Future Plans for Lana?
The plan for Lana is to become the female face of the company once her turn is complete. It is also reported that Vince McMahon feels that part of the transition has to reveal that she is really an American.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Samoa Joe Update
Joe met with HHH at this past week's NXT tapings about finalizing a deal to sign with the company. Joe's last independent date is booked on 5/31.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
WWE Planning More Tuesday Live Specials on the WWE Network?
The plan from the WWE is to do more specials on Tuesday's on the Network that happen live from the Smackdown Tapings.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The plan for Lana is to become the female face of the company once her turn is complete. It is also reported that Vince McMahon feels that part of the transition has to reveal that she is really an American.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Samoa Joe Update
Joe met with HHH at this past week's NXT tapings about finalizing a deal to sign with the company. Joe's last independent date is booked on 5/31.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
WWE Planning More Tuesday Live Specials on the WWE Network?
The plan from the WWE is to do more specials on Tuesday's on the Network that happen live from the Smackdown Tapings.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
These "Network Exclusives" are going to piss off NBCUniversal.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Lana will work as face of the company, but if it removes the current, the Bellas, I'm for it.
ReplyDeleteWith King Of The Ring being popular, why not utilise more tournaments for the specials?
ReplyDeleteQueen of the ring, Tag team Tournament. Legends tournament, etc.
If this leads to the Lana Express bus tour throughout America, I am all for it.
ReplyDeleteShe needs to fuck Cena in storyline, and have the power of his semen, turn her American.
ReplyDeleteI wish she was the face in my crotch.
ReplyDeleteWay too soon to turn her.
ReplyDeleteSadly, no 7 round mock draft from me. Got tied up with some stuff last night.
ReplyDeleteI think her losing the accent would be a big mistake....that's part of what makes her unique!
ReplyDeleteAnyone else doing Age of Ultron tonight?
ReplyDeleteNFL draft and work.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Vince to 100% misunderstand why his characters are over and act accordingly.
ReplyDeleteLana is American? WHAAAA?
ReplyDeleteNext thing you're gonna tell me is Rusev isn't Russian! That's just crazy talk.
The only way this works is for Lana to switch sides to another wrestler. It really shouldn't be Cena though.
ReplyDeleteThey can re-enact the entire Luger-Yokozuna angle with Lana and Samoa Joe!
ReplyDeleteIsn't he meant to be Bulgarian who became a Russian citizen?
ReplyDeleteWelcome to wrestling in 2015.
ReplyDeleteLana was brainwashed by the KGB in the 90's.
ReplyDeleteWatching "One Night Only."
ReplyDeleteGothic Undertaker should never say "Cause y'see...."
I'd prefer if she became the legs of the company.
ReplyDelete"The plan for Lana is to become the female face of the company once her turn is complete. It is also reported that Vince McMahon feels that part of the transition has to reveal that she is really an American."
ReplyDeleteThis makes no sense at all.
'97 taker was interesting in that he became way more human, before doing an about face with the ministry stuff a bit further down the road. I remember a Raw promo that was "worked-shoot"-like where he was basically in street clothes
ReplyDeleteLike all UK PPVs it's weird show that fluctuates from amazingly awesome & big matches to random pairings that stink the place out.
ReplyDeleteI've got tickets to a 10:45 a.m. show tomorrow. Working til midnight tonight.
ReplyDeleteThey should just copy Nikolai Volkoff''s face turn
ReplyDeleteMaybe she's been a sleeper agent the whole time.
ReplyDelete"Gosh, that Italian family at the next table sure is quiet"
Like Patriot/Flash Funk for instance.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite forgotten gems of '97 is on this show: Owen vs. Vader, where Owen works a singles match as a babyface for the first time in years.
So they are going to take everything unique about Lana and turn her into just another Diva.
ReplyDeleteThat's what it sounds like. Ol' Smilin' Hand-Slappin' Lana.
ReplyDeleteRemember when Vince had big plans for Summer Rae? I wonder how that turned out.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds just like Vince.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see Lana turn into Ashley Massaro.
