FOX Not Happy With WWE Promoting Peacock – As noted on Saturday, Andrew Zarian from the Mat Men podcast reported that USA Network wasn’t happy about FOX getting the Hell in a Cell match on Friday’s Smackdown.
Furthermore, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that FOX officials aren’t thrilled with Peacock constantly being promoted on their network, which they see as another rival streaming service. NBCU obviously has no issue with Peacock being pushed on RAW, but they were not happy with the Hell In a Cell match being given away on FOX.
The big issue with the Mysterio vs. Reigns bout had to do with NBCUniversal’s Peacock losing the match as it was nixed from Sunday’s pay-per-view on Peacock and the WWE Network. NBCU is also the parent company of the USA Network, and as NBCU lost the match because it was pulled from the pay-per-view, FOX picked it up.
WWE ratings have been down and the company is under some pressure to pick the ratings back up due to the big money TV rights fees they receive from NBCU and FOX. This is why there have been recent pitches to hold more special themed TV shows.
