At this point, one of the greatest concessions in WWE's upcoming
move to USA will be the loss of two of its weekend programs.
Although the move is so far away that a second show could still be
figured into the deal, USA reportedly only has interest in running
Heat. None of WWE's weekend shows deliver in the ratings and USA
does not want to sacrifice its strong mix of original programming,
Law & Order and movies for programs that cannot perform.


Even though WWE will lose quite a bit of guaranteed ad revenue,
Vince McMahon is happy with the deal because he feels it gives an
opportunity for an increase in ratings and reputation. Sources close
to the situation indicate WWE is desperately trying to court
advertisers of a higher-class, and the feeling is that USA's
anticipated marketing blitz for the return of RAW, coupled with the
NBC specials, will give WWE an increased opportunity to move up the
ladder.


WWE remains confident that the Telemundo exposure for RAW will
improve WWE's connections with the Hispanic market. While there are
Hispanic currently watching WWE, the feeling is that WWE needs to do
a better job of attracting such fans and can definitely benefit from
Telemundo.


Although Spike TV will never admit it publicly, many believe the
network knew they could not provide enough money to compensate for
the extras in the USA package, so opted to pull out.