ReplyDeleteJust finished watching the confrontation between Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis on one of the Prime Times they put up. Piper bashes Adonis for cross dressing, saying he doesn't want his kids to watch something like this. Don Muraco, the heel, tells Piper that this is America, where you can be whoever you want to be!
ReplyDeleteThe 1980s were a much different time and place.
The worst was Crash Holly vs Funaki at Rebellion 2002 which I was at live. Neither guys had even been on tv for months. Let alone in any kind of feud.
ReplyDeleteWell, she got to star in a movie with the Miz.
ReplyDeleteBut she was in a movie! A real one!
ReplyDeleteAnd she never will be again.
Of course, that's the angle they'll run with.
ReplyDeleteVince's boners have given us tremendous things: Sunny's bikini spreads, Trish as submissive concubine, the WBF...
ReplyDeleteAbout 70% of the stuff said in the 80s would get them thrown off USA these days.
ReplyDeleteShoot, even some of the stuff USA showed then (like Silk Stalkings) somehow wouldn't make it, for whatever reason.
All Hail Vince's Boner
ReplyDeleteI've said before they need to steal the ONO ideas from TNA and do stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteYo, I forgot about Silk Stalkings. My gateway into Red Shoe Diaries, Lady Chatterley, etc.
ReplyDeleteRoman Reigns
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine Vince yelling at Lana "smile more, dammit! You're an American now, Americans smile cUse they're the good guys!"
ReplyDeleteProbably not. How many people honestly watch(ed?) Main Event?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure after they tanked the last few SNMEs, NBC Universal is perfectly happy with them having Raw and SD and not asking for additional time slots.
I have like the first 3 seasons on DVD. My wife was really big into it when she was growing up.
ReplyDeleteSeparating Lana and Rusev is death to both of their characters.
ReplyDeleteHow about the big news that Dixie Carter is doing Austin's podcast?
Skinemax. Great days.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about Lana is how she puts a kayfabe spin on all the couple activities she and Rusev does together on her Twitter and Instagram accounts.
ReplyDeleteEven going into the early 90s. Didn't Hulk call Yoko a "dirty Jap" or something?
ReplyDeleteLord Alfred Hayes used to love talking about the evil Orientals.
ReplyDeleteFor those claiming the Network/PG/whatever are killing WWE. here's the big story from the WWE investor call.
ReplyDeleteThe WWE announced their 2015 Q1 results today, and it was good news. For the quarter, the Company reported Net income of $9.8 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to a Net loss of $8.0 million, or $0.11 per share, in the first quarter last year. Overall, revenues increased 40% to $176.2 million, which makes this the highest quarterly revenue in WWE history
You can't be the face of a North American-based company if you sound Russian. 'Murica.
ReplyDeleteHaving to stay up until midnight on Friday and Saturday, sneaking into the living room, checking out Marilyn Chambers softcore flicks....yes, good times.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, unless they show whacky clips of her taking English classes at the local learning annex, I'm not on board.
ReplyDeleteI'm always reminded of Bobby Heenan saying that you would wrestle a Chinese wrestler, and after 30 minutes, you'd want to wrestle him again.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who thinks PG or the Network are putting WWE out of business has no idea how big of a company WWE really is.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think the real argument is that the Network business model cuts into the amount of money WWE could be making, not that the Network is killing the company entirely.
So Bayless got a little kinky last night? Good job sir.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite to this day is Shannon Whirry. Good lord.
ReplyDeleteHa. I actually ended up working late and fell asleep on the couch at midnight. Havent slept more than 4 hours a night the past week.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Network is going to sink them now, but they're changing their structure around with releases and payment ?s to make them seem profitable.
ReplyDeleteWell, in the case of the "Network Exclusives" they are actually pulling interesting, current, storyline driven programming away from the cable shows.
ReplyDeleteI can see them having a little fuss about that. We all know Main Event doesn't matter.
Well that's about just as good at this point.
ReplyDeleteCatching up on NXT now... Blue Pants... does she come down to the ring with someone humming Price is Right music? And Dana Brook is terrible.
ReplyDeleteHow is earning nearly $10m in 3 months seeming profitable? That is simply profitable.
