WCPW Forced to Cancel Shows Due to YouTube’s New Advertising Policies

Independent wrestling company WCPW has been forced to cancel its shows in Manchester as a result of YouTube’s new advertising policies, revealing that the future of the promotion is in doubt as a result of its earnings being drastically reduced due to the video site cutting off most of its revenue.

WCPW is an ambitious and successful project dreamed up by staff members of the site WhatCulture, who used the popularity they’d garnered through their wrestling-related YouTube channel to kick start their very own wrestling show. Since the show’s inception they have hired a variety of famous wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle and Alberto El Patron to take part in their live events, though today they have announced that their weekly live show Loaded will be placed on indefinite hiatus while the YouTube ad crisis continues.

Adam Blampied, a WhatCulture employee and one of the organisers of WCPW, appeared in a video today announcing that the upcoming Loaded tapings in Manchester would be cancelled, and that refunds would be distributed to those who had purchased tickets. Blampied revealed that as a result of YouTube deeming that wrestling footage isn’t advertiser friendly, the ad revenue generated by its video has declined to the point of being almost non-existent. He evidenced this by revealing that a video on the channel with over 1 million views has raked in just $43, adding that “ad revenue is crucial for WCPW” and that “without that money a weekly, free YouTube show is now unsustainable.”

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Blampied stated that while the monthly paid and free WCPW shows would continue, Loaded has been cancelled until further notice, with WhatCulture only able to resume it if YouTube changes its ad revenue policies. “It absolutely sucks that WCPW Loaded isn’t coming back, but it really is out of our hands and we just can’t afford to do it since YouTube categorised as inappropriate an entire industry full of athletes, commentators and journalists”, he said. “All of these people are set to have their lives vastly affected due to these sweeping changes in programming.”

YouTube made its advertising policies much stricter in the wake of a mass advertiser walkout, as the likes of PepsiCo and McDonald’s boycotted the video site after being concerned that their products were being linked with “derogatory content.” As a result of this walkout, YouTube enforced changes that dramatically reduced the revenues of a wide selection of its most prominent users, causing mass amounts of panic as a result. YouTube hasn’t made it clear whether or not these plans will change in the future, but for the time being several YouTubers have revealed that they’re having to reassess their career options.

Watch WhatCulture’s video on the WCPW Loaded cancellation below:

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