WWE President Nick Khan addressed a number of topics related to WWE, including how he handles criticism from online fans.
Although there was a time when the pro wrestling company could seemingly do no wrong, there have been more complaints in recent times. From creative dipping in quality, increased ticket prices and more adverts than before, fans have regularly taken to social media to let their feelings be known one way or the other.
Speaking with Sports Business Journal, which was recorded on April 15, Khan was asked about the social media backlash. Unsurprisingly, the WWE President noted that he does not pay attention to what the online fans say when critiquing, citing it as a vocal minority:
“I’ve never read X or Twitter as it relates to our business. That is a vocal minority. It’s like comment and complaint cards, they only filled out the complaints. People are allowed to complain, but we don’t adjust our business based on complaints; we adjust our business based on ratings, revenue, and relevancy.”
Khan was also asked if he would ever respond to social media criticism, to which he gave another direct response:
“We will never respond to social media criticism. Again, if ratings are down, if revenue is down, if relevancy is down, it’s up to us.”
Nick Khan Addresses Criticism Over Huge WWE Storyline
One creative move that generated a lot of negative feedback from the fans was the biggest storyline heading into WrestleMania 40. While it appeared that Cody Rhodes was on course to finally defeat Roman Reigns and win the WWE Championship, the company had other plans. On the SmackDown after the 2024 Royal Rumble, which Rhodes won, The Rock made a surprise appearance and was seemingly gifted the opportunity to face Reigns by Rhodes.
The move sent social media into a frenzy, resulting in the “We want Cody” posts to trend for the next few days. Eventually, the decision was reversed, and Rhodes faced Reigns in Philadelphia. Although it appeared that the company responded to the fan backlash, Khan stated it was always the plan:
“The plan was always how it ended up in Philly two years ago. Sometimes it’s a predetermined outcome in wrestling. You want to throw the fans off, you want to let things bake, and then boom, it ends up the way we wanted it to end up. It never changed. That was just online rumours and gossip that we were changing.”
