Week in Wrestling #48
Wrestling News From the week of
July 16th - July 29th, 2016
July 16th - July 29th, 2016
WWE Financial Report
For the quarter, the company took in $198,994,000 in revenue and ended the quarter with an $862,000 profit. So for the first six months of the year the company has taken in $370,094,000 and posted a profit of $14,747,000.
WWE pushed that it was the most revenue ever generated in a quarter. But the real key numbers are the network subscriber numbers. On 6/30, the WWE Network had 1,510,600 paid subscribers, broken down as 1,129,900 in the U.S. and 380,700 outside the U.S. On the day after WrestleMania, the network had 1,454,000 paid subscribers, which were 1,109,000 in the U.S. and 345,000 outside the U.S.
Because WrestleMania was free for new subscribers, the paid growth in theory was not going to come so much the week of WrestleMania, but the month after the show when those free subscribers were to convert to paying subscribers and revenues would be generated. Most of the free subscribers signed up in the last four days prior to the show.
On 3/30, just a few days before WrestleMania, the paid number was 1,027,000 in the U.S. and 330,000 outside the U.S., along with another 112,000 free subscribers. So the combination of all the Mania programming, the NXT special, Hall of Fame and Mania itself, brought in 82,000 new U.S. paid subscribers, 15,000 new outside the U.S. paid subscribers, and 258,000 who were able to subscribe for free.
The entire goal of the free WrestleMania offer was turning the free subscribers into paying subscribers. It worked to a degree, but the growth in subscriptions overall was significantly less this year than last year, even with a bigger Mania week (with the NXT show and the more hyped up Mania) than last year.
The actual total number in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX was 97,769 fans. What's weird is that in their own financial statements, which are supposed to be honest, they went with the public figure of 101,763 fans. They do that every year, and I guess the rationale is that since they don't lie on money figures, it's okay. But it's still questionable for a public company to do that.
Based on figures released, the paid attendance was roughly, and there is a possible range because they don't give exact numbers, 79,800. This would probably still be the largest paid attendance ever for a WWE show. It is possible the paid was lower than that, and if that was the case it could have been less than the paid for the 1992 SummerSlam and Wembley Stadium and WrestleMania III.
The most notable thing is that even with the record number of subscribers, the network division actually lost significant money for the quarter because of both the costs associated with putting on WrestleMania and higher spending for network programming.
The company's $13,885,000 profit in the first quarter was largely due to far lower spending on the network and network programming as would be average for the quarter during the year. This quarter, it was the catch-up, which the company talked about months ago when they predicted an essentially break-even second quarter.
With the increased rights fees for television, that has turned into the most profitable division of the company. Home video is down, as is licensing. The web business is largely at or near break even. WWE Shop has been growing steadily, and WWE Films had a profitable second quarter for the first time in years.
WrestleMania did $4 million in PPV business, down from $4.9 million last year. The WWE stopped reporting PPV numbers because they've gotten so small. But that's probably in the range of 210,000 worldwide buys (the vast majority coming from outside North America, if last year's percentage breakdown was the same it would be about 83,000 in North America), an 18 percent decline from last year. We had heard from people at U.S. cable companies after Mania this year shocked at how far down they were from the prior year.
WrestleMania also generated $21.5 million in gross ticket sales between WrestleMania, Raw, Hall of Fame, NXT and Fan Axxess. It also generated $3.9 million in merchandise between all of those shows. Overall, WrestleMania is listed by the company as having generated $29.4 million in total revenue, of which only $200,000 was profit. The key expenses were production of the show, and paying talent and people who worked at the event, which totaled $21.5 million.
That number is misleading because network subscriptions based on WrestleMania aren't factored in, so that $200,000 profit number for the show is based on $17.5 million in losses due to WrestleMania on the network and PPV books for expenses along with $15.5 million in profits for the various live events held that week, and $1.8 million in profits for all the merchandise sold.
If we look at network growth, the combination of WrestleMania and everything related to the first six months including Royal Rumble and all the other PPV shows added about $7,969,000 in newly created network revenue based on new subscribers over that six-month period.
Overall, what is called network revenue was $51.8 million in the quarter, up from $40.1 million, but that's not at all a fair comparison with the nature of the free month, growth and expansion into new markets, and that the network is still in the year-to-year growth phase. The growth from expansion into new markets will be limited as the only key major market the network isn't in is China, and who knows when that will happen.
