Week in Wrestling - Sunday August 12, 2018
Summerslam Preview Update
WWE's biggest show of the summer is taking shape and we have a much clearer picture of what we expect to see on the PPV that takes place August 19th in Brooklyn.
- Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns
- WWE Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe
- Raw Women’s Championship: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Ronda Rousey
- U.S. Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy
- Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
- For the Money in the Bank Contract: Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens
- Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Seth Rollins
- Smackdown Women’s Championship: Carmella (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
- Smackdown Tag titles: The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The New Day
- Cruiserweight Championship: Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Drew Gulak
- Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
- Rusev & Lana will be teaming against Andrade "Cien" Almas & Zelina Vega
WWE NEWS
Business Booming
WWE business remains booming and the only question is how big it will be in a few years when the new TV deals kick in. That’s why the stock is on fire, although it did drop slightly this past week, closing on 8/7 at $79.18 per share giving the company a $6.174 billion market value.
For the WrestleMania quarter, which was also the Greatest Royal Rumble quarter, WWE took in $281,542,000 in revenue and ended with a $9,945,000 profit. If you factor in foreign currency adjustments, the actual profit was $9,743,000. Last year’s Mania quarter took in $214,586,000 and finished with a $5,085,000 profit ($5,092,000 adjusted for foreign currency exchange). The strength of the quarter led the company to raise its OIBDA target for 2018 to a range of $160 million to $170 million, up from $150 million that was the original projection. After six months, the OIBDA was $78.7 million and they predict $30 million to $34 million in quarter three and $50 million to $60 million in quarter four, which would be the best quarter in history.
For the WrestleMania quarter, which was also the Greatest Royal Rumble quarter, WWE took in $281,542,000 in revenue and ended with a $9,945,000 profit. If you factor in foreign currency adjustments, the actual profit was $9,743,000. Last year’s Mania quarter took in $214,586,000 and finished with a $5,085,000 profit ($5,092,000 adjusted for foreign currency exchange). The strength of the quarter led the company to raise its OIBDA target for 2018 to a range of $160 million to $170 million, up from $150 million that was the original projection. After six months, the OIBDA was $78.7 million and they predict $30 million to $34 million in quarter three and $50 million to $60 million in quarter four, which would be the best quarter in history.
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Network numbers look strong. The company’s digital reach and social media reach continues to be huge, but that has not led to ratings increases.The network did grow and on 4/9, the peak number, the day after Mania, was 1,808,000 paid subscribers and 316,000 free subscribers.
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On 6/30, that number was 1,742,400 paid subscribers and 45,000 free subscribers. That’s broken down as 1,272,100 paid in the U.S. and 470,300 paid outside the U.S. The keys that look good is that last year from WrestleMania to 6/30, they lost 93,000 network subscribers while this year the drop was only 60,000. Again, if they kept them from discounting, that would explain the difference, but on the surface it looks good.
There is a category called “other,” which includes advertising revenue, sponsorships, YouTube revenue, DVDs, reality show rights fees, any distribution of secondary TV shows in foreign markets like Main Event, Bottom Line or Afterburn increased from $11.9 million during the quarter last year to $60.6 million.
There is a category called “other,” which includes advertising revenue, sponsorships, YouTube revenue, DVDs, reality show rights fees, any distribution of secondary TV shows in foreign markets like Main Event, Bottom Line or Afterburn increased from $11.9 million during the quarter last year to $60.6 million.
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While nobody can say this due to confidentiality that it is the Saudi Arabia deal, most of it is. They key difference in those figures was listed as “the distribution of certain programming content in international markets.” The difference was $48.7 million.
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It is likely there would have been a several million increase year-to-year because of contract escalators and the big increase in YouTube and other viewership where there is revenue involved. Still, the value of the Saudi Arabia deal is probably in the $45 million range. We don’t know if this is a straight annual fee, or like the TV deals, has annual escalators. Analysts had believed the deal was closer to $20 million, so this was the key in the latest stock boost and why analysts were way low on estimating quarter revenue.
WWE is becoming very aggressive when it comes to taking talent off the board. It’s real clear with All In and Madison Square Garden that the competition is getting stronger than they’d like, just the idea there could be opposition not only in MSG, but also potentially do big business there. Besides Fenix & Pentagon Jr., Shane Strickland is another name they are looking at and will be coming in for a future look. They did a 180 on Matt Riddle for that reason. Pentagon Jr. and Fenix have told promoters who they’ve booked dates for in 2019 that those dates are in question.
Cena Returns
John Cena vs. Kevin Owens was added to the card for the show today. It's being called "WWE Super Show-Down" and is taking place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, October 6. It will air live on the WWE Network at 4 a.m. Eastern time and will be available on pay-per-view globally. Cena hasn't wrestled since April's Greatest Royal Rumble, but he's scheduled for WWE's house show in Shanghai, China on September 1. Cena has teased that he'll be debuting a new move in Shanghai.
Cena has dropped from 254 to 236 pounds and is ripped. At his age, it’s better for his joints and injuries to be lighter, plus it’ll allow him to be less typecast in Hollywood being less bulky. Then again Dwayne Johnson went in the other direction, from 220 (when the idea was to expand his acting range and get parts that didn’t rely on an overpowering physique) 260 to do the intimidating action hero roles.
Cena has dropped from 254 to 236 pounds and is ripped. At his age, it’s better for his joints and injuries to be lighter, plus it’ll allow him to be less typecast in Hollywood being less bulky. Then again Dwayne Johnson went in the other direction, from 220 (when the idea was to expand his acting range and get parts that didn’t rely on an overpowering physique) 260 to do the intimidating action hero roles.
Mae Young Classic Notes
The Mae Young Classic will not be released for binge watching like last year. Evidently it didn’t do as well in that format as hoped. They are doing a traditional approach. It will air weekly on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m., right after NXT, on the WWE Network, starting 9/5, through 10/24. Michael Cole, Beth Phoenix and Renee Young will be the announcing team, the backstage interviewers will be Cathy Kelly and Shadia Bseiso (who was a TV personality in the Middle East before signing to be a wrestler here) and Kayla Braxton will be the ring announcer, so they are going with an almost all-women’s crew.
Tegan Nox seriously injured her left leg during tonight’s Mae Young Classic tapings. She was in the early stages of a match against Rhea Ripley when she went for a dive. Upon impact, her left leg gave out. The match was stopped shortly thereafter and awarded to Ripley as medical officials came to Nox's aid. The crowd was said to be silent as Nox was visibly in pain and crying. Later during the tapings, Triple H came out and indicated that she suffered a broken leg.
Tegan Nox seriously injured her left leg during tonight’s Mae Young Classic tapings. She was in the early stages of a match against Rhea Ripley when she went for a dive. Upon impact, her left leg gave out. The match was stopped shortly thereafter and awarded to Ripley as medical officials came to Nox's aid. The crowd was said to be silent as Nox was visibly in pain and crying. Later during the tapings, Triple H came out and indicated that she suffered a broken leg.
Cabana Sues Punk
Colt Cabana (Scott Colton) has filed a lawsuit against CM Punk (Phil Brooks) over legal fees from Dr. Chris Amann's defamation suit against them. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that Cabana is suing Punk for breach of contract and fraud, with Cabana alleging that Punk texted him that he would be "100% covered" in the Amann suit. Cabana is seeking $200,000 in general damages and $1 million in punitive and exemplary damages.
Cabana claims that Punk's assurance that he would be covered is the reason that he didn't comply with the letter he was sent by Amann's counsel demanding that he take down the November 2014 episode of the Art of Wrestling podcast that Punk appeared on. It also demanded that Cabana issue a retraction for Punk's critical comments about the lack of care he received from Amann while in WWE. Cabana's lawsuit states that he and Punk employed the firm Loeb & Loeb to defend them in March 2015, with their retention agreement saying that it was understood that Punk would be responsible for paying for the invoices.
The following email from Punk to Cabana in April 2016 is then included:
"To date I have spent $513,736 dollars on this Amman lawsuit. My outstanding current bill is at least 300k. Half of all this is yours. Divide the 513,736 by 2 and that is what you owe me and what I expect you to pay me. Starting now I will no longer be paying your bills. You are on your own. Whatever my bill is currently, will be cut in half, and half will be yours. If you choose to make this all ugly, that's fine too. I hope you won't, but I gave up on you doing what is right a long time ago."
Cabana notified Loeb & Loeb that he was prepared to retain separate counsel, but he says they came to an agreement for them to continue representing both Punk and Cabana with Punk covering the fees going forward. Loeb & Loeb then withdrew as Cabana's counsel in March 2017, with Cabana believing that Punk caused them to do so.
The jury ruled in favor of Punk and Cabana in the Amann trial this June. Cabana hired Carey Stein of Ashman & Stein after Loeb & Loeb withdrew from representing him. Following the trial, Cabana's counsel notified Punk's of Cabana's demand for reimbursement of approximately $200,000 in fees and net costs. Loeb & Loeb informed them that Punk refuses to do so.
Cabana claims that Punk's assurance that he would be covered is the reason that he didn't comply with the letter he was sent by Amann's counsel demanding that he take down the November 2014 episode of the Art of Wrestling podcast that Punk appeared on. It also demanded that Cabana issue a retraction for Punk's critical comments about the lack of care he received from Amann while in WWE. Cabana's lawsuit states that he and Punk employed the firm Loeb & Loeb to defend them in March 2015, with their retention agreement saying that it was understood that Punk would be responsible for paying for the invoices.
The following email from Punk to Cabana in April 2016 is then included:
"To date I have spent $513,736 dollars on this Amman lawsuit. My outstanding current bill is at least 300k. Half of all this is yours. Divide the 513,736 by 2 and that is what you owe me and what I expect you to pay me. Starting now I will no longer be paying your bills. You are on your own. Whatever my bill is currently, will be cut in half, and half will be yours. If you choose to make this all ugly, that's fine too. I hope you won't, but I gave up on you doing what is right a long time ago."
Cabana notified Loeb & Loeb that he was prepared to retain separate counsel, but he says they came to an agreement for them to continue representing both Punk and Cabana with Punk covering the fees going forward. Loeb & Loeb then withdrew as Cabana's counsel in March 2017, with Cabana believing that Punk caused them to do so.
The jury ruled in favor of Punk and Cabana in the Amann trial this June. Cabana hired Carey Stein of Ashman & Stein after Loeb & Loeb withdrew from representing him. Following the trial, Cabana's counsel notified Punk's of Cabana's demand for reimbursement of approximately $200,000 in fees and net costs. Loeb & Loeb informed them that Punk refuses to do so.
NXT NEWS
Aleister Black Out
Aleister Black officially won't be wrestling at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV later this month. Regal announced that NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa will now defend his title against Johnny Gargano in a last man standing match at TakeOver.
Black suffered a legitimate injury that required surgery after being crotched by Ciampa at an NXT house show in Las Vegas on July 28. Ciampa defending against Black and Gargano in a triple threat match was originally supposed to be the main event of TakeOver: Brooklyn. WWE then wrote Black out of the match by shooting an angle where he was attacked in the parking lot at Full Sail University. WWE hasn't revealed who attacked Black in storyline. They put out a video with more footage from the angle today, teasing more wrestlers being in the area when the attack happened.
Black suffered a legitimate injury that required surgery after being crotched by Ciampa at an NXT house show in Las Vegas on July 28. Ciampa defending against Black and Gargano in a triple threat match was originally supposed to be the main event of TakeOver: Brooklyn. WWE then wrote Black out of the match by shooting an angle where he was attacked in the parking lot at Full Sail University. WWE hasn't revealed who attacked Black in storyline. They put out a video with more footage from the angle today, teasing more wrestlers being in the area when the attack happened.
Takeover Updated Card
TakeOver: Brooklyn will be held at the Barclays Center on August 18. Here's the updated card:
- NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defending against Johnny Gargano in a last man standing match
- NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler defending against Kairi Sane
- NXT North American Champion Adam Cole defending against Ricochet
- NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong defending against Tyler Bate & Trent Seven
- Velveteen Dream vs. EC3
Ricochet's been Healing
Ricochet has also been hurt for some time. He was injured on the early June European swing when he missed a dive on the 6/11 show in Paris. Paul Levesque at the time described him as being tweaked and not injured and he missed a show as a precautionary measure. He then worked the 6/16 Takeover show in Chicago, including taking that crazy suplex to the floor, and then did the U.K. shows at Royal Albert Hall, but has now been out of action for the past six weeks except for maybe one TV match. I was told this isn’t something that serious but they just wanted to give him a chance to heal up before the big show.
New Non-Competes
Due to late injuries that caused some of the U.K. shows to have to be re-scripted, the WWE told all the wrestlers under contract to the U.K. division that they are no longer allowed to wrestle for a seven day period prior to any WWE shows they are booked on. So much of the talent has had to cancel a lot of bookings. The catalyst was Travis Banks suffering a dislocated shoulder the night before last week’s tapings, but others were also injured
New Japan Pro Wrestling News
G1 Finals Set
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi, who won their respective blocks, will be facing off in the G1 Climax finals. For all the math involved going into each block finals, the results were relatively simple. For the A Block, Jay White lost the match he needed to stay alive, then Tanahashi drew with Kazuchika Okada. Since Tanahashi had two more points than Okada going into the match, he advanced to the finals.
For the B Block. Tetsuya Naito could not get the win needed to spoil the main event, falling to a Zack Driver by Zack Sabre Jr.. Instead, it was Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega who determined the B Block. After a fierce match with tons of crazy spots, a kamigoye sealed the deal for Ibushi, who won the block with the win.
Ibushi and Tanahashi have faced off in three big singles matches in the past. Tanahashi originally beat Ibushi during the 2015 G1 tournament. Ibushi scored a win at last year’s tournament, but failed to take the Intercontinental title off of Tanahashi at last year’s Power Struggle.
For the B Block. Tetsuya Naito could not get the win needed to spoil the main event, falling to a Zack Driver by Zack Sabre Jr.. Instead, it was Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega who determined the B Block. After a fierce match with tons of crazy spots, a kamigoye sealed the deal for Ibushi, who won the block with the win.
Ibushi and Tanahashi have faced off in three big singles matches in the past. Tanahashi originally beat Ibushi during the 2015 G1 tournament. Ibushi scored a win at last year’s tournament, but failed to take the Intercontinental title off of Tanahashi at last year’s Power Struggle.
NJPW Bans Cussing
President Harold Meij, in an attempt to help in marketing the product overseas, has banned English language swearing and middle finger usage from the product. In trying to garner more sponsors, things like the swearing in the Juice Robinson promos and heavy swearing in-ring were going to have to go. Those who have been swearing in English in their promos were privately spoken to and asked as best they can to clean up their promos. All the wrestlers were told this week to not swear or try not to offend people on social media.
There are ideas for expansion of sponsorships in new markets that require a product suitable for all ages. The reality is the product’s popularity has nothing to do with any swearing and eliminating that won’t have any effect, so if it’s not necessary and impedes expansion, why allow it
There are ideas for expansion of sponsorships in new markets that require a product suitable for all ages. The reality is the product’s popularity has nothing to do with any swearing and eliminating that won’t have any effect, so if it’s not necessary and impedes expansion, why allow it
Ticket Sales are Slow
The 9/30 show in Long Beach, with tickets going on sale a week before this show, coming the same month as All In, and two weeks after BOLA, has only sold 1,900 tickets for the 4,700-seat Walker Pyramid.
Ring of Honor News
MSG Show Sold Out
The April 6, 2019 Ring of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Supercard event not only sold out Madison Square Garden, but was among the quickest sellouts for a pro wrestling event in the history of the building. The official time of the sellout was between 13 and 16 minutes after tickets went on sale to the public this morning. Most of the tickets were sold in pre-sales on Wednesday and Thursday. There were 9,000 tickets sold on 8/8, the first day they were put on sale, a sale that was only open to subscribers of Honor Club. The only people allowed to purchase tickets were people who were Honor Club subscribers as of 8/1, who were given individual codes. This led to a late run last week of Honor Club subscriptions.
The capacity of 15,000 was less than the 20,000 that had been used before the days of staging for big wrestling events in the days of Bruno Sammartino and even Hulk Hogan, but even in those days, tickets rarely sold out more than a week in advance, and even then only for the biggest cards. No MSG wrestling show has ever sold out nearly eight months in advance and with no matches announced. The tickets were scaled lower than expected, from $300 down to $30.
What makes this story so big is that most fans who purchased tickets likely did so as much for Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Cody as much as the New Japan stars, if not more. But none of the four are currently under contract to either New Japan or ROH by the time of the show.
It doesn’t take much studying of the career of Vince McMahon to know that even though he can’t lose given the economic advantages he has, that in a sense, this has been a double loss. The first loss is when, after successfully blocking the show, Madison Square Garden had to back down to legal threats and give ROH and NJPW the date. The second loss was when tickets were put on sale, and it was clear there was more demand for the show than any WWE show in the world’s most famous arena in a several years. Granted, it has been three years since WWE has put on a major event in the building.
In the end, the win would be getting one or all of the aforementioned names and hold their debuts off until that night, at the head-to-head NXT show, or building to something at WrestleMania.
The capacity of 15,000 was less than the 20,000 that had been used before the days of staging for big wrestling events in the days of Bruno Sammartino and even Hulk Hogan, but even in those days, tickets rarely sold out more than a week in advance, and even then only for the biggest cards. No MSG wrestling show has ever sold out nearly eight months in advance and with no matches announced. The tickets were scaled lower than expected, from $300 down to $30.
What makes this story so big is that most fans who purchased tickets likely did so as much for Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Cody as much as the New Japan stars, if not more. But none of the four are currently under contract to either New Japan or ROH by the time of the show.
It doesn’t take much studying of the career of Vince McMahon to know that even though he can’t lose given the economic advantages he has, that in a sense, this has been a double loss. The first loss is when, after successfully blocking the show, Madison Square Garden had to back down to legal threats and give ROH and NJPW the date. The second loss was when tickets were put on sale, and it was clear there was more demand for the show than any WWE show in the world’s most famous arena in a several years. Granted, it has been three years since WWE has put on a major event in the building.
In the end, the win would be getting one or all of the aforementioned names and hold their debuts off until that night, at the head-to-head NXT show, or building to something at WrestleMania.
FCC Denies Merger
the Tribune/Sinclair merger that has been talked about for years, is off, once it became clear the FCC wasn't likely to approve it. The Tribune board pulled out of the $3.9 billion deal. Tribune also filed suit against Sinclair, saying that their negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department and FCC were unnecessarily aggressive and that Sinclair has refused to sell certain stations that would have allowed the deal to be approved. "Our merger cannot be completed within an acceptable time frame, if ever," said Peter Kern, the CEO of Tribune. As this relates to wrestling, ROH would have gotten television distribution in a number of major markets including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles if the merger would have gone through.
IMPACT News
More Talks of Jericho to Impact
While nobody will say anything, there is a lot of belief within the business than Jericho is destined to be here and the not wanting to do anything that would get Vince mad doctrine isn’t nearly as strong as it was months ago.
They are taping four weeks of TV this weekend back at the Rebel Complex in Toronto, which is why Don Callis won’t be announcing the G-1 finals this year. Announced for 8/12 are Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan rematch on 8/12 in a Mexican Death match, as well as Su Yung vs. Allie vs. Tessa Blanchard for the Knockouts title, Joe Hendry vs. Tyson Dux and LAX vs. Tarik the Great & Brent Banks
INDEPENDENT NEWS
All In Updated Line Up
Kenny Omega will be facing Pentagon Jr. on the show. They previously shared the ring together in a six-man tag during last year's PWG Battle of Los Angeles, with Omega & The Young Bucks defeating Pentagon, Fenix & Flamita.
Currently the rest of the lineup for the show is Young Bucks & Kota Ibushi vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Bandido & Rey Fenix, Nick Aldis vs. Cody for the NWA title, Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll, Jay Lethal defending the ROH title against the winner of the WGN Battle Royal in the first hour, Christopher Daniels vs. Stephan Amell, Tessa Blanchard vs. Chelsea Green vs. Britt Baker vs. Madison Rayne and Joey Janela vs. Hangman Page.
The WGN one hour will have the 15 person Battle Royal for the ROH title shot. Names included in it will be Moose, Rocky Romero, Colt Cabana, Jordynne Grace and Ethan Page. The other match is Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky.
Currently the rest of the lineup for the show is Young Bucks & Kota Ibushi vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Bandido & Rey Fenix, Nick Aldis vs. Cody for the NWA title, Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll, Jay Lethal defending the ROH title against the winner of the WGN Battle Royal in the first hour, Christopher Daniels vs. Stephan Amell, Tessa Blanchard vs. Chelsea Green vs. Britt Baker vs. Madison Rayne and Joey Janela vs. Hangman Page.
The WGN one hour will have the 15 person Battle Royal for the ROH title shot. Names included in it will be Moose, Rocky Romero, Colt Cabana, Jordynne Grace and Ethan Page. The other match is Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky.
All In Broadcast Info
All In will start airing at 6 p.m. Eastern, which is 5 p.m. local time, with two matches on WGN America, similar to a WWE or UFC pregame show.
The main card will be at 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. with it airing on PPV, Fite TV and Honor Club. They are also working on it being on New Japan World, but only for Japan, similar to how New Japan World used to do CMLL shows (now CMLL shows are available on New Japan World in the U.S., just not Mexico).
There are other negotiations going on including the possibility of a regular television replay airing after the exclusive PPV window ends. The idea is to more get as many people watching as possible, so in a sense they are undercutting their own PPV by allowing it on Honor Club, with the idea of using the show to build up Honor Club subs. ROH already built up Honor Club subs this past week by giving those with Honor Club subscriptions the first shot at buying tickets to the 4/6 show in Madison Square Garden with a special Honor Club presale on 8/8. It will be treated similar to a PPV by Honor Club, meaning Honor Club VIP’s will get the show for free while regular Honor Club subscribers can get the iPPV version for half price.
The regular television PPV will run at $39.99 and $49.99, which was actually an insistence from their side at running it lower as the PPV companies wanted it at closer to WWE prices. Fite TV, which should be the key for outside the U.S., will be at $39.99.
The main card will be at 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. with it airing on PPV, Fite TV and Honor Club. They are also working on it being on New Japan World, but only for Japan, similar to how New Japan World used to do CMLL shows (now CMLL shows are available on New Japan World in the U.S., just not Mexico).
There are other negotiations going on including the possibility of a regular television replay airing after the exclusive PPV window ends. The idea is to more get as many people watching as possible, so in a sense they are undercutting their own PPV by allowing it on Honor Club, with the idea of using the show to build up Honor Club subs. ROH already built up Honor Club subs this past week by giving those with Honor Club subscriptions the first shot at buying tickets to the 4/6 show in Madison Square Garden with a special Honor Club presale on 8/8. It will be treated similar to a PPV by Honor Club, meaning Honor Club VIP’s will get the show for free while regular Honor Club subscribers can get the iPPV version for half price.
The regular television PPV will run at $39.99 and $49.99, which was actually an insistence from their side at running it lower as the PPV companies wanted it at closer to WWE prices. Fite TV, which should be the key for outside the U.S., will be at $39.99.
By: Larry Causion Jr. CausionCreations.com
Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2018
Credit: Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Posted: Sunday, August 12, 2018
Credit: Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter