ESPN Has Reportedly Stopped Grading WWE Shows Due To Discomfort Backstage

The first suggestion that ESPN dropped PLE grades from its coverage because it was making waves between ESPN and WWE came last week, courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Post Wrestling has followed up on that initial report, claiming multiple sources have confirmed the letter grades were phased out due to the issues that arose from those first PLEs on ESPN.

The C grade awarded to Wrestlepalooza was followed by a B for Crown Jewel, and since then, while the reports have kept on coming, the letter grades have been omitted from ESPN's online reports. Interestingly, even though UFC is also owned by WWE's parent company TKO, its ESPN reports still include letter grades. That's likely due to there not being a conflict of interest, as UFC's events are now shown on Paramount, not ESPN.

If anything, that adds credibility to the reports that ESPN has ditched letter grades for PLEs because WWE events are shown exclusively on its platform in the US. Neither WWE nor ESPN responded to a request for confirmation on the situation. However, another source claimed that the decision to remove letter grades from its reports was one made by ESPN, not WWE.

How Likely Is It That WWE Requested Letter Grades Be Removed From ESPN's Reports?

That much I believe. I don't think that there was a meeting where someone from WWE demanded, or even asked, that ESPN's written coverage of its PLEs no longer be graded. Nor do I believe someone from WWE requested that it throw its PLEs an A from time to time, even if they don't deserve them.

Instead, my guess is that there were conversations between WWE and ESPN higher-ups that might have felt uncomfortable due to the discourse surrounding those initial letter grades, particularly the C that was awarded to Wrestlepalooza. That discomfort then probably led to an internal discussion at ESPN where someone suggested dropping the grading system to avoid making things awkward between it and WWE.

Whether my assumptions are accurate or not, while it's a shame that someone clearly felt the need to drop grades from ESPN's WWE reports, it doesn't mean those reports can't still be truthful, and negative towards WWE when they need to be. The PLE reports still exist, and they can still criticize WWE if the reporter writing them feels as if the event in question deserves to be criticized.