Jonathan Coachman Criticizes WWE for Prioritizing Profit Over Wrestling Quality

Jonathan Coachman Says WWE Is Prioritizing Money Over Wrestling Quality

Jonathan Coachman believes WWE has shifted into a company driven almost entirely by financial goals rather than producing the best wrestling product possible. Listening to TKO President Mark Shapiro’s latest earnings call pushed him past the breaking point, convincing him that the company’s priorities have changed in ways fans can clearly feel.

Coachman discussed the topic on 2 Count Tuesday, explaining that Shapiro’s comments about balancing fan experience with profitability sounded less like a commitment to improving WWE’s shows and more like a corporate strategy focused on squeezing every possible dollar out of the brand. To Coachman, SummerSlam served as a perfect example of what that approach looks like in practice.

Coachman Criticizes WWE’s Corporate Direction and SummerSlam Presentation

Coachman pointed to Shapiro’s remarks about fan experience and profitability, questioning whether those priorities are truly aligned with what viewers want.

“If TKO was not chasing every last dollar… Mark Shapiro did an earnings call for TKO and he said they got two focuses—the fan experience and also profitability, and not necessarily in that order. His words, not mine.”

He then highlighted WWE’s decision to move September’s sold‑out AAA event to the MGM Grand Garden Arena. To him, the move had nothing to do with improving the fan experience and everything to do with opening a few thousand extra seats.

“You’ve already sold out in Vegas… now they’re moving it to the MGM Grand Garden Arena… All they’ve told people is, ‘You’ll get more information.’ What does that even mean?… Why are we going to a place that only has a couple thousand more tickets? Make this make sense.”

JD echoed Coachman’s frustration, saying he tunes Shapiro out entirely because he believes every decision comes back to money rather than wrestling.

“I don’t like hearing Mark Shapiro’s name… It’s just like, ‘I’m greedy. I want more money. I don’t care about pro wrestling.’”

That frustration spilled into their thoughts on SummerSlam. JD argued that WWE constantly uses the phrase “fan experience” without ever defining it, and that watching the event from home felt more like sitting through a marathon of advertisements than enjoying WWE’s second‑biggest show of the year.

“What is the fan experience?… We at home are part of the fan experience too… We were bombarded with Wingstop ads… Cody Rhodes had to come out in Street Fighter gear… We got vignettes, we got promos… I got two half shows. If that’s the fan experience, I had a terrible time.”

Coachman believes the deeper issue is that WWE’s leadership rarely admits when something isn’t working. He questioned why TKO executives seldom appear at WWE’s biggest events, despite WWE being the company’s largest revenue generator, and argued that the promotion consistently defends questionable decisions rather than correcting them.

“The UFC is not your cash cow. WWE is your cash cow… At some point, when are we going to admit maybe we’ve made a mistake? They never admit it. Triple H won’t admit it. Shapiro won’t admit it.”

He also criticized WWE’s reliance on two‑night Premium Live Events, insisting the format is more about selling additional tickets than producing better wrestling. In his view, even WrestleMania suffers from being stretched across an entire weekend.

“Nothing—not even WrestleMania—should be two nights. If you sell 55,000 to one night, that’s a big freaking night.”

Whether fans agree or not, Coachman believes WWE has reached a point where business decisions are shaping the product more than creative ones. Until that changes, he doesn’t expect the “fan experience” to improve.