Vince McMahon apparently had one pretty basic question before WWE launched the Network — how much wrestling could people possibly want to watch? George Barrios says WWE eventually got the answer, and he made sure Vince didn’t forget that he had questioned the idea in the first place.
Speaking on My World with Jeff Jarrett, the former WWE co-president looked back at the creation of the WWE Network and how the company went from selling expensive individual pay-per-views to offering them as part of a much cheaper monthly streaming subscription.
The pay-per-views were always going to be the big hook, but WWE also had this massive wrestling library sitting around. Barrios said the company started digitizing that content because they needed subscribers to actually stick around between major events.
“We’re going to pivot the pay-per-view from a high-priced model — 50 bucks a month, where we have to split it with the cable companies — to where we can now go direct, and we’re going to lower the price to $10, right? That becomes the essence of the WWE Network.”
There was just one problem. Vince wasn’t completely convinced people wanted that much wrestling. Barrios remembered McMahon calmly asking him a pretty hilarious question while they were preparing everything for launch.
“And I remember Vince, at one point before the launch, going, ‘George’ — probably one of the few times he used the F-word, but very calmly — ‘How much f***ing wrestling do you think people can watch?’”
Turns out, quite a lot. According to Barrios, somewhere around 500,000 to 700,000 people signed up for WWE Network within hours of its launch. But the subscriber numbers weren’t even the part that really answered Vince’s question.
Because WWE controlled the service, the company could suddenly see exactly what subscribers were watching. Barrios said the amount of time people spent watching wrestling outside the pay-per-views was staggering.
“And the amount of consumption of the Network content that wasn’t the pay-per-views was staggering, right? It was hundreds of hours of people spending time.”
Once Barrios had the numbers, he couldn’t resist having a little fun with his boss. During a meeting, Barrios pulled up WWE’s fancy new viewing charts and reminded Vince of that question he had asked before the Network launched.
“So I remember, you know, and I’m a wiseass, we have now all these fancy charts, and we’re in a meeting. There’s a few of us, and I go to Vince, kind of like to needle him, I go, ‘Hey, Vince, remember when you asked me how much wrestling people could watch?’ I put it in front of him, and it turns out quite a f***ing bit.”
Vince apparently took being proven wrong pretty well. Barrios said McMahon could laugh at himself in situations like that, despite his reputation and the amount of success he’d already had in wrestling. Instead of getting pissed about Barrios rubbing the numbers in his face, Vince apparently just chuckled and accepted that his guy had been right.
“And so he just did that little chuckle. That was the real Vince, you know, that third Vince shows up where he’s like, ‘Yeah, you got me. I’m the king. I’m Vince. I’m the king of wrestling, and this f***ing guy just showed up and was right. People really want this stuff.’”
For Barrios, the moment was bigger than simply winning an argument with Vince. The WWE Network became one of the projects he remains proudest of from his time with the company, and those early viewing numbers gave WWE something it had never really had before — a direct look at just how much wrestling its hardcore audience was willing to consume.
What do you make of Vince McMahon initially questioning whether fans would actually watch enough wrestling to make WWE Network work? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
