Jonathan Coachman thinks WWE’s media scrums were never really about giving reporters a chance to get answers. As far as he’s concerned, they were there to push WWE’s agenda—and when the company does something bad, it doesn’t want to “face the music.”
Speaking on Developmentally Speaking, Coachman was responding to the interviewer explaining how WWE credentialed him for events beginning with WrestleMania 39 before eventually cutting off that access without an explanation. Coachman doesn’t necessarily think the interviewer did anything wrong.
“I think it was just a matter of, ‘Oh, that guy can’t help us on the level that we want him to help us,’ instead of—because I’ve been very critical of the scrums, which now they stopped altogether. They don’t even do them. Triple H doesn’t even do those anymore.”
For Coachman, that gets to a bigger problem with WWE’s relationship with wrestling media. He believes the company isn’t interested in putting itself in a position where reporters can really challenge it when something goes wrong.
“So, I think it was more that than really anything you did. So, don’t feel bad about it. They don’t want to face the music of when they do something bad.”
That’s also why Coachman thinks wrestling media shouldn’t be afraid of upsetting WWE. He believes building credibility means having strong opinions and being willing to stand behind them with facts, even if that costs someone access.
“And what Vince taught me—and I would implore you that if you’re going to build your brand to have your own credibility—you’ve got to give really, really, really strong opinions. Strong opinions. But you’ve got to back them with fact. You’ve got to back them with fact.”
Coachman then got right to his biggest issue with WWE’s media scrums. In his view, the entire setup was more useful for WWE controlling its message than reporters actually getting answers to difficult questions.
“I don’t think they should be doing those scrums anyway. No. They do them to do their own agenda, not to answer your question.”
Coachman also warned against building a wrestling-media business around staying on WWE’s good side. Access can disappear at any point, and he believes WWE will always make whatever decision benefits WWE first.
“WWE is going to do what WWE decides to do. And it’s always good for them. It happened when I was there, and it’s even worse now.”
He believes that has become even more noticeable with WWE protecting its talent and having its own platforms available for interviews. With WWE Radio now part of that picture, Coachman expects wrestlers to have even fewer reasons to make themselves available elsewhere.
“They’re going to protect their talent so much. And now with WWE Radio, a lot of them are going to go on those shows, and they can only ask talent so many times to do interviews or doing radio or whatever the case might be.”
Coachman’s point is pretty simple: wrestling media shouldn’t expect WWE access to last forever. He believes WWE will always protect its own interests first, and even the company’s media scrums were ultimately there to help WWE control the conversation.
What do you make of Jonathan Coachman’s claim about WWE’s media scrums? Let us know in the comments.
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