For years, Vince McMahon has taken heat for supposedly allowing The Ultimate Fighter to air directly after WWE RAW and handing UFC a massive audience on a silver platter. According to former Spike TV executive Kevin Kay, there’s just one problem with that story — Vince never had the power to stop it.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Kay was asked about Paul Heyman’s old claim that one of McMahon’s biggest mistakes was giving Spike TV the green light to place The Ultimate Fighter behind RAW. Kay shut that version of history down immediately, saying WWE did not control what Spike aired once RAW was over.
“It’s still sort of a mystery to me in a lot of ways because I’ve read people say that Vince had control over the time slot after, which was not true. Did not have control. I never heard from them that they were upset about it.”
Kay said the decision was Spike’s, plain and simple. UFC was paying roughly $10 million to produce the first season itself because Spike’s programming budget was already spent, and when Lorenzo Fertitta asked where the show could air, Kay offered the most valuable spot he could give them — immediately after WWE RAW.
“And then he said, ‘When would we air?’ And I said, ‘I’ll give you the slot, and this is the only thing I can do for you because I also can’t really promote it because I don’t have that inventory, but I’ll give you the slot after WWE and you will have a giant lead-in.’ And he loved that. He thought, like, that’s great, and it was great.”
That RAW lead-in turned out to be gold. Kay said WWE dropped a huge audience directly into The Ultimate Fighter, viewers stuck around, and the show’s ratings kept climbing throughout the first season.
“It was the perfect lead-in for what they were doing. It dropped a big audience in who then, like you, watched it and fell in love with it, and the ratings grew and that first season continued to grow every week.”
So while Vince McMahon has spent years being blamed for opening the door for UFC to grab WWE fans right after RAW, Kay says that blame was misplaced. Spike controlled the schedule, Spike chose the slot, and WWE never had veto power over The Ultimate Fighter going on next.
The crazy part is that one of the most famous “Vince McMahon mistakes” in wrestling history may not have been Vince’s decision at all. UFC got the perfect RAW lead-in, The Ultimate Fighter exploded, and according to the man running programming at Spike, McMahon was never holding the switch.
What do you make of Kevin Kay saying Vince McMahon had no control over The Ultimate Fighter airing after WWE RAW? Does this change how you look at that piece of WWE and UFC history? Leave your feedback 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.
