FOX Sports Issues Statement On WWE Backstage, More Backstage Details On The Future Of The Show
As noted earlier, John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that changes are being made at FS1 and WWE Backstage will reportedly no longer be produced weekly. It was noted that FS1 is scaling back production on their boxing and WWE programming, and that WWE Backstage will no longer be produced weekly, and Inside PBC (Premier Boxing Champions) is being done away with. This is resulting in double digit job losses, according to Ourand.
FOX Sports issued the following statement to POST Wrestling on the future of WWE Backstage:
"Today, we announced programming changes designed to better address the needs of our business. As a result, some positions in our production department have been eliminated."
FOX officials reportedly held a meeting earlier today to inform everyone who works on WWE Backstage that the series was done in its current format for now, according to PWInsider. It was also noted that there will not be a new episode of Backstage tomorrow night. WWE Women's Tag Team & SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley had been announced for the new episode but it's likely that a re-run will air instead.
Among those who worked on the show, it's believed that Backstage is completely done beyond the outside change that it could be used for special programming down the line. There is no gameplan for that to happen as of now, but things are being left open with the idea that FS1 could do more if they choose to.
Florida reporter Jon Alba provided more details on what's happening to the show and what FOX had in mind for the WWE product at one point.
He wrote, "Prior to #WWE moving to Fox, there was an entire division being put together dedicated solely to the WWE product. There were feature producers being brought on. They were searching for on-air talent. It certainly seemed like a major investment. Appears today that's mostly over."
Alba wrote in a follow-up tweet, "FS1 will be stripping WWE Backstage back to airing only around PPVs and big shows, but none of the cuts will affect Smackdown's status on Friday nights on Fox, as reported by @Ourand_SBJ. Says around 20 people lost jobs today through boxing and #WWE divisions."
WWE Backstage premiered on November 5, 2019. Last week's show with WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart as the special guest drew 175,000 viewers for the best viewership of the year, and the second-best in show history, going back to the November 19 episode, which drew 180,000 viewers.
