ESPN SportsCenter will reportedly be expanding its WWE coverage in a major way
Former WWE performer and current ESPN on-air personality Jonathan Coachman started wide speculation about a possible forthcoming announcement regarding ESPN and the WWE. He started the rumor mill spinning on Monday night when he sent out this tweet:
You have been asking for years and we are about to take another step. So excited. 48 hours. #wwe #joinus #letshavefun.
— The Coach (@Thecoachrules) October 12, 2015
He only further fueled the speculation about a major announcement coming soon when he later addressed his tease by saying this:
Remember we want to serve fans anytime anywhere. Athletes are @WWE fans. Superstars are sports fan. #cometogether https://t.co/np1rb5igIA
— The Coach (@Thecoachrules) October 12, 2015
Now it appears that we have word on just what that announcement is and it is indeed major. PWInsider.com is reporting that ESPN will announce on Wednesday that they will begin covering the WWE in a weekly segment on SportsCenter. The segment on ESPN’s flagship show will recap the week’s action in WWE.
This announcement comes about a month and a half after ESPN broke ground on this front by covering SummerSlam on their programming, something that they’d never done before. Now it appears that the coverage will only expand from there.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is set to appear on the 9 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter on Wednesday night, which is likely when the announcement will be made.
There was speculation leading up to this report that Coach was teasing ESPN’s planned presence at WrestleMania 32, but this is far bigger than that announcement would’ve been.
As for SportsCenter’s segment on WWE and how it will work, we don’t know details on that or on when it will be broadcast considering that the actual announcement from ESPN has yet to occur. One has to assume, though, that Coachman and Robert Flores—an unabashed professional wrestling fan—will be invovled with the coverage.
This is astronomically important for WWE as it will undoubtedly get more fans invested in the product. There will surely be some outcry about ESPN covering a “fake” sport, but this is undoubtedly something current WWE fans will enjoy and something that will ultimately benefit Vince McMahon and WWE going forward.