Jonathan Coachman doesn’t have a problem with Tom Brady. He has a problem with what WWE has become.
As speculation continues to grow that Brady could eventually step into a WWE ring after his ongoing feud with Logan Paul, Coachman believes the company has become far more interested in rubbing shoulders with celebrities than putting on the best wrestling show possible.
Speaking on 2 Count Tuesday, Coachman admitted he completely understands why Brady would be interested in WWE at this stage of his life. Between his massive FOX broadcasting contract and retirement from the NFL, he believes the seven-time Super Bowl champion has earned the freedom to pursue whatever interests him.
“I think Tom Brady has proven whether it’s the $300 million deal with Fox kind of allowed him, JD, to do whatever else he wanted to do. I think for 20 years in New England he was kept under Bill Belichick’s thumb and I think now he’s like, ‘Man, I can do whatever I want to do. I’m making hundreds of millions of dollars. And this is fun for me.'”
From a business standpoint, Coachman even understands why WWE would welcome Brady with open arms. He pointed to Saudi Arabia’s long-standing willingness to pay enormous sums for globally recognizable names, saying Brady fits exactly the type of attraction those events are built around.
“We’ve seen Saudi Arabia pay… what was it? $75 million total for that flag football game that didn’t end up being in Saudi Arabia that Tom Brady was supposed to be the star of. I was there when Hogan got paid $2 million for show number one from Saudi Arabia. They love these stars. They really, really do.”
That’s where Coachman’s criticism begins. He isn’t arguing that Brady shouldn’t appear in WWE. He’s questioning whether all the attention surrounding Brady and Logan Paul has actually made WWE television any better.
The rivalry started with weeks of trash talk before Brady slapped Paul at Fanatics Fest. Days later, the two were caught flipping each other off at the FIFA Club World Cup, footage that WWE later aired on RAW as rumors of a WrestleMania match continued to build. Coachman watched the entire thing unfold and came away unimpressed.
“You said the word cringe. It’s not only cringe, it’s cringe with a capital C. When you’re at the biggest sporting event in the world, and you’re having cameras shoot you flipping the bird to Logan Paul, who I’m also a big, big fan of… there’s no doubt that he’s already signed a deal for WrestleMania 43, probably $10 to $15 million.”
Coachman even admitted that if WWE is already committed to bringing Brady in, moving forward with the idea makes complete business sense.
“If I’m WWE and I’m already all the way in, doesn’t it make sense they would agree to do this? It does to me, even though we don’t like it.”
But he believes that mindset has become WWE’s biggest weakness. According to Coachman, the company has become so focused on building relationships with celebrities, athletes and other billionaires that it has started overlooking the audience that made WWE successful in the first place.
“At some point WWE is going to have to realize—and it’s going to slap them very hard in the face—that all their billionaire friends and the people that are running this company with their billions of dollars… it’s not about them playing with their other billionaire friends and their other celebrity sports star friends. We need to start focusing on the fans.”
His comments come just days after Wrestling Observer Radio reported that WWE’s use of the Brady-Paul rivalry appears to be a slow build toward a potential WrestleMania match. Dave Meltzer believes Brady will need time to train before stepping into the ring, while Bryan Alvarez has argued that if Brady only wants one match, WrestleMania is the only place it should happen.
Whether that match ever becomes official remains to be seen. Coachman, however, believes WWE should worry less about creating moments with celebrity megastars and spend more time giving wrestling fans the stories they’re tuning in to see every week.
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