WWE bizarrely seats crypto billionaire next to Michael Cole, Wade Barrett at WrestleMania

Did Adam Weitsman just pay for the most expensive seat in sports entertainment history?

That’s what people are asking after the recycling magnate turned crypto billionaire was brought into the WrestleMania 42 broadcast as a “guest commentator” next to WWE announcers Michael Cole and Wade Barrett on Sunday night. Weitsman sat at the broadcast table with the two WWE announcers, and appeared on the telecast with his own chyron and wearing a headset, but was not given a microphone to participate in any commentating duties.

The result was one of the most bizarre on-screen features of any major televised event in recent memory.

The nature of the guest spot confused many wrestling fans, and led to speculation that Weitsman paid to be seated next to Cole and Barrett during the broadcast.

Weitsman owns and operates a scrap metal processing company in New York where he began to amass his fortune. Since then, he has opened restaurants and started a cryptocurrency mining operations called Viridium LLC in 2021. In 2004, Weitsman served eight months in prison on charges of check fraud.

In the sports world, Weitsman is a well-known Syracuse basketball booster who has contributed millions to the university’s NIL funds and brought celebrities including Tom Brady, Jimmy Fallon, and Julian Edelman to games at the Carrier Dome.

One can only imagine what the price tag is for a seat at the literal broadcast table during WWE’s biggest event of the year. Is TKO really so cash-strapped that it needs to sell a seat that includes a pretend “commentator” role during a match? Imagine if ESPN or the NFL were to sell a seat next to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman at next year’s Super Bowl!

If this was, in fact, what it appears to be — a brazen cash grab by WWE — it’ll be fascinating to see how a notoriously opinionated bunch of wrestling fans react.