WWE made huge news in the radio world today by taking over SiriusXM’s Busted Open wrestling channel and making it their own network moving forward. Former wrestlers Bully Ray, Tommy Dreamer, Mark Henry, and a handful of others joined longtime radio host Dave LaGreca as the mainstays of the channel. However, there will be plenty of change going from a purely independent outlet to one owned and operated by WWE management.
Busted Open aka WWE Radio revealed the following new lineup:
“Busted Open” hosted by Dave LaGreca, Bully Ray, Mark Henry, and Nic Nemeth
“Notsam Wrestling Live” hosted by Sam Roberts
“Cheap Heat Live” with Peter Rosenberg
“The Hart Beat with Natalya”
“Off the Ropes” with Raj Dhesi, Mark Henry, and Tommy Dreamer.
“Busted Open After Dark” with rotating co-hosts
Former WWE personality turned sports broadcaster Jonathan Coachman joined Busted Open when the network expanded to daily wrestling coverage. The Coach revealed a few days ago that he was informed that his services would no longer be needed to end his daily show.
It turns out that the change to WWE Radio led to Coachman getting removed from the team. On a network mostly known for WWE fan coverage skewing positively, Coach was allegedly removed for being a more critical voice of the biggest promotion when he felt they deserved it.
How WWE Radio Impacts AEW’s Future
Busted Open was created as a show with no biases meant to cover all wrestling across the industry. AEW became part of that with some of their wrestlers appearing on the show to promote PPVs.
Current women’s division star Thunder Rosa became a host as part of the Busted Open team to give them at least one talent associated to AEW. Rosa was absent from the press release naming all the hosts, and it would make sense that WWE wants her gone.
While all these are considered negatives for AEW, the overall impact could be positive. Some fans viewed Busted Open as “the Fox News of wrestling media” for one-sided coverage once WWE has influence via unofficial partnership. AEW doesn’t have to worry about negative coverage if they are no longer being covered and the station now admits it’s a WWE production.
Pros & Cons To WWE Influencing Wrestling Media
The biggest critical takeaway from this news is that WWE is more than willing to buy, sponsor, or promote with established media brands. AEW and every other wrestling promotion not aligned with WWE can suffer from losing one promoting platform.
However, there are some positives that can be taken from the new deal. WWE Radio is apologetically a WWE platform there to provide more experiences for fans who watch the product and want more content that coincides with their thoughts.
Journalism usually requires no financial attachments associated with your opinion and coverage of the product. Busted Open was close to being a WWE fan service show already, so they’ve just embraced their ideal form of coverage. AEW and other companies must find other avenues on the internet to promote their shows effectively.
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