Professional wrestling and sports entertainment are wild worlds, but there are still headlines that can catch the crowd off guard. One came out on Friday as WWE has hired a Senior Director of Creative Strategy who will look for ways to implement artificial intelligence into storytelling and content creation. Yep, AI is here in sports entertainment, and boy, fans and viewers should be alarmed.
Cyrus Kowsari was hired back in early October into the role of Senior Director of Creative Strategy. Dave Metlzer of Wrestling Observer reported on the hire and what it potentially means for the creative process of WWE.
“Levesque [Triple H] said that Kowsari would lead WWE’s transition to AI-based storytelling and integrate AI into creative services like video and graphics. He said that this shift is inevitable when it comes to creative in pro wrestling. Kowsari said he would both manage AI storytelling and be a liaison to the White House as Levesque is taking on more duties in politics in some form. WWE has a contract with Writer AI, a platform which has already been fed WWE content.”
The news didn’t stop there, because Meltzer’s report included information about a pitch that was produced via the AI platform. This pitch involved Bobby Lashley, who signed with All Elite Wrestling in September of 2024, returning to the company and being obsessed with Japanese culture and history. While both disturbing and impossible, no one would be surprised if WWE booked a Black performer in what would be an insensitive program for multiple minority communities at the same time.
Whether you are happy about it or not, AI is here, and its impact will continue to be felt in a variety of ways. AI content creation is already a thing; just hop onto any major social media platform and you’ll see a healthy offering of video, pictures, and written content created by AI platforms like ChatGPT. While some of these uses are meant to help streamline work and improve outcomes, there’s a growing concern that businesses will continue to look to AI as a tool to eliminate human staffers in an effort to improve the bottom line. Remember how Endeavor and TKO are pushing to extract profit from WWE just as they have done with UFC? This is another move in that effort.
Something that makes professional wrestling and sports entertainment so powerful is the ability to elicit emotions from the fans, viewers, and even performers in the ring. Think back to moments like Kofi Kingston winning the WWE Championship, “Hangman” Adam Page defeating Jon Moxley, Mercedes Mone and Bianca Belair facing each other in the main event at WrestleMania. Those moments all came with emotions that everyone involved and those who witnessed will remember.
This is where the infusion of AI becomes problematic. AI cannot recreate the emotion that is vital to creating these types of moments in art. This isn’t a problem in just sports entertainment, but it is an issue that is popping up across all art and entertainment sectors. The push and rush to implement AI has caused strikes that have impacted movies, television, and video games. Unfortunately, those in the pro wrestling and sports entertainment industries do not have the same collective bargaining opportunities, so they will have less of an opportunity to push back against the moves.
There’s a lot to think about with this news that WWE is looking to leverage AI in content and storyline development. Online perception is that WWE’s product is already suffering from a creative standpoint, so the infusion of AI does not leave much for excitement. This isn’t good news, but it is news that should not surprise anyone who has followed TKO and Endeavor’s moves in business.