WWE Stadium Events Going Head-To-Head With Two Huge UFC Shows

WWE used to shy away from scheduling major events on the same night as a UFC pay-per-view. In the days when SummerSlam might cost a fan at home between $40 and $70, it was a horrible idea to try and split revenues with UFC, which reaches a huge part of the same audience. The transition to premium live events on Peacock has helped alleviate that problem, and it shows in WWE’s scheduling.

Money in the Bank will go down on July 2nd at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. WWE will also run SummerSlam, one of its biggest events of the year, on July 30th at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. UFC has two huge events scheduled for both of those days.

UFC 276 features a main event in the middleweight division between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier. The co-main will pit Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway in a featherweight war between two more big names. On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the impact this could have on WWE’s big events.

“It’s interesting because July 2^nd and July 30^th there’s going to be a big UFC pay-per-view. The second, especially. It’s a big UFC against a stadium WWE, head-to-head, same city. [On the] 30^th, they’re in different cities, but still a head-to-head pay-per-view.

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It’s not like years ago where this would’ve been death to WWE. The same weekend used to hurt WWE badly, but the same night would’ve, I don’t want to say killed them, but it would’ve taken probably 15-20% off. Maybe more. Now, a WWE pay-per-view is not a money expenditure, so it’s not like you’re going, ‘I’ve already spent $40 on a pay-per-view on a Saturday night, do I do that again on a Sunday?’”

WWE is hoping for very lucrative gates for both of these massive stadium shows. Without having to rely on pay-per-view revenue, they won’t be hurt as much by running the same day as UFC. Time will tell how much it affects viewership, but WWE doesn’t seem to be worried.

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Transcription by Thirsty for News