2026. However, WWE negotiated an early exit from its existing contract with NBCU’s Peacock streaming service, which was revealed in August. This allowed ESPN the opportunity to begin the partnership much earlier than planned. According to Kenny, ESPN was “excited when presented the option to start that relationship early” and wanted a major WWE event in September to help launch the new platform.
The initial scheduling announcement for Wrestlepalooza placed it in direct head-to-head competition with AEW All Out, a long-standing event on the AEW calendar. However, the conflict was avoided when AEW announced it would move the start time of All Out to the afternoon, allowing fans to watch both major shows on the same day without overlap.
The inaugural Wrestlepalooza, emanating from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, is set to feature matches that include Cody Rhodes defending the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre, John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, and a mixed tag team match pitting the husband-and-wife duo of CM Punk and AJ Lee against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, and more.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit ESPN with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