ReplyDeleteWell, WWE is profitable (it's not an issue of SEEMING profitable).
ReplyDeleteThe question is could WWE have been MORE profitable without the Network.
Brain: Did you know Tito holds a place in Guiness' Book of World Records?
ReplyDeleteGorilla: Yeah? For what?
Brain: He picked 1,600 heads of lettuce in 1/2 an hour.
Gorilla: Will you stop...
He's got to go in on her about Vince Russo killing the relationship with Spike.
ReplyDeleteNot going until tomorrow night
ReplyDeleteLet's hope, but something tells me that podcast will be so full of Dixie's bullshit that he won't get straight answers. Kind of like when Austin had Tommy Dreamer on.
ReplyDeleteThat's Big Cass doing the theme. Hilarious. Blue Pants is one of those things that really solidified NXT as it's own world.
ReplyDeleteBecause the E.
ReplyDeleteI love Blue Pants!
ReplyDeleteDana will get better. I hope. I like looking at her.
ReplyDeletePG always made money for wrestling! The Attitude Era was an anomaly.
ReplyDelete"Daddy, the blonde is taking heat! I'M the only woman who gets to have heat!"
ReplyDelete"WE'LL SOLVE THAT, SWEETPAL!"
Are they? Because the only one (that I recall) that they've done is the KOTR finals and I'm thinking maybe we wait to call KOTR interesting or storyline driven, especially with Bad Luck Barrett as king.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge football fan. But I find the NFL Draft to be really, really boring. I can make it through about an hour, and then I'm done. Anybody else the same way?
ReplyDeleteAll Italian jokes get immediate upvotes.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun only for about an hour. After that, only serious viewers care.
ReplyDeleteI'll be watching my first NFL draft in tomorrow (first time it's been on TV here in Australia), but if it's anything like the NBA one then I lose complete interest after the 1st round and start picking guys I've never heard of.
ReplyDeleteI... enjoy the draft. It's the best part of Browns fandom.
ReplyDeleteUgh...
I don't even watch. I just have the draft tracker on my phone and do more important things like watch the Mets, or shit, or clip my toenails.
ReplyDeleteThey'll wait for Lana to get super over, then book a segment where Stephanie berates her for 20 minutes until Lana leaves in tears. The angle is never brought up again.
ReplyDeleteYou'll lose complete interest by the 3rd pick. The only entertaining part is when they boo the commissioner.
ReplyDeleteMy god, sweetpal as a term from Vince to Stephanie is fucking genius.
ReplyDeleteUp vote for "sweetpal"
ReplyDeleteYeah, the cats that watch the combine and do their own mock drafts and such.
ReplyDeleteDING!
ReplyDeleteShannon Tweed was the softcore queen for late 80's/early 90's.
ReplyDeleteI also had Spice because we had all channels unlocked (my mom worked for the local cable company). I don't recall Spice being that good back in the day, but porn has changed a lot since then.
I don't have a problem with PG. Hell, all the WWF I watched as a kid was PG.
ReplyDeleteBut you can have PG and intriguing storylines. You don't ass and tits for an engaging wrestling product.
Rumor mill this morning has the Browns trading the pick to the Eagles for Sam Bradford and the Eagles 1st rd pick.
ReplyDeleteSilk Stalkings was great! Best 5 minutes after RAW each week!
ReplyDeleteWhich will most certainly include the words "GET OUTTA MY RING!"
ReplyDeleteFellow Browns fan here! It's the only fun day of the NFL season for me.
ReplyDeleteShe's just horrible. Less flexin' and more wrestlin' sweetie.
ReplyDeleteA one-legged quarterback is exactly what the Browns need.
ReplyDeleteI only care if there's a player from my school that is projected to go high (Tannehill, Manziel, Matthews, etc.), or if there's a player from a rival school that is projected to go high and doesn't get drafted in the first round (smack talk purposes). Otherwise, forget that.
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing a lot about that. It seems like the Eagles signed Bradford just to get the picks from the Browns. I keep hearing Kelly is desperate to get Mariotta and will do anything to make it happen. And the Browns freaking love battered, injured QBs who bust.