The WWE Network took in $45.9 million for the three months, based on a daily average of 1,517,400 paid sub. Traditional PPV revenue was $5.9 million, of which $4 million came from WrestleMania. Factoring out Mania, PPV revenue dropped from $3.5 million last year in the quarter to $1.9 million and the vast majority of the buys these days come from outside North America.
Live events in North America were flat, averaging 5,400 per show, the same as last year. That's with an increase for Monday Raw events and PPV shows and a decline at house shows. The average North American ticket price (not including WrestleMania week events) was $51.87 this quarter as compared with $46.45 last year. Total North American revenues went from $16.9 million last year to $19.4 million this year due to the price increase.
The big gain was the European tour. Last year's tour averaged 6,900 paid at $65.09 or a $449,121 average. This year's numbers, because they played in larger arenas, averaged 8,000 paid at $64.98 per ticket or $519,840, an increase in attendance of 15.9 percent. The European tour grossed $9.5 million last year and $11.0 million this year.
The company, not including NXT, did 62 North American events (this includes WrestleMania week events and WrestleMania) and 19 international shows during the quarter. Last year at the same time they did 65 North American shows and 21 international shows.
They actually took in $51.9 million from live events in the quarter, by far the largest number ever, due to WrestleMania and all the other Mania week events. The WrestleMania week events grossed $21.5 million, of which about $17.3 million was from WrestleMania itself. If you take out WrestleMania, the total gross revenue from tickets was $30.4 million as compared with $26.4 million during the same period last year.
Worldwide Television total revenue increased from $52.1 million in the quarter last year to $56.1 million. That's due to increases in the U.S., U.K., India and other markets. They also spent less on television production so while revenue was up $4 million, profits from the division were up $6 million.
Licensing revenue dropped from $11.3 million in the second quarter last year to $9.0 million this year. That was due to a decline in royalties from the WWE 2K16 game during the quarter. It's more of a timing difference as the money came more in the first quarter and the video game is doing about the same as the year before.
Live event merchandise increased from $4.7 million last year to $8.7 million, but that gain is WrestleMania related. WrestleMania week generated $3.9 million in venue merchandise so the real gain was only to $4.8 million. For the first six months of the year, they averaged $11.68 per head in merchandise sales, up from $11.08 per head last year in the first six months of the year. The average per head for the quarter was $13.29, due to WrestleMania doing numbers skewing the overall average greatly. WrestleMania itself did $4.55 million in merchandise sales, or $46.54 per person attending.
Home video shipments declined from 523,000 to 417,200. However, gross revenue remained the same, at $3.1 million each quarter, and profitability was up.
Digital media revenue increased from $3.8 million to $6.5 million, although the profits from the division were only $200,000.
WWE shop revenue, which has consistently grown due to the ease in ordering based on mobile phones, has grown from $5.8 million last year to $7.5 million this year. That's due to a 32 percent increase in merchandise orders to 168,600 for the quarter, or 1,853 orders per day. The average merchandise order through WWE shop was $44.40. The average order price was down three percent from last year.
WWE Studios took in $3.2 million in revenue for the quarter, up from $2.1 million during the same period last year, and made $460,000 profit. The division, which had been a big money loser, is no more of a break-even division, some small profits or losses, since the new strategy came into play of partnering with major studios and buying films and placing talent in them as opposed to creating movies from scratch as vehicles for talent. And really, did Randy Orton or Ken Anderson or The Miz or Dolph Ziggler or Kane or whomever become bigger pro wrestling stars because they were in WWE movies, which was the original goal of the movie studio?
The company spent $15.1 million this quarter to produce parts of season five and season six of Total Divas, season one of Total Bellas, Camp WWE, Swerved season two and Holy Foley.
The company's actual cash on hand has declined from $102,376,000 to $79,903,000 because overall spending, combined with the quarterly dividend payout, was $22,473,000 more than profits so far this year.
For the quarter, the company took in $198,994,000 in revenue and ended the quarter with an $862,000 profit. So for the first six months of the year the company has taken in $370,094,000 and posted a profit of $14,747,000.
WWE pushed that it was the most revenue ever generated in a quarter. But the real key numbers are the network subscriber numbers. On 6/30, the WWE Network had 1,510,600 paid subscribers, broken down as 1,129,900 in the U.S. and 380,700 outside the U.S. On the day after WrestleMania, the network had 1,454,000 paid subscribers, which were 1,109,000 in the U.S. and 345,000 outside the U.S.
