In an excerpt from the new book, ‘BEYOND NITRO’ by Guy Evans , media analysts and executives from Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) break down the complex reasons why professional wrestling programs command massive media rights fees, even with a smaller total audience than in previous eras. The discussion provides context on wrestling’s value in the modern television landscape and poses the question of what WCW might have been worth if it had survived past 2001.

Brandon Thurston of the Wrestlenomics website explains that wrestling’s value is no longer measured solely by the total number of viewers, but by its performance relative to other programming. “The reason why they’re getting huge TV rights fees is because they’re still among the most watched TV programs in a given week,” Thursto

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