WWE Will Be Forced To Change Creative Process If Betting Is Legalized On Their Matches
It looks like WWE will have to change a lot if they wish to legalize betting on their matches.
During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer spoke at length about the new idea of betting on WWE matches. This will do a lot to change the way the company operates. Match finishes will have to be kept a secret from performers, and they will only be allowed to know the results when betting closes.
On the other hand, this information cannot get out internally either. That means the writing team will not be able to craft long term stories that are dependent on certain people winning and losing along the way. This will make long term booking almost impossible.
“If they do this, legitimately, they can’t tell anyone (finishes to matches in advance). It’s not like you’re gonna sneak around the system, there’s gonna be safeguards and everything. The minute they tell people and it gets out, or even if it doesn’t get out, they’ll have people investigating them and they’d be in an incredible amount of trouble for gaming violations and things like that. That’s nothing to mess with. They literally can’t do that. So the talent will not be able to know their finishes, at least in the matches that are being gambled on.
“If you’re a guy, and you’ve got a big pay-per-view match – if you’re gonna win the match or you’re gonna lose the match, the working of the match is very different, the story you tell is different. These matches are crafted, set up with agents and all these people, and the structure of the match depends on many different things, such as, ‘Where are we going next?’, ‘What is the match story?’, ‘How do we lead to the finish because what is the match finish’?. If you don’t know any of this…
“I don’t know how deep in the card they’re gonna allow the gambling to be because they’re kind of saying selective matches – the guys that this is gonna affect the most is your champions, your Charlotte Flairs, your Roman Reigns, Bianca Belair, Usos, and all of them. They’re the ones who need more than anyone, especially Roman Reigns, to know where he’s going and what he’s doing. And those are the ones who are not going to be allowed to be told, and those are the ones with the most pull.
“If Roman Reigns is going into that pay-per-view against Sami Zayn, and he doesn’t know if he’s gonna win or lose until the last minute, how do he and Heyman and everyone craft the storylines for the week before and the week after and where they’re going and how you factor Cody Rhodes in, and everything.
Dave Meltzer
We will have to see if WWE can pull this off, but they are trying. If WWE is able to legalize betting on their matches, then the entire creative process in WWE will have to change in order to facilitate this new system, because the last thing WWE wants to do is violate gambling regulations.
H/T to Ringside News
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