Bully Ray Details Implications Of WWE Not Advertising Recent Brock Lesnar Appearances

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Brock Lesnar made his shocking return to WWE last month at SummerSlam, confronting John Cena. “The Beast Incarnate” makes his return to the squared circle Saturday, September 20, at Wrestlepalooza, the first WWE event to air exclusively on ESPN’s streaming platform following their multi-billion dollar media rights deal. 

Lesnar made another surprise appearance this past Friday on “SmackDown,” furthering his feud with Cena. 

Bully Ray co-hosted “Busted Open Radio” and talked about how WWE doesn’t even have to advertise Lesnar’s appearances due to its ticket-selling success. 

“Think of how good business is in WWE when you don’t have to advertise Brock Lesnar. 50,000 seats at SummerSlam, they didn’t need Brock’s name, there was no whispers that Brock would be returning, there weren’t people buying tickets to SummerSlam because they thought maybe Brock was coming back, there wasn’t a soul that knew Brock Lesnar was coming back, nobody knew.”

Ray continues to speak on WWE’s booming business and how WWE doesn’t need to resort to spoiling surprises by advertising them in advance (note AJ Lee’s recent surprise return).

“On “SmackDown,” you didn’t need Brock Lesnar to sell out 15,000 seats in Chicago. That tells me a lot about the business that the company is doing. Brock Lesnar is one of the heaviest heavy-hitters, a major draw, somebody that you buy a ticket to see, and they didn’t even need to play that hand.”

It is no secret that WWE, led by its parent company TKO, is doing extraordinary business. Not only did WWE negotiate multi-billion dollar deals with Netflix and ESPN, but the UFC recently announced their own $7 billion-plus deal with Paramount set to go into effect in January 2026. 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the “Busted Open Radio” podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.

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