Because WrestleMania was free for new subscribers, the paid growth in theory was not going to come so much the week of WrestleMania, but the month after the show when those free subscribers were to convert to paying subscribers and revenues would be generated. Most of the free subscribers signed up in the last four days prior to the show.
On 3/30, just a few days before WrestleMania, the paid number was 1,027,000 in the U.S. and 330,000 outside the U.S., along with another 112,000 free subscribers. So the combination of all the Mania programming, the NXT special, Hall of Fame and Mania itself, brought in 82,000 new U.S. paid subscribers, 15,000 new outside the U.S. paid subscribers, and 258,000 who were able to subscribe for free.
The entire goal of the free WrestleMania offer was turning the free subscribers into paying subscribers. It worked to a degree, but the growth in subscriptions overall was significantly less this year than last year, even with a bigger Mania week (with the NXT show and the more hyped up Mania) than last year.
The actual total number in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX was 97,769 fans. What's weird is that in their own financial statements, which are supposed to be honest, they went with the public figure of 101,763 fans. They do that every year, and I guess the rationale is that since they don't lie on money figures, it's okay. But it's still questionable for a public company to do that.
Based on figures released, the paid attendance was roughly, and there is a possible range because they don't give exact numbers, 79,800. This would probably still be the largest paid attendance ever for a WWE show. It is possible the paid was lower than that, and if that was the case it could have been less than the paid for the 1992 SummerSlam and Wembley Stadium and WrestleMania III.
The most notable thing is that even with the record number of subscribers, the network division actually lost significant money for the quarter because of both the costs associated with putting on WrestleMania and higher spending for network programming.
The company's $13,885,000 profit in the first quarter was largely due to far lower spending on the network and network programming as would be average for the quarter during the year. This quarter, it was the catch-up, which the company talked about months ago when they predicted an essentially break-even second quarter.
With the increased rights fees for television, that has turned into the most profitable division of the company. Home video is down, as is licensing. The web business is largely at or near break even. WWE Shop has been growing steadily, and WWE Films had a profitable second quarter for the first time in years.
WrestleMania did $4 million in PPV business, down from $4.9 million last year. The WWE stopped reporting PPV numbers because they've gotten so small. But that's probably in the range of 210,000 worldwide buys (the vast majority coming from outside North America, if last year's percentage breakdown was the same it would be about 83,000 in North America), an 18 percent decline from last year. We had heard from people at U.S. cable companies after Mania this year shocked at how far down they were from the prior year.
WrestleMania also generated $21.5 million in gross ticket sales between WrestleMania, Raw, Hall of Fame, NXT and Fan Axxess. It also generated $3.9 million in merchandise between all of those shows. Overall, WrestleMania is listed by the company as having generated $29.4 million in total revenue, of which only $200,000 was profit. The key expenses were production of the show, and paying talent and people who worked at the event, which totaled $21.5 million.
That number is misleading because network subscriptions based on WrestleMania aren't factored in, so that $200,000 profit number for the show is based on $17.5 million in losses due to WrestleMania on the network and PPV books for expenses along with $15.5 million in profits for the various live events held that week, and $1.8 million in profits for all the merchandise sold.
If we look at network growth, the combination of WrestleMania and everything related to the first six months including Royal Rumble and all the other PPV shows added about $7,969,000 in newly created network revenue based on new subscribers over that six-month period.
Overall, what is called network revenue was $51.8 million in the quarter, up from $40.1 million, but that's not at all a fair comparison with the nature of the free month, growth and expansion into new markets, and that the network is still in the year-to-year growth phase. The growth from expansion into new markets will be limited as the only key major market the network isn't in is China, and who knows when that will happen.
The WWE Network took in $45.9 million for the three months, based on a daily average of 1,517,400 paid sub. Traditional PPV revenue was $5.9 million, of which $4 million came from WrestleMania. Factoring out Mania, PPV revenue dropped from $3.5 million last year in the quarter to $1.9 million and the vast majority of the buys these days come from outside North America.
Live events in North America were flat, averaging 5,400 per show, the same as last year. That's with an increase for Monday Raw events and PPV shows and a decline at house shows. The average North American ticket price (not including WrestleMania week events) was $51.87 this quarter as compared with $46.45 last year. Total North American revenues went from $16.9 million last year to $19.4 million this year due to the price increase.
