Ellation -- the parent company of known longest-running Anime streaming website Crunchyroll -- sees a huge business link between WWE and anime streaming. With WWE stars being huge fans and advocates of anime and the huge overlap between anime and WWE communities, the parent company is thinking their partnership with WWE will turn out positively profitable. Some fans and critics disagree with the idea.
According to Forbes.com, Ellation VP of Marketing and Distribution Arlen Marmel said that WWE Xavier Woods' appearance in a "Dragon Ball" outfit showed "the clear overlap between the anime and WWE communities. He said he and the company were "excited at the opportunity to collaborate with another global entertainment company in WWE.
In an advertisement of Crunchyroll.com last Black Friday, the company had offered a lower price for a 3-month streaming deal for both WWE Network and Crunchyroll for new subscribers. Responses to the original advertisement were mixed with some users saying, "This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel of special offers" and some asking, "Why are they doing this?"
A lack of involvement -- meaning immersion by the WWE stars themselves -- into anime may not make the partnership too profitable. Xavier Woods' entrance was amazing because he did look like he came from "Dragon Ball" as he dressed up as one. The WWE community is interested in the drama of its stars and anime's art might not be interesting at all despite similarities in storylines. The same goes for the anime community who may not really want hulking males and females whose only narrative locale is a WWE arena.
Maybe the best way to know how WWE can be profitable is to ask wrestler entrepreneurs, such as Hulk Hogan or The Great Khali. Even if they do not hold the answers, time will tell whether Ellation's Crunchyroll's investment in their WWE network partnership will truly pay off.
