Add as a preferred source on Google WWE’s advertising overload has once again drawn heavy criticism, this time with a complaint made directly to Triple H.
During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, O’Shea Jackson Jr. revealed that he spoke with Paul Levesque after taping Stephanie McMahon’s What’s Your Story? podcast at WWE headquarters.
At the time, the actor and No-Contest Wrestling host told WWE’s chief creative officer that the commercials were making the shows hard to follow.
“I went to go do Stephanie McMahon’s pod. I did it at WWE Headquarters. Triple H comes down and we’re all talking. I brought up my transgressions. I was like, ‘Dude, the ads are crazy. It’s almost unwatchable.’ They know. They’re working on placement, maybe. I get it, Roman Reigns’ entrance is seven minutes long. That doesn’t mean that’s the time to go to ads. There should never be a moment where I miss IYO SKY’s entrance because we’re back on commercial break. It’s a level of respect for them. It’s fine in the middle of a match. At least picture-and-picture me. It’s for sure soulless, but to get to a billion, I don’t know what you have to do, but it sounds pretty soulless. We’re dealing with Bs, not Ms.”
According to Jackson, Triple H and Stephanie did not deny the issue. Instead, they acknowledged the situation and indicated that the company is working to improve how commercials are placed throughout its programming.
The biggest criticism is not just the number of ads, but when they air. Jackson pointed to WrestleMania 42, saying fans should not miss major entrances, such as IYO SKY’s, because of commercial breaks.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful also reported that some wrestlers were frustrated by the combination of shorter matches and more time being set aside for commercials.
WWE, on the other hand, is coming off historic commercial numbers. WrestleMania 42 featured 32 marketing partners, along with 106,072 fans in attendance at Allegiant Stadium and 1.3 billion social media views.