ReplyDeleteUsually a pretty good show until the last 12 picks or so. Don't care about anything after round 1. It really depends on if there are any trades or surprise pick drama. If everything goes as people expect, pretty boring.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed it better when it was on Saturday morning/afternoon instead of this primetime nonsense.
NFL is starting to hit a tipping point with me in terms crazy fandom. Very slowly starting to lose interest. Think they are over saturating. If they expand the playoffs in a year it will continue.
Why take away everything people love about Lana? The silly Russian accent is part of the charm.
ReplyDeleteWatching Mick Foley Cheap Pops. They actually bleep out Goddamns.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. It's not "PG" that's hurting the stories (if anything, it makes it more profitable with kids and advertisers). It's the awful writing.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Phila are trying to get assets for a Mariota run. If it shakes out to Bradford and Phila's 20 for the 12, I'm in. Bradford and three first round picks would work.
ReplyDelete#Ask Dixie
ReplyDeleteyeah as many of mentioned too. Makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteThey have been doing this for years with heels that get over, turn them face, then change everything about them that made them popular in the first place.
Only two picks, dummy.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of Bradford in St. Louis. He's a legit star when healthy. Getting him on essentially a one-year "prove it" basis isn't a bad deal, and the 19 and 20 can be both bait to move back up or solid value picks to bolster the lines.
ReplyDeleteI love how low down, sneaky heels that use every dastardly trick in the book suddenly become complete idiots and fall for everything once they turn face.
ReplyDeleteI was there live too! High five!
ReplyDeleteCrowd was dead for that match, but we got Los Guerreros vs Benoit/Angle, Edge vs Brock/Heyman and a rare PPV for heel pre-rapper John Cena!
Plus, Stephanie got a HUGE pop, which made me hate my own country for a while
Because hearing a man say "goddamn" is worse than showing a man taking vicious chairshots to the head, apparently.
ReplyDeleteI think they would be more profitable without the Network, but long term I think the Network should pan out. But they have been cutting costs. I'm not saying they were losing $60 mil a quarter, but they've made cuts to change how profitable they are (mostly, where the profits are coming from, not necessarily the profits themselves, if that makes sense).
ReplyDeleteWas Wrestlemania included in the #s?
Except Stone Cold.
ReplyDeleteIs she called Flexy Sexy yet?
ReplyDeleteI hate how a face can take out 3 guys and still win the match against the biggest opponents but as soon as they turn heel, they can't win a clean match to save their life.
ReplyDeleteOr how about 9% of RAW matches end with a distraction rollup.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.distractionrollup.com/
How have wrestlers not learned not to look at the ramp when another wrestler's music plays during a match?
I need an update on Daniel Bryan
ReplyDelete"He might be back in June, or he might not." - Davs Meltzer
ReplyDeleteJust picked up tickets to Pittsburgh's NXT show in June. Can't wait.
ReplyDelete"He may or may not be hurt, and he may or may not return." - MetsFan4Ever
ReplyDeleteLana's new theme will be "Real American" just to really hammer home the point.
ReplyDelete"He's still injured, we're not sure how badly and he'll be out for some time between a few days to a few years or he may retire"
ReplyDeleteThe other one was the match where Sheamus dropped the US Title to Rusev... a match that hadn't been seen before and really helped to put Rusev over as legit.
ReplyDeletePG is fine. Bad stories are not fine.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a bit weird is that they are targeting "everybody", but the majority of their viewers are males from 25-40 (or whatever that specific demographic is).
Not sure where the revenue boost is coming from. Perhaps people ARE signing up for free WWE Network, and then just not canceling it.
He's dead.
ReplyDeleteThe entire card was rebooked on the day, the only pre-announced match that actually happened was D-Von/Faarooq vs Palumbo/Venis
ReplyDelete* As of March 31st, the WWE Network has 1,327,000 paid subscribers. From inception through March 31, 2015, WWE Network had attracted nearly 1.8 million unique subscribers with 74% of these subscribers active as of that date.
ReplyDeleteThen when the babyface rub flops they wonder why. See: Del Rio, Alberto.
ReplyDeleteAh that sucks. Vince may offer him a slightly reduced schedule though
ReplyDeleteSolid update.
ReplyDelete"The update on Daniel Bryan is that this update on Daniel Bryan may or may have an update on Daniel Bryan." - Perd Hapley
ReplyDeleteIf he dies today, you'll feel guilty for causing it.
ReplyDeleteBased solely on quality matches that take place, SummerSlam is the second most important WWE PPV after Wrestlemania?
ReplyDeleteTwo legendary teams who remained partners for DAYS!
ReplyDeleteI think Royal Rumble is the 2nd biggest PPV based on quality matches.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that's a fair assessment. It gets some mainstream coverage, too.
ReplyDeleteIt's been the 2nd most important/biggest PPV for a long time, not just recently.
ReplyDeleteSee also: Cena, John.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's always sort of been their second show. I've always been partial to the Rumble myself, but historically I've seen most people talk about SummerSlam as the second big one.
ReplyDeleteI guess their plans worked. Just slower than expected. And/or the economy is doing better than a year ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's the rush? Lana has been on TV for, what, a year? Why now? Rusev still can become a main event heel world champ with Lana as his manager, which would be a killer act.
ReplyDeleteIn WWE cannon, it's the 2nd biggest show of the year... but to the fans, and it's always been this way... we're all huge fucking marks for the Royal Rumble.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely present it that way, although the Rumble traditionally gets more PPV buys than Summerslam every year.
ReplyDeleteIt's ridiculous. She's gonna be a giant flop.
ReplyDeleteToss-up between Rumble and SummerSlam. It changes year-to-year.
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely the peak for the year though. People sign up for Wrestlemania, then cancel after Wrestlemania, but they're still subscribed through April because they already paid the $10 for the month.
ReplyDelete"WWE announced today in their Q1 financials report that WWE Studios recognized revenue of $1.5 million as compared to revenue of $4.3 million in the prior year quarter. The decline in revenue was primarily due to the performance and timing of results from the Company’s portfolio of movies."
ReplyDeleteSHUT THE FUCKING THING DOWN ALREADY.
Quickly going through the archive website of all Scotts ****+ matches. Summerslam has had 19. Royal Rumble has had 18.
ReplyDeleteHogan was the worst! He went from literally unbeatable to cowering and begging off from a single punch when he turned heel. And his legdrop went from unkickoutable to a
ReplyDeletecompletely nothing move.
Yeah it's only making $1.5m in three months. That's pathetic.
ReplyDeleteThat's a glaring fact when you look at a company actively cutting costs.
ReplyDeleteWWE Studios already lost $35.8 million as of the end of last year ( http://whatculture.com/wwe/10-wwe-studios-movies-lost-millions.php ),
ReplyDeleteWhat's another few million, right?
The degree to which Dana White & Rousey just played WWE for chumps is fucking hilarious. Still blows me away that they spent 30 minutes of Wrestlemania putting over a competitor's top star for ZERO BENEFIT is amazing. Why would they have done that if a match or at least a future advertiseable appearance wasn't locked down?
ReplyDeleteAnd also, Rousey getting on Sportscenter the next day isn't an answer, considering it did jackshit to make anyone want to keep watching WWE TV (see their shitty ratings) or become WWE customers. The Sportscenter segment ends up being something they could put into a future reel of "Hey look we're on real TV shows!" and that's about it.
You could make a case that it's the most important for the full time roster if you take the view that Mania is now a standalone nostalgia show.
ReplyDeleteLana is a hot blonde, so she'll be over regardless. I think it's probably wise to take away with accent for her long term babyface success (as much as I love her as a Russian)
ReplyDeleteSo...are they going to gradually phase out Lana's accent, keep it, or just have her drop it and play like she was just jerking Rusev around the whole time?
ReplyDeleteRousey's involvement in Mania and the extensive coverage might have (key phrase: *might have*) contributed to the monster rating the post-Mania Raw did. Of course, there's no way of knowing if it did, and ratings have crashed back under 4 million anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy considering there are a bunch of B-movie production companies and mini studios out there that are out there making better revenue without a fraction of the built in advertising platform that WWE has.
ReplyDeleteHe has long hair, a beard, and is short.
ReplyDeleteLook at Lana! She's A Natural American Lady, MAGGLE!
ReplyDelete“Hello, we’re the WWE. We’d like to put the middle aged woman who runs our marketing division or whatever on an equal footing in a match with your undefeated world champion. Deal?”
ReplyDelete“Yeah sorry there’s no fucking way that’s happening.”
Raw did the same post-Mania rating it always does, with a slight bump because it was the first time in years it wasn't up against the NCAA title game. So you can't give Rousey credit for WWE doing what it always does.
ReplyDeleteKelly is desperate to always think he's the smartest most coy guy in the room. And this would be one more situation where he could chuckle and say oh man I got you guys. He's a clown.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hate Hogan, and hated him during the nWo, but the chicken heel thing he did bugged me. Dude...you beat Andre, Bundy, Kamala...everyone under the sun. Now Sting makes you quiver?
ReplyDeleteUFC played Vince like a deck of cards. They got WWE to spend 30 minutes at their biggest show of the year putting over THEIR star as the biggest badass ever. Fuck, she made the Rock a background player and out fought HHH, was presented as the biggest star there is, and then... oh yeah, if you wanna see her again pay for our competitor's show. HAHAHAH what the fuck.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, they got on Sportscenter! Which of course amounts to zilch for WWE because they got on Sportscenter with stars who don't wrestle for them (Rock, Rousey) and in an angle that leads to absolutely nothing that would gain new viewers/customers. But again, it's something for the highlight reels that they show at live events right?
Dude based on WWE's booking she'll come out next week with a new name, American accent, and be best friends with the Bellas.
ReplyDeleteAnd then she'll proceed to lose via distraction finish rollup to Alicia Fox.
"The plan for Lana is to become the female face of the company once her turn is complete. It is also reported that Vince McMahon feels that part of the transition has to reveal that she is really an American."
ReplyDeleteYeah, because in this near kayfabeless world, a simple Wikipedia search can't clear this all up.
Vince:DAMMIT WHAT IS WIKIPEDIA DAMMIT
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I forgot he just discovered AOL Dialup.
ReplyDeleteYou must be a joy to be around.
ReplyDeleteSo she's been committing treason this whole time and that's a face turn? I hope she gets the fucking chair.
ReplyDelete"Uncut and Uncensored"
ReplyDeleteThat's why I said *might*. The post-Mania Raw in 2013 did an average of 4.6 million viewers and Post-Mania Raw in 2014 did an average of 5.1 million viewers. This one did 5.4 million and was the highest-viewed RAW since RAW 1000. I'm not saying it was specifically Rousey (probably wasn't), but SOMETHING made people tune into RAW like they haven't since the two-hour era.
ReplyDeleteLana losing the accent is really no more ridiculous than HHH going from posh boy to potty mouthed crotch chopper. It's wrestling - the point is to suspend disbelief. I never thought Lana was going to be doing the Russian thing for her whole career
ReplyDeleteI imagine Vince is aware of wikipedia, but is one of those types who thinks it's all left-wing propaganda.
ReplyDeletePretty much all of them do. The Asylum makes plenty of of dough making shit like AVENGERS GRIMM, ROAD WARS, and, of course, SHARKNADO. Companies like Anchor Bay have made a mint on Seagal and JCVD action movies.
ReplyDeleteWWE Studios is the only B-movie production house that is more than a decade old that I can think of that doesn't make a profit.
in kayfabe and in real life she is jerking Rusev
ReplyDeleteIt's that damn magic bat!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's the issue. The issue is that Lana is great in her role as a heel, so why change it? She isn't trained to be a wrestler, so what exactly is she going to do as a face?
ReplyDeleteAustin couldn't handle WWE anymore that he's going to the Impact Zone?
ReplyDeleteLana will be given the NXT treatment and have a name removed.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait.
So quick math on the Mania buyrate/subs numbers....
ReplyDeleteFrom Mania 30 to 31 they gained 600k Network subscribers at $10 a piece, and lost 330k PPV buys at $60 a piece.
So if we say that WWE actually makes $30 per PPV buy and pretend that they make $10 per subscriber (they don't-- a portion of that goes to their streaming service and to Network costs that weren't there with airing a PPV), then they lost $9.9 million on traditional PPV money in order to add $6 million in subscriber money.
So a loss of $3.9 million there, yes?
The other difference being that LAST YEAR the Network subscribers for Mania were actually signing up for 6 months, so $60 guaranteed. Whereas this year with the month-to-month model, a huge portion of those Mania subscribers will be dropping the service within a few months after Mania. So the subscriber bump becomes much less guaranteed.
Which is all to say, holy fuck that's bad. Yeah they showed a profit from this quarter vs the same last year (though last year Mania took place in April, so actually Q2) through massive layoffs, completely slashing their payroll, and paying their roster significantly less by removing PPV bonuses. Also, last year's Q1 incorporated all the Network startup costs, which this year did not.
So basically it's a company that continues to have killed off one of their previously reliable revenue streams, and is downsizing to hide their creative and business mistakes.
American (Wet) Dream.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she'll manage RVD! Worked for Ricardo right?
ReplyDeleteHopefully gonna see it this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he's great when healthy, but I don't trust him with the Browns. The right side of the Browns O-line is still very shaky and they have no running game or receivers. It's basically an invitation to kill the QB on every play.
ReplyDeleteAgreed she's great but every character (ideally) has to evolve at some point and some more drastically than others. How long can they carry on the Rusev/Lana pro-Russia thing anyway before it becomes stale?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should extend Vince's natural thought process to the end result.
ReplyDeleteLana will not actually be "American" - she will turn out to be Samoan, and Roman Reigns' new manager.
Just watched last night's NXT...here's the biggest difference between them and the main roster: How do they treat their main champion? Kevin Owens only wrestles in one-on-one matches and always looks dominant. Meanwhile Seth Rollins is constantly being put into tag matches and has, between Raw and Smackdown, eaten the pin two tag matches in a row. That's crazy to me, and it's why I am only barely a fan of the WWE anymore.
ReplyDeleteTNA's entire operating budget isn't enough to make that happen.
ReplyDeleteTranslation: Vince has a huge crush on Lana.
ReplyDeleteSABLE 2K15 ACTIVATE!!!
They gained 300k viewers from 2014 edition to 2015, right? Again, they weren't up against the NCAA title game for the first time in years. That'sa factor.
ReplyDeletePlus Brock had a legitimately super hot angle that they played up perfectly for teh first two hours of the show.
I doubt that interest in Ronda Rousey--- someone who was not really mentioned on Raw and wasn't in the slightest hinted at as appearing--- was a factor. And even if you gave her ALL the credit for the extra 300k viewers, which would be ridiculous, that still wouldn't have mattered. It was a one slight time viewer bump which didn't translate at all past that week.
:cat roar:
ReplyDelete:whip snap:
Wyatt kidnaps Rusev and brainwashes him. No longer Russian.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen the newer Muppet movies? Are they still fun and smart or have they been Disney-fied into soulless sludge?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, that snap is Brock breaking your orbital socket.
ReplyDeleteYou are now Uncle Bulgaria, my child!
ReplyDeleteIsn't the change in quarterly revenue also because Wrestlemania was in March this year (so, this quarter) and in April last year (which would be in the next quarter, by comparison)? So, they factored in their absolute biggest show of the year into this quarter. Or am I totally off base about this?
ReplyDelete"Which is all to say, holy fuck that's bad. Yeah they showed a profit from this quarter vs the same last year (though last year Mania took place in April, so actually Q2) through massive layoffs, completely slashing their payroll, and paying their roster significantly less by removing PPV bonuses. Also, last year's Q1 incorporated all the Network startup costs, which this year did not."
ReplyDeleteThat's the secret with these quarterly reports...finding where the company is hiding the losses. The WWE usually isn't too good at it, but they seem to be getting better at it. The Studio has been bleeding money for years and they really need to dump it, but it's also served as a handy way of hiding losses.
The first one is very good.
ReplyDelete