The big gain was the European tour. Last year's tour averaged 6,900 paid at $65.09 or a $449,121 average. This year's numbers, because they played in larger arenas, averaged 8,000 paid at $64.98 per ticket or $519,840, an increase in attendance of 15.9 percent. The European tour grossed $9.5 million last year and $11.0 million this year.
The company, not including NXT, did 62 North American events (this includes WrestleMania week events and WrestleMania) and 19 international shows during the quarter. Last year at the same time they did 65 North American shows and 21 international shows.
They actually took in $51.9 million from live events in the quarter, by far the largest number ever, due to WrestleMania and all the other Mania week events. The WrestleMania week events grossed $21.5 million, of which about $17.3 million was from WrestleMania itself. If you take out WrestleMania, the total gross revenue from tickets was $30.4 million as compared with $26.4 million during the same period last year.
Worldwide Television total revenue increased from $52.1 million in the quarter last year to $56.1 million. That's due to increases in the U.S., U.K., India and other markets. They also spent less on television production so while revenue was up $4 million, profits from the division were up $6 million.
Licensing revenue dropped from $11.3 million in the second quarter last year to $9.0 million this year. That was due to a decline in royalties from the WWE 2K16 game during the quarter. It's more of a timing difference as the money came more in the first quarter and the video game is doing about the same as the year before.
Live event merchandise increased from $4.7 million last year to $8.7 million, but that gain is WrestleMania related. WrestleMania week generated $3.9 million in venue merchandise so the real gain was only to $4.8 million. For the first six months of the year, they averaged $11.68 per head in merchandise sales, up from $11.08 per head last year in the first six months of the year. The average per head for the quarter was $13.29, due to WrestleMania doing numbers skewing the overall average greatly. WrestleMania itself did $4.55 million in merchandise sales, or $46.54 per person attending.
Home video shipments declined from 523,000 to 417,200. However, gross revenue remained the same, at $3.1 million each quarter, and profitability was up.
Digital media revenue increased from $3.8 million to $6.5 million, although the profits from the division were only $200,000.
WWE shop revenue, which has consistently grown due to the ease in ordering based on mobile phones, has grown from $5.8 million last year to $7.5 million this year. That's due to a 32 percent increase in merchandise orders to 168,600 for the quarter, or 1,853 orders per day. The average merchandise order through WWE shop was $44.40. The average order price was down three percent from last year.
WWE Studios took in $3.2 million in revenue for the quarter, up from $2.1 million during the same period last year, and made $460,000 profit. The division, which had been a big money loser, is no more of a break-even division, some small profits or losses, since the new strategy came into play of partnering with major studios and buying films and placing talent in them as opposed to creating movies from scratch as vehicles for talent. And really, did Randy Orton or Ken Anderson or The Miz or Dolph Ziggler or Kane or whomever become bigger pro wrestling stars because they were in WWE movies, which was the original goal of the movie studio?
The company spent $15.1 million this quarter to produce parts of season five and season six of Total Divas, season one of Total Bellas, Camp WWE, Swerved season two and Holy Foley.
The company's actual cash on hand has declined from $102,376,000 to $79,903,000 because overall spending, combined with the quarterly dividend payout, was $22,473,000 more than profits so far this year.
TV Ratings
Smackdown on 8/2 only dipped slightly, doing a 1.86 rating and 2,641,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home). I consider holding most of the audience from the first week of the split brand as a good sign, but this still isn't much different from the pattern from January's USA Network debut past that August is harder to draw viewers.
The rating was down 3.1 percent from last week and the audience was down 3.7 percent. In the demos, the show did a 0.78 in 12-17 (down 14.3 percent), 0.80 in 18-34 (up 19.4 percent), 1.06 in 35-49 (down 11.7 percent) and 0.98 in 50+ (down 2.0 percent).
The show did 59.1 percent males in 18-49 and 69.9 percent males in 12-17.
Raw on 8/1 did a 2.29 rating and 3,305,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home).
This is well above what the show was doing for most non-day-after PPV weeks. The bump was likely a combination of lack of competition, and the positive fallout from the strong show the week before. Although I figured the first month after the extension would increase curiosity, this is still a good sign because it's above that the non-day-after PPV shows had been doing.
