WWE president Nick Khan says there will be a lot more Bad Bunny in WWE and there is also a concerted effort to get Cardi B involved as well.
WWE’s modern-day roots lay in pop culture crossovers such as the ones that ignited the initial WrestleMania era over 30 years ago. In today's social media world, it has never been easier for celebrities to express their love for WWE and enable a potential working relationship.
At the Royal Rumble, Bad Bunny performed his hit song Booker T and even got physical in the Royal Rumble Match diving onto the Miz and John Morrison. After these appearances, it was widely rumored that Bad Bunny would be involved in a match at WrestleMania 37.
Now, WWE President Nick Khan tells Forbes that there will be a lot more Bad Bunny on WWE television in the near future.
“That’s a lifelong, career-long desire. No matter when people start watching, they’re always going to obviously get older, so you always have to figure out a new way to get young people in,” says Khan. “So what we’re in the middle of—the bad Bunny thing ... that’s obviously tailored towards a young audience. We’re in the process, now, of developing a number of different animated properties, some with the desired demographic of 2 to 6 years old, so the thought is to get kids in young. We’re also reevaluating our entire gaming strategy.
“So I’m not convinced that there are a group of 15-year-olds watching linear television who just don’t happen to be watching us. They’re finding our content elsewhere, and we have to get to them before they’re even 15, to make sure we have a chance to win over new fans so when the other fans start to phase out and get older, we always have a new population coming in.”
Cardi B is another name WWE wants to secure. During the first Monday Night Raw of 2021, Cardi B was name-dropped by Torrie Wilson leading to the megastar tweeting about her fandom in the mid-2000s.
Nick Khan would tell Forbes that these kinds of partnerships are easier now due to the lack of touring because of the global pandemic.
“Yes, and specifically the two that you just mentioned,” Khan says, referring to Bad Bunny and Cardi B. “Obviously, there is no touring right now, so the ability to get Bad Bunny for however long this run is going to be—and you’re going to see a lot of him—I don’t believe that would have existed in a world where Bad Bunny was on tour. That’s going to be a continual effort, so we’re always going to watch Bad Bunny, Cardi B to get involved.”
He adds: “It made it a touch easier to get a deal done this time because they weren’t—over the course of however long the deal is—is not in 25 different cities during that time. The bulk of concert money is made in the summertime. It doesn’t appear as if there are going to be big tours during the summer, even we’re all hopeful, so we’ll see what other folks we’re talking to and who you’ll see in the mix.”
Earlier today, Bow Wow expressed interest in potentially joining WWE after his music career is over. Learn more at this link.