Media members typically favor more access as opposed to less. But when it comes to WWE no longer holding post-show press conferences following its Premium Live Events, Ariel Helwani doesn’t see much of a loss.
“I see a lot of people almost offended by them getting rid of the press conferences. I don’t think they added anything,” the longtime MMA insider and personality said on Monday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show. “The questions were never that great. The interactions were a little bit clunky and awkward. And then you’d sometimes have people ask questions and you’d have characters in-character not trying to break kayfabe and it just made for an awkward dance.”
Helwani did, however, state that “the most interesting stuff” came from chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s Q&A sessions, as the pro wrestling legend effectively serves as WWE’s version of Dana White. He also noted the convenient timing of WWE’s decision to stop holding post-show press conferences, but seemed less convinced than others that it was an attempt to evade questions about Brock Lesnar’s involvement in the Vince McMahon lawsuit following Lesnar’s return at WWE SummerSlam on Sunday night.
“It always felt to me like they were going to get rid of it at some point. And so did they get rid of it on this particular weekend because [Lesnar] was coming back? Who knows, maybe we’ll find out one of these days,” Helwani said. “But I also think that there’s no way that they didn’t from a legal standpoint cross all the T’s, dot all the I’s, make sure to a T that they were in the clear for him to come back. They had to make sure that they were in the clear legally for him to come back. Like there’s there’s no way — it’s not like they just jumped the gun and said like, ‘oh, let’s just take our chances here.'”
While one could certainly argue whether WWE executives like Levesque should face the media on a regular basis, Helwani isn’t wrong that the post-show press conferences were undeniably awkward. Aside from wrestlers often struggling to find the right blend of fiction and reality as characters, many of the exchanges provided little-to-no substance, while questions about more controversial topics like the allegations against McMahon were typically sidestepped if they were even asked at all.
Ultimately, the post-show scrums fell somewhere between actual press conferences and pro wrestling’s version of a press conference, serving neither the company, its fans or legitimate journalists who had hoped to make the most of the access. To Helwani’s point, it was presumably only a matter of time until WWE ended the experiment, although that didn’t the timing any less suspicious.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.