As WWE prepares to launch its first premium live event on ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer platform with Wrestlepalooza this Saturday, questions have swirled about whether its scheduling was designed to counterprogram AEW’s flagship event, All Out, which occurs the same day. However, ESPN executives have definitively addressed these speculations, insisting the Wrestlepalooza date was driven primarily by strategic partnership goals rather than wrestling competition.
During a media call on Wednesday ahead of Wrestlepalooza, ESPN’s Vice President of Programming and Acquisitions, Matt Kenny, and Senior Vice President JT Lasker, were directly asked by Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp about the potential wrestling counterprogramming rivalry. Kenny explained that WWE’s event calendar for the year had been largely set before ESPN’s involvement: “Many of [WWE’s]...