During WrestleMania season, much has been made about the ticket sales, or lack thereof, for WrestleMania 42, which has seen a decline from WrestleMania 41 last year, both of which were held in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Less, however, has been made about WWE’s ongoing relationship with ESPN, which streams WWE PLE’s on ESPN Unlimited. While the WWE/ESPN relationship is still new, there have reportedly been some tensions, including WWE reportedly forcing ESPN to drop letter grades from WWE reviews after WrestlePalooza was given a C back in September.

But there may be even bigger issues than that. On Tuesday’s “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer was discussing Pat McAfee’s controversial inclusion into the WrestleMania build. Meltzer noted that McAfee’s relationship with ESPN through “The Pat McAfee Show” was an important factor in him getting involved, partly because ESPN feels he can get more subscribers for WrestleMania. It was then Meltzer revealed that was a pressing concern for ESPN, as WWE PLE numbers on Unlimited hadn’t been what they had hoped for.

“They [ESPN] spent a lot of money for those PPV rights, $325 million a year, and the numbers, obviously…they have not been big, at all,” Meltzer said. “They’re much much lower than they were on Peacock. And this is the big one. This is the one where they’re counting on people buying that app to get WrestleMania. 

“So if it takes Pat McAfee going on that show and talking about this over and over and over again, and doing things to ‘build up the show,’ I’m sure that they’re for it because selling those PPV’s is a whole lot…not PPV’s, selling subscriptions for this show, is a whole lot more important than a guy who is doing a show and kind of just playing a character rather than being himself.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription