WWE released their second quarter numbers, the RAW guest host bit continues to be a hit with celebrities and “The Big O†gets his pink slip.
Opening Witty Banter
I got a chance to the see the new GIJoe movie on Friday and I came away pleasantly surprised. I am a huge GIJoe fan from back in the day so I was initially stoked for the movie when it was announced but once previews started coming out I got worried and feared for the worst. It was actually a fun movie that had some really good parts and mindless explosions. For the most part the actors were pretty good in their parts and they set up a sequel quite well, but there were definitely some parts (like bad casting and some retooled storytelling) that just weren’t cool. What does this have to with wrestling? Absolutely nothing.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
Thursday was second quarter financial release day for WWE. Here is all the gory numbers:
– WrestleMania, which was in the first quarter last year, has done 960,000 buys thus far, and helped the quarter show an improvement of nearly 800,000 buys.
– Backlash did 182,000 buys, down from 200,000 in 2008.
– Judgment Day did 228,000 buys, down from 252,000 in 2008.
– Extreme Rules did 213,000 buys, up from 194,000 in 2008.
– The Bash, which was not in the 2nd quarter last year, did 178,000 buys.
As for the company in general, total revenue is up to $138.8 million, up from last year’s $129.7 million.
Pay-Per-View revenues were $35.6 million as compared to $17.9 million in the prior year quarter. WrestleMania XXV generated 960,000 buys and $21.0 million in pay-per-view revenue in this second quarter. Without WrestleMania revenue declined 18% reflecting a comparable decline in total pay-per-view buys.
Television Rights Fees revenues were $28.3 million as compared to $24.7 million in the prior year quarter. The increase comes primarily from Superstars being added to the line-up.
WWE Classics on Demand revenues were down $1.5 million as compared to $1.8 million last year.
Home Video net revenues were $8.6 million as compared to $18.5 million in the prior year quarter. Two fewer titles released in the current quarter. DVD shipments declined 36% to approximately 833,000 units in the current quarter.
Magazine publishing net revenues were $3.0 million as compared to $4.3 million last year.
WWE.com revenues were $4.5 million as compared to $4.0 million last year.
WWEShop revenues were $3.4 million as compared to $3.9 million last year.
Profit contribution increased to $63.0 million in the current quarter as compared to $53.3 million in the prior year quarter. Keep in mind WrestleMania XXV contributed approximately $15.0 million in that profit and more than offset a lower contribution from Home Video. Excluding WrestleMania, profit declined 10%.
There you go. The more you know…
Tickets for WrestleMania XXVI will go on sale Saturday, November 7th.
Woo hoo! I’ve got the date marked on my calendar already.
Ricky Ortiz was released this weekend.
Can’t say I was ever a fan of Ortiz as an in-ring performer. It sucks he lost his job but I sure won’t miss him.
Speaking of releases, referee Marty Elias was released last weekend.
Once again, it always sucks to hear someone else losing their job.
WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan suffered a mild stroke this past week. He is currently slurring his words and having some issues with his vision.
Here’s hoping ol’ Blackjack comes out of this alright.
USA Network announced that John Cena will be guest starring on an upcoming episode of USA’s hit show Psych.
This is a great co-promotional tool for WWE and the USA Network. Word is that Cena will be playing (what else?) a soldier who is the brother of one the show’s main characters. Cena has great natural charisma and should play well in the light-hearted atmosphere of a show like Psych.
On August 29th, NBC has a WWE special from listed called “The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania.â€
If they really wanted to make it a success they should just use the hour to show the entire Shawn Michaels-Undertaker match so everyone can see it.
The RAW guest host thing continues to be a much bigger success than I anticipated as celebrities are now coming out of the woodwork wanting to appear on the show. IGN.com has interviewed Glen Howerton of the FX series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and he mentioned that he wanted to guest host RAW, due to the fact that they will be doing a wrestling related episode on the show in which Roddy Piper will be guest starring.
I can’t tell you how awesome it would be to have the Sunny guys guest hosting RAW. Hands down it would be the most entertaining thing on RAW in a long time.
Speaking of the guest hosts there is apparently internal discussions about WWE hosting another three hour RAW in September and having it be headlined by Big Show versus Shaquille O’Neal.
Yah that would definitely draw some of that mainstream attention WWE so greatly craves, but I’m not holding my breathe on Shaq actually stepping foot in the ring for a match.
The Road to…SummerSlam
TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Jeff Hardy (c) v. CM Punk
WWE Championship
John Cena v. Randy Orton (c)
Unified Tag Team Championships
Cryme Tyme v. The Big Show & Chris Jericho (c)
Intercontinental Championship
Rey Mysterio (c) v. Dolph Ziggler
rumored matches
DeGeneration X v. Legacy
The Great Khali v. Kane
Wrestler of the Week
Week of August 3 – 9: CM Punk
There wasn’t anything overly major that happened on WWE television this past week and I think I am getting a little spoiled with all the quality free TV matches that are happening each week on SmackDown and sometimes on ECW and Superstars. But CM Punk once again brought the goods on SmackDown with a great straight edge promo to open the show and then another great match (in a series of them) against Jeff Hardy. He now set himself up for one more World Championship match at SummerSlam and planted the seeds for an eventual rivalry against Matt Hardy.
RAW’s On Tonight!
Tonight RAW comes live from Calgary…Alberta…Canada, and the guest host is Sgt. Slaughter!?! I guess they are going for a GIJoe cross over or something, but I don’t see it. A return to Calgary also looks to be a perfect time to for Shawn Michaels to return as well. Plus I’m sure there will be some matches and stuff and perhaps some more build-up for SummerSlam.
On Last Week’s Episode…
SmackDown
ECW results and 10 thoughts
How They Rated
Superstars (7.30.09) – .8
SmackDown! (7.31.09) – 2.0
A.M. RAW (8.2.09) – .9
RAW (8.3.09) – 3.6
ECW (8.4.09) – 1.25
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Wiswell signs off with the final edition of Cult of ROH.
Wheeler brings some great running commentary on this past week’s episode of Superstars.
GRUT takes Tyler Reks to task in this week’s edition of JUNK NEWS, HUZZAH!
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
