WWE Survivor Series Dropped and a WWE Channel Coming in 18 months

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original story http://www.pwinsider.com/article/45...up-and-running-in-18-months-and-more.html?p=1

WWE
held an investor conference call today to discuss the fourth quarter numbers which were released this morning. You can read the numbers at this link. Participating in the call were Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon
, Chief Financial Officer George Barrios and Chief Operating Officer Donna Goldsmith.

Vince McMahon, who sounded like he was battling a sore throat, read a prepared statement and referred to the quarter as being "solid" and put over the increase in live event attendance. He noted that they surpassed their commitment to reduce operating expenses, and mentioned they made changes to how they produce television without the audience noticing. Vince also pointed out their increase in television viewership, going against the trend where most shows have lost audience due to increased options for viewers. He talked about extending their video game contract with THQ, noting it has "much more favorable terms" and that JAKKS is no longer part of the deal. Vince mentioned a "strong launch" with the WWE Mattel toy line, and said that WWE now has four of the top 100 selling items at Walmart. He said that they are "confident" in their television contracts being renewed in the future due to their ratings.

George Barrios then reviewed the financial numbers, which you can review at the above link. He did mention the decline in one out of the four PPV events in the quarter, and noted that WWE has decreased their overall number of PPV events a year from 14 to 13, while increasing the prices of the non-Wrestlemania events. He also noted that they have not made any profits on "12 Rounds" or "Marine 2" since their production partners must recoup all their costs before WWE sees any earnings from them.

A question and answer session was then held. Here are highlights from the session:

- Goldsmith said that WWE feels Mattel will make improvements on WWE products "across the board" noting their impressive reach when it comes to international markets.

- Barrios said they are "cautiously optimistic" about DVD sales, with the switch to Vivendi as their U.S. distributor. Goldsmith noted that their rental market is growing when it comes to DVDs. They will continue to "go local" when it comes to making deals with international distributors for their DVDs.

- A person asked about the PPV price increase, stating it seemed "aggressive" given the economy, and that there had been a PPV price increase three years ago. They were asked if they would be "flexible" if the price increase results in the buyrate for shows declining. Goldsmith said early returns on the Royal Rumble were favorable, and they feel "really good" about the move they have made. They didn't address if they would reconsider the increase if buyrates dropped.

- They put over their success in Mexico, noting their success with television (they are on Televisa and TV Azteca, which they compared to being on CBS and NBA) and their first PPV events. They see South America as a "relative new market" for them, and noted that Mattel's strongest markets outside of the U.S. are in South America.

- Concerning WWE starting their own cable network, Vince said they had been doing "a great amount of due diligence" on it, and they will soon be ready for the next step. Vince said if things go as they plan it will be a "game changer" for them. He said they are "pursuing it and getting ready to take the next steps." Vince said having their own network would only help their broadcast partners, and that it would be similar to the NFL, who promotes their own network during their broadcasts on CBS and FOX. Vince said a WWE Network would promote their shows on USA, SyFY and MyNetworkTV. Vince said he hopes to have the new network "up and running" in a year and a half.

- Regarding Survivor Series dropping in buyrate, while Vince said it was one of the "original four" PPV events, they felt the title had "outlived its usefulness" and would be rebranded. So, there will not be another PPV called "Survivor Series" going forward.

- WWE is talking with THQ about an online game in 2010, noting some international markets don't use "hardware games" and the online game would be more successful.
Click to expand...
 
Even though I do not watch the WWE that much, I really must express distaste at dropping the Suvivor Series PPV. It is one of the original four PPV's that made the WWE famous. There were many great debuts at that PPV and four-on-four elimination tag team matches are usually pretty good matches.
 
As a old wrestling fan who hasn't watched a single show since Cena's Face turn, I am neither happy or sad about this. Survivor Series never really felt like one of the "Big 4" to me, in fact it was always one of the blandest. I will always miss King of the Ring though.:-/ WWE's own channel sounds like A wrong move to me. The WWE is not the NFL. It does not bring in Ten million viewers.
 
WWE plain sucks now. At least it's better than TNA trying to bring old washed up superstars to their company.
 
ƓƠƘƲƔƧƊƛƦƘԼƖƝƘ said:
WWE plain sucks now. At least it's better than TNA trying to bring old washed up superstars to their company.
Click to expand...

Indeed. People keep commenting that TNA is so much better now. I remember seeing a TNA and I cannot tell you how many botches that I saw. There are some good wrestlers there, but most of them were at one time in the WWE. TNA has not produced any talent for themselves. There's a reason why WWE is still considered the top wrestling company.
 
PokemonHero said:
TNA has not produced any talent for themselves.
Click to expand...

Uhh...

- AJ Styles
- Samoa Joe
- D'Angelo Dinero (was in WWE but was irrelevant there)
- Christopher Daniels
- Amazing Red
- Beer Money Inc.
- Motor City Machineguns
- Abyss (was actually approached by WWE)
- The British Invasion

And so on. It's just that now, with Hogan there, more of that washed-up "talent" is in, and are taking up valuable screen time. Also, from what I've heard, the house shows are amazing, and they generally treat their talent a little better.

But whatever the case, it doesn't matter. Incidents like this pretty much show that Vince is running scared from TNA, even if they aren't a threat. All they're doing with changing things like this is bringing themselves harm, rather than good. Especially with NXT. I mean, ECW was generally terrible, but at least it was wrestling. The whole idea behind NXT though is idiotic. Yeah, let's give everyone fictional bios of our latest superstar, and have everyone watch day-to-day activities. That's sure to pull in ratings! It's not like reality TV died out in the mainstream like 4-5 years ago!
 
System Error said:
Uhh...

- AJ Styles
- Samoa Joe
- D'Angelo Dinero (was in WWE but was irrelevant there)
- Christopher Daniels
- Amazing Red
- Beer Money Inc.
- Motor City Machineguns
- Abyss (was actually approached by WWE)
- The British Invasion

And so on. It's just that now, with Hogan there, more of that washed-up "talent" is in, and are taking up valuable screen time. Also, from what I've heard, the house shows are amazing, and they generally treat their talent a little better.
Click to expand...

My bad on that part. As I said before, I haven't followed wrestling a lot in a while, and that's doubly true for TNA. I've seen some of those wrestlers through clips and thought they were pretty good, especially the tag teams. That is the one area that I think that TNA is superior to the WWE.

However, while putting on good house shows is nice, you need to bring some good stuff to the table with your main shows that are seen by national audiences. And I don't mean trying to recreate the Montreal Screwjob. I understand that TNA has a much more lax travel schedule, especially for their stars. I know that's why Bobby Lashley has time to train for his MMA bouts and others can compete occasionally with ROH.

The one problem that I have with TNA is that it is trying too hard to recreate the "Attitude" era. I mean, it sounds like a good idea on paper, but when you think about it, it isn't possible. Sure, you could bring back wrestlers, but they are older now. People tend to forget that part of the reason the era was so popular was that there were many new things that hadn't been seen before. You had Hardcore title being defended 24/7, which created many entertaining scenarios. New matches such as TLC matches debuted during this time. And there's one important factor that cannot be recreated: the wrestlers themselves. The Rock and Stone Cold could cut amazing promos. The fans were able to get behind everyone, even middle-carders who had never won a championship.

There's a lot more I could say, but I should stop before I end up typing a novel.
 
TNA isn't even competition. You don't create competition bringing in the Nasty Boys, unless they're looking for the prime they never had. At least the Dudleyz are still useful. I've watched Hogan's debut on TNA, and my suspicion was right. He's still a washed up egomaniac who is now creatively running a company. Not to mention all the garbage he threw on the roster. Scott Hall, who can barely stand up and hold his beer steady; Sean Waltman, who is suicidal; The Nasty Boyz, because they're the Nasty Boyz. Currently, TNA is Hogan, Nash, Bischoff, Russo, Jarrett and Dixie Carter, with Flair popping in every so often. 6 of 7 people were in WCW when it went out of business. 4 of them had creative control of the company when it tanked. It's not looking bright. But on the topic at hand:

I've given up on Vince McMahon since 2004-2005, when he started making John Cena the face of his company. This is just the latest in the loooong list of bull decisions he's made since the 80's. If he's so insecure about buy rates, how about he hires some former wrestling personalities to handle the creative side of things and give those fancy-shmancy hollywood writers the boot.

And get rid of the PG ratings. I don't know what's going on in his mind, but it's not buyrates that made Survivor Series tank after 23 years, but the bullcrap Vince is having featured on it. One of the big four down. In 4 years time, Wrestlemania will be gone.
 
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Survivor Series being dropped threw me off. From a business standpoint and financial standpoint, the ppv was not getting enough buyrates and the number of viewers had been decreasing exponentially since probably 2001. It does suck when a ppv of the "Elite Four" is dropped and one that is over 20 years old compared to ones that should be dropped like Hell in a Cell and TLC. Those are pointless if you ask me. The question now arises which if any ppv will take the Survivor Series spot as a member of the four main ppvs. I think Night of Champions is a solid.
 
BREAKING NEWS WWE TO CHANGE MORE PPV NAMES
original story from http://nodq.com/wwe/268534868.shtml
WWE.com has updated their PPV schedule and it looks like Backlash, Judgment Day, and The Bash are history. Here is the updated schedule...

April: Extreme Rules
May: Wild Card
June: Fatal Four Way
July: Money in the Bank
Click to expand...

wtf vince wtf
 
for the past year, I found it funny that Vince was dropping PPV's left and right, to break with the history, yet still featured old sacks of flour in the ring each and every minute of air time.

I stopped finding it funny a while ago, though. I can see why Shane left.
 
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