Vince McMahon has reportedly made the decision to return to live programming beginning with this Monday’s edition of RAW. Smackdown, NXT, and RAW are currently scheduled to air live every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from the WWE Performance Center moving forward.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, McMahon made the decision to move back to live shows on Friday. This was as the company had plans to run tapings all weekend. The move is possibly due to WWE’s contracts with both Fox and NBC Universal. The contracts only allow for a certain number of shows to be prerecorded per year.
Speculation currently holds that if WWE were to air more taped shows, they risk violating the terms of its contracts. This could potentially lead to the networks withholding money or finding a way to restructure the deals. It is not clear, however, if Fox or NBC Universal would be motivated to do this.
Some in WWE are said to have been shocked by Vince’s decision. Others, however, have defended the move due to the potential financial implications. It is also not clear if Vince was instructed to return to live shows by the networks or if this is something he decided to do on his own.