What's notable is the interest level was early, as the first hour did 3,463,000 viewers, far stronger than most non-PPV weeks have opened with and the best first hour since April. The second hour at 3,399,000 viewers and third hour at 3,081,000 viewers were closer to normal recent levels so the overall increase was due to increased interest coming out of last week that didn't have usual second hour growth nor sustain in hour three. The third hour is notable because it contained both the Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn match, the return to television of Brock Lesnar and The New Day vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. While hour three always declines, one would think this could have held up better than most and didn't.
Raw will be going against the Olympics the next two weeks. In 2012, that didn't hurt Raw nearly as much as most expected. I've heard it speculated with more live coverage than the London Olympics that it will hurt Raw more, but I don't subscribe to that belief, because the taped Olympics did massive numbers last time and the Winter Olympics, which was live on the East Coast and taped on the West Coast, did stronger numbers on the West Coast. Just a few weeks after that comes football season.
Smackdown on 8/2 only dipped slightly, doing a 1.86 rating and 2,641,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home). I consider holding most of the audience from the first week of the split brand as a good sign, but this still isn't much different from the pattern from January's USA Network debut past that August is harder to draw viewers.
The rating was down 3.1 percent from last week and the audience was down 3.7 percent. In the demos, the show did a 0.78 in 12-17 (down 14.3 percent), 0.80 in 18-34 (up 19.4 percent), 1.06 in 35-49 (down 11.7 percent) and 0.98 in 50+ (down 2.0 percent).
The show did 59.1 percent males in 18-49 and 69.9 percent males in 12-17.
Raw on 8/1 did a 2.29 rating and 3,305,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home).
This is well above what the show was doing for most non-day-after PPV weeks. The bump was likely a combination of lack of competition, and the positive fallout from the strong show the week before. Although I figured the first month after the extension would increase curiosity, this is still a good sign because it's above that the non-day-after PPV shows had been doing.
What's notable is the interest level was early, as the first hour did 3,463,000 viewers, far stronger than most non-PPV weeks have opened with and the best first hour since April. The second hour at 3,399,000 viewers and third hour at 3,081,000 viewers were closer to normal recent levels so the overall increase was due to increased interest coming out of last week that didn't have usual second hour growth nor sustain in hour three. The third hour is notable because it contained both the Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn match, the return to television of Brock Lesnar and The New Day vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. While hour three always declines, one would think this could have held up better than most and didn't.
Raw will be going against the Olympics the next two weeks. In 2012, that didn't hurt Raw nearly as much as most expected. I've heard it speculated with more live coverage than the London Olympics that it will hurt Raw more, but I don't subscribe to that belief, because the taped Olympics did massive numbers last time and the Winter Olympics, which was live on the East Coast and taped on the West Coast, did stronger numbers on the West Coast. Just a few weeks after that comes football season.
New Titles
The current plan will be to add a Smackdown tag team title and a Smackdown women's title sometime during the fall. Exactly how it'll be done and what the titles will be called were not decided as of last week.
The current plan will be to add a Smackdown tag team title and a Smackdown women's title sometime during the fall. Exactly how it'll be done and what the titles will be called were not decided as of last week.
Summerslam Weekend
For SummerSlam weekend, the NXT show isn't sold out and secondary prices start at $35, SummerSlam is and secondary prices start at $165 and Raw is and secondary prices start at $45. The NXT show is almost sold out, but it's notable that the secondary market for Nakamura vs. Joe hasn't exploded like it did for Nakamura vs. Zayn, which had the highest price to get in of all the shows over Mania weekend on the secondary market.
All three shows are set up for just over 13,000 fans, but they'll probably announce closer to 16,000 like they did for the shows last year. For the Raw after SummerSlam, the main event has been announced as Cena & Ambrose & Reigns vs. Jericho & Styles & Rollins, so three Smackdown guys are being advertised. Until they start doing the Smackdown brand house shows on Monday, the Smackdown headliners will be working Raw because they are on the road and it's better for all concerned, aside from brand split continuity, for them not to just have to sit in a hotel room and not get paid (like everyone except the top guys will have to do) and be away from their families waiting for the Tuesday tapings.
For SummerSlam weekend, the NXT show isn't sold out and secondary prices start at $35, SummerSlam is and secondary prices start at $165 and Raw is and secondary prices start at $45. The NXT show is almost sold out, but it's notable that the secondary market for Nakamura vs. Joe hasn't exploded like it did for Nakamura vs. Zayn, which had the highest price to get in of all the shows over Mania weekend on the secondary market.
