Executives at ESPN have claimed that the decision to schedule WWE’s Wrestlepalooza event on the same day as AEW All Out had nothing to do with counter-programming a competitor and was instead driven by the desire to launch their new streaming partnership with a marquee show.

During a media call on Wednesday, September 17, to promote the launch, ESPN VP of Programming and Acquisitions Matt Kenny was asked about the strategy behind scheduling a major WWE event against a rival promotion’s established pay-per-view. Kenny explained that the date was chosen to “super-serve WWE and wrestling fans” as part of the new broadcast deal, not to compete with another wrestling company.

Kenny stated that ESPN and WWE will work collaboratively on future scheduling, but noted that many of WWE’s 2025 dates

See Full Page