BJ Bethel is out at SEScoops one day after the outlet published his claim that ESPN had already decided to walk away from WWE. ESPN called the story false, SEScoops deleted it, and now the company has announced that it parted ways with the writer responsible for it.
SEScoops issued a statement admitting that Bethel’s story never should have made it through the door.
“Yesterday we published a report from BJ Bethel on WWE’s relationship with ESPN. We are retracting that story in its entirety.”
The outlet admitted that ESPN and WWE deserved an opportunity to respond before publication and that the basic verification step was not completed to an acceptable standard.
“Before a story like this runs, the subject deserves a direct chance to respond, and that step wasn’t taken to the appropriate standard.”
SEScoops did not stop with a correction buried at the bottom of the original article. The entire story was pulled, the outlet brought in an outside partner to review its verification procedures and Bethel was shown the door.
“We’ve parted ways with Mr. Bethel, have had our verification procedures reviewed by an outside partner, and updated our process as a result.”
The original story claimed ESPN had already decided not to renew its five-year agreement with WWE when the contract expires. Bethel blamed alleged problems involving company culture, communication, the media market and cable providers failing to absorb the cost of ESPN’s Unlimited service.
There was one massive problem: ESPN said it was not true. Justin Barrasso contacted ESPN on August 25 and received a direct denial from a company spokesperson.
“There is no truth to the report that we have decided not to renew.”
ESPN’s denial came quickly, and SEScoops’ own statement now confirms that the network was not given a proper chance to respond before Bethel’s story was published. The claim was especially explosive because ESPN is only at the beginning of its massive relationship with WWE. The companies agreed to a five-year contract in 2025 worth approximately $1.625 billion, giving ESPN domestic rights to WWE premium live events at an average cost of roughly $325 million per year.
That means Bethel was claiming ESPN had already decided the future of a billion-dollar partnership with several years still left on the contract. The story spread across wrestling media before the network could kill it. Ringside News covered ESPN’s denial after the network made it clear that no such decision had been reached.
This is also not the first time one of Bethel’s enormous claims has raised questions. In March 2025, Bethel claimed AEW Dynamite was averaging approximately 500,000 viewers per episode on Max within its first 24 hours. That number was not publicly released by Warner Bros. Discovery, Max or Nielsen, making independent verification impossible.
Tony Khan was later asked about the claim during an AEW media call. Khan did not confirm that Dynamite was drawing exactly 500,000 viewers on Max. He said his access to the streaming numbers was limited and that the data was being closely guarded.
The WWE–ESPN story did not leave that kind of wiggle room. ESPN directly rejected the central claim. The original claim may be gone, but the damage created by a false story about a $1.625 billion WWE deal does not disappear as quickly as the delete button can be pressed.
Do you think SEScoops retracting the story and firing BJ Bethel is enough, or should the outlet explain exactly how the claim was allowed to reach publication? Let us know in the comments.