All three shows are set up for just over 13,000 fans, but they'll probably announce closer to 16,000 like they did for the shows last year. For the Raw after SummerSlam, the main event has been announced as Cena & Ambrose & Reigns vs. Jericho & Styles & Rollins, so three Smackdown guys are being advertised. Until they start doing the Smackdown brand house shows on Monday, the Smackdown headliners will be working Raw because they are on the road and it's better for all concerned, aside from brand split continuity, for them not to just have to sit in a hotel room and not get paid (like everyone except the top guys will have to do) and be away from their families waiting for the Tuesday tapings.
Sasha Banks Title Win
As noted, it was scheduled to happen at SummerSlam and that had been the plan for months. Actually the original plan was WrestleMania, but the feeling was that Lynch was getting over so well that she was added to the Mania match and the title change was moved to SummerSlam. The decision was made late to instead change it to Raw with the idea that they felt it was more important to make the first split-branded Raw a hot show. Almost none of the wrestlers knew until the match ended and the talent didn't know until very late in the game. They essentially did the match they had worked on for SummerSlam since they had 17:00, with the dives.
Mick Foley wrote about it on Facebook and noted watching without knowing but sensing from the way Banks and Charlotte walked around that something was up. Foley noted a ton of talent was waiting at the Gorilla position to congratulate Banks as she came through the curtain. He wrote, "In all my years I don't think I've ever seen a crowd this large ling up outside the curtain to specifically congratulate one person. I have certainly never seen so many tears. While some superstars are beaming, the majority of those waiting for their moment with The Boss are either openly crying, or struggling with various degrees of success to fight the urge to let loose the tears. Then, breaking protocol, her colleagues bypass the curtain and actually file into the fabled Gorilla position." Foley said that she showed no sign of injury but the next day her back was pretty sore.
As noted, it was scheduled to happen at SummerSlam and that had been the plan for months. Actually the original plan was WrestleMania, but the feeling was that Lynch was getting over so well that she was added to the Mania match and the title change was moved to SummerSlam. The decision was made late to instead change it to Raw with the idea that they felt it was more important to make the first split-branded Raw a hot show. Almost none of the wrestlers knew until the match ended and the talent didn't know until very late in the game. They essentially did the match they had worked on for SummerSlam since they had 17:00, with the dives.
Mick Foley wrote about it on Facebook and noted watching without knowing but sensing from the way Banks and Charlotte walked around that something was up. Foley noted a ton of talent was waiting at the Gorilla position to congratulate Banks as she came through the curtain. He wrote, "In all my years I don't think I've ever seen a crowd this large ling up outside the curtain to specifically congratulate one person. I have certainly never seen so many tears. While some superstars are beaming, the majority of those waiting for their moment with The Boss are either openly crying, or struggling with various degrees of success to fight the urge to let loose the tears. Then, breaking protocol, her colleagues bypass the curtain and actually file into the fabled Gorilla position." Foley said that she showed no sign of injury but the next day her back was pretty sore.
Paul Heyman re-signs
Heyman reached a new deal with WWE this past week. The deal was always expected to be made, but WWE didn't do any mentions or advertise Heyman when he wasn't under contract. His deal expired shortly after WrestleMania and he'd been working on his own projects such as the speaking tour in England.
Heyman reached a new deal with WWE this past week. The deal was always expected to be made, but WWE didn't do any mentions or advertise Heyman when he wasn't under contract. His deal expired shortly after WrestleMania and he'd been working on his own projects such as the speaking tour in England.
John Cena's Show is Renewed
Cena will be taking another several month sabbatical as FOX has signed him for a second season of "American Grit," which will be filmed shortly. That's a big surprise since the show did weak ratings, usually around 2 million viewers, doing less on the network than Smackdown did on USA head-to-head. It also often lost more than half of its lead-in. Cena himself came off well and the network must have liked the show.
Cena will be taking another several month sabbatical as FOX has signed him for a second season of "American Grit," which will be filmed shortly. That's a big surprise since the show did weak ratings, usually around 2 million viewers, doing less on the network than Smackdown did on USA head-to-head. It also often lost more than half of its lead-in. Cena himself came off well and the network must have liked the show.
Nikki Training for Return
Nikki Bella has been training at the Performance Center trying to prepare for a comeback. She hasn't been medically cleared. The belief is that due to her neck issues she would only be able to wrestle part-time if cleared. She'd almost certainly be positioned as the star of the Smackdown brand if cleared.
