That's what I'm thinking. NHL Network is a niche thing in the US. WWE likely puts up similar attendance, merchandise, and better TV ratings. That's the crazy thing. Hockey rarely does very good ratings on TV. WWE does GREAT cable ratings, still. They have a track record of pretty much unheard of ratings for a weekly show. They've got a great track record for PPV buys. Not to mention that NHLN doesn't produce shit in the way of original programming. WWE has more money to spend, and a better TV track record. But it's viewed as such utter shit, like you said, that the higher ups want nothing to do with it.
Which reminds me of the Rise and Fall of WCW DVD with the mention of how nobody at Turner wanted to be associated with wrestling. Which was a little different, because WWF in the 90s always skewed a lot more raunchy. Which led me to Googling Harvey Schiller because he seemed like the only one who didn't have a problem at all with it. Turns out he's one accomplished motherfucker. Probably the most successful person ever to be associated with wrestling, and had the least problem with it. Interesting...
I've always had a problem with the way wrestling is viewed, but Vince really made his own bed on this one. When you've pandered to kids, hicks, and horny/blood-thirsty teens, it's hard to distance yourself from it in a room full of TV execs who look for problems the way Sunny used to look for coke. I can see how he'd have trouble with selling it, despite it having a larger built-in audience than Outdoor Network and the trash-heap that is MavTV. Maybe do a tie-in with someone for a year and see how it plays out. Then sell your audience following the product to the outer-space regions of cable networks.
Problem being, the main selling point of WWE Network is all the stuff from the past. The nostalgia of showing/reviewing past footage props the network up 10x more than the kid-friendly product now or the original programming that nobody wants to see. So Vince would have to sell the network as something it can't possibly succeed as. I love how stupid TV work actually is....:joeybats: