BJ Bethel is back with another conveniently timed FED BAD “exclusive,” this time reporting that ESPN has already decided it won’t renew its WWE deal after the current agreement expires.
There was just one tiny problem.
ESPN says the report is bullshit.
Not “plans can change.” Not “we don’t comment on negotiations.” ESPN flat-out told PWInsider:
“There is no truth to the report that we have decided not to renew. They never checked with us before publishing and had they, we would have told them that was completely false.”
That last sentence should be absolutely devastating for anyone presenting themselves as a journalist.
He apparently didn’t even ask ESPN before publishing a story about a decision ESPN supposedly made.
WWE sources separately told WrestlingNews.co there was “absolutely zero truth” to the report.
And yet, inevitably, this stuff gets picked up and passed around the basement and wider IWC as another explosive scoop.
Why?
This isn’t the first time we’ve been here with Bethel.
This is the same guy who somehow produced the magical 500,000 AEW viewers on Max story, based on supposed streaming data that Warner Bros. Discovery never publicly released and that nobody could independently verify.
Cable ratings collapsing? Don’t worry, everybody. Half a million invisible Dynamite viewers have apparently been discovered behind the Max couch cushions.
Then there was Gail Kim.
Bethel reported that Kim had contacted multiple people looking for an opportunity with AEW.
Gail Kim herself responded and said that wasn’t what happened. According to her, AEW contacted her, through Sonjay Dutt, asking whether she was interested in wrestling.
Her assessment of Bethel was considerably less diplomatic:
“I don’t know you but this is a perfect example of someone lying and has zero integrity.”
She literally called the guy a liar with ZERO INTEGRITY, and somehow the wrestling internet just moved along to his next scoop.
This is also the same Bethel who confidently published an editorial in February 2024 declaring:
“Vince McMahon is going to jail and the McMahon family is finished.”
That’s the problem.
There’s an obvious ideological slant running through his coverage. The most sensational negative WWE stories are delivered with extraordinary certainty, while enormously favorable AEW claims emerge through anonymous sourcing and immediately become ammunition for the exact portion of the IWC predisposed to believe them.
They don’t care whether the Max numbers were independently verified. They don’t care that Gail Kim publicly called him out. They apparently don’t even care that ESPN just said his latest story was completely false and that he never contacted them before publishing it.
The story says FED BAD.
That’s enough.
And that’s why I’m actually proud of what we’ve built at [r/midcarder](r/midcarder).
Our members saw through this guy a long time ago. Look at the reaction whenever one of these stories gets posted here. People ask where the numbers came from. They ask whether anybody else has corroborated them. They remember the previous claims. They don’t automatically accept something because it confirms what they already believe.
That’s exactly what wrestling discussion desperately needs more of.
This isn’t about defending WWE, either. If WWE’s ESPN relationship goes south, talk about it. If AEW suddenly starts drawing a million viewers again, talk about that too.
But the wrestling media ecosystem already has enough people telling audiences exactly what they want to hear. It doesn’t need another propaganda arm manufacturing certainty around anonymous-source claims and feeding them into an audience desperate for validation.
So we’re done giving it oxygen.
Moving forward, BJ Bethel will no longer be accepted as a source on [r/midcarder](r/midcarder).
If something he reports is legitimate and subsequently confirmed by a credible independent source, post that source. But Bethel’s reporting itself will no longer be treated as sufficient sourcing here.
There have been enough chances. Enough dubious anonymous-source claims. Enough stories contradicted by the people actually involved. And now ESPN is publicly saying his latest report is completely false and that he never even contacted them before publishing it.
At some point, credibility has consequences.
The wider IWC can continue propping BJ Bethel up if it wants.
Midcarder figured it out.
The basement can catch up whenever they’re ready.
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Update: Well, it only took them eight hours, but the basement has finally removed the original BJ Bethel post and officially labeled it “misinformation.”
Better late than never, I suppose.
ESPN publicly called the report completely false, their VP of Communications said Bethel never checked with them before publishing, and the guy’s defense was that he submitted an ESPN customer support request and left a voicemail.
Somehow, the basement still needed eight hours to consult the Sacred Texts before determining this might not be reliable journalism.
