Andreas Hale Says WWE Did Not Give Him Nor ESPN A Reason Why He Was Not Credentialed For WrestleMania 42

Andreas Hale weighs in on the WWE WrestleMania 42 credential controversy.

Going into day one of WrestleMania 42, ESPN reporter Andreas Hale took to social media and shared that WWE denied his credentials for the two-night event.

Hale has written multiple feature pieces about WWE for ESPN. When the company made the move to bring the main roster Premium Live Events to ESPN Unlimited, Hale began writing show reviews and gave them a letter grade. He gave the Wrestlepalooza PLE a ‘C’ and the Crown Jewel event a ‘B.’ The reviews stopped after Crown Jewel in October.

Hale guest appeared on Off The Ropes and commented on not being credentialed for WrestleMania 42. He stated that he was never approved for the show and added that ESPN reached out on his behalf, but WWE never provided a reason for their decision.

“It was never approved for either day. I don’t know (what happened). I was never given a reason. I did everything I was supposed to do. I did my job as a reporter. I’ve covered pro wrestling for ESPN. I’ve written stories about Jey Uso heading into WrestleMania, Seth Rollins, John Cena, so on and so forth. The infamous match grades which we discussed the last time I was here, which had a big buzz on social media, and then all of a sudden, it was, ‘Your credentials not approved,’ and I was never given a reason why. We never found out why, and that’s kind of where it stood. It was a big shocker and yes, I tweeted about it and that caused an uproar but, how can ESPN’s reporter not be at WrestleMania without saying anything? So, the only thing I could say is what I said in that tweet: I don’t know what happened. Nobody gave me a reason. ESPN asked on behalf. We were never given a reason and that was that and I wasn’t at WrestleMania. I watched from home, in my city by the way.” Hale continued, “Again, I can’t tell you (a reason why it happened). The relationship between ESPN and WWE, all I could say is it’s above my pay grade. The answer is above my pay grade.”

WWE’s next PLE on ESPN Unlimited is Clash in Italy on May 31st. The match card for the PLE is currently listed as follows:

• Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. GUNTHER
• WWE World Heavyweight Championship — Tribal Combat Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jacob Fatu

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Off The Ropes with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.