On a recent episode of the SBJ Sports Media Podcast hosted by John Ourand of Puck News and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, WWE’s Wrestlepalooza was highlighted as a major contributor to the early success of the new ESPN and Fox Sports streaming bundle.

During the “Who’s Up, Who’s Down” segment, the Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp selected the joint streaming package as his “Who’s Up,” crediting high-profile sporting events for the surge in subscriptions shortly after launch. Karp specifically pointed to WWE’s premium live event as one of the biggest subscription drivers in late September.

“We saw some of the initial numbers since that began… a lot of good reception,” Karp said. “They launched it right before football season. You can see the spikes when NFL started, when college football started, and particularly late in September, when ESPN had its first PLE Wrestlepalooza. Really seeing a spike there in sign ups.”

The discussion also addressed the broader significance of WWE’s monthly premium live events in today’s media landscape, especially with Disney (ESPN’s parent company) preparing for carriage negotiations with YouTube TV.

Andrew Marchand added, “I think there’s a lot of confidence that the big deal is the wrestling events that, if you’re a YouTube person, you don’t just get the extra wrestling events. WWE, big spectaculars once a month and… I think that will be worked out, from what I understand.”

WWE’s next major premium live event on ESPN Unlimited will be Survivor Series, taking place in San Diego on November 29.

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