Nikki Bella has been training at the Performance Center trying to prepare for a comeback. She hasn't been medically cleared. The belief is that due to her neck issues she would only be able to wrestle part-time if cleared. She'd almost certainly be positioned as the star of the Smackdown brand if cleared.
Lillian Leaves WWE
Lilian Garcia, 49, left the company a very short time after there was a ton of internal talk about her not coming back after she had taken time off to tend to her father, who is battling cancer. She was gone last week as the new people were put into place as ring announcers as the company was looking to do some cosmetic facelifting. Like her previous time off, she said it was her needing to spend time with her father who is battling two different types of cancer
Lilian Garcia, 49, left the company a very short time after there was a ton of internal talk about her not coming back after she had taken time off to tend to her father, who is battling cancer. She was gone last week as the new people were put into place as ring announcers as the company was looking to do some cosmetic facelifting. Like her previous time off, she said it was her needing to spend time with her father who is battling two different types of cancer
Rusev and Lana Married
The taped for E! Network Malibu, CA wedding of Rusev (Miroslav Barnyashev, 30) and Lana (Catherine Jo Perry, 31) took place as scheduled on 7/29. Some of the cast members of Total Divas were off the road this weekend for the wedding. The wedding was pushed on television and Lana showed her wedding ring and noted that he was her husband with the tag line, "that means he's the only man who can have me." There will be a second wedding for his family and friends in Bulgaria on 9/2.
The taped for E! Network Malibu, CA wedding of Rusev (Miroslav Barnyashev, 30) and Lana (Catherine Jo Perry, 31) took place as scheduled on 7/29. Some of the cast members of Total Divas were off the road this weekend for the wedding. The wedding was pushed on television and Lana showed her wedding ring and noted that he was her husband with the tag line, "that means he's the only man who can have me." There will be a second wedding for his family and friends in Bulgaria on 9/2.
Paige's injury
Paige has been out of action the past few weeks due to shoulder and back issues. The injuries aren't that serious and she will be re-evaluated on 8/15 to determine if she can return at that time or how soon after that time. She did do a comic con but hadn't been wrestling since the end of June. No matter what anyone will say publicly, there are issues because there was no reason to have her and Del Rio be on different brands when their relationship is not just so well known, but it's impossible to not know about it. That latter aspect may be part of it and it was only a few weeks ago when insiders in the company were very much worried about her status. But her not wrestling at this time is injury related.
Paige has been out of action the past few weeks due to shoulder and back issues. The injuries aren't that serious and she will be re-evaluated on 8/15 to determine if she can return at that time or how soon after that time. She did do a comic con but hadn't been wrestling since the end of June. No matter what anyone will say publicly, there are issues because there was no reason to have her and Del Rio be on different brands when their relationship is not just so well known, but it's impossible to not know about it. That latter aspect may be part of it and it was only a few weeks ago when insiders in the company were very much worried about her status. But her not wrestling at this time is injury related.
Teen Choice Awards
The Bella Twins won the Teen Choice Awards for favorite women athletes on the FOX show on 7/31, which Cena hosted. They won over Ronda Rousey, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Alex Morgan and Danica Patrick. That is amazing when you think of all the publicity Williams has gotten over the past year, not to mention Brie retired months ago and was never really pushed as a big star this past year and Nikki has been out of action for months due to neck surgery. It's their fame from Total Divas that is likely the key to the popularity. Cena hosted the show and he was also nominated for Best Male Athlete, won by Stephen Curry. Curry won over Cena, Peyton Manning, Roman Reigns (yes), Cristiano Ronaldo and Kobe Bryant. I guess this was one of those weeks when pro wrestling was a sport. It would have been so funny that Reigns won but it was not to be.
The Bella Twins won the Teen Choice Awards for favorite women athletes on the FOX show on 7/31, which Cena hosted. They won over Ronda Rousey, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Alex Morgan and Danica Patrick. That is amazing when you think of all the publicity Williams has gotten over the past year, not to mention Brie retired months ago and was never really pushed as a big star this past year and Nikki has been out of action for months due to neck surgery. It's their fame from Total Divas that is likely the key to the popularity. Cena hosted the show and he was also nominated for Best Male Athlete, won by Stephen Curry. Curry won over Cena, Peyton Manning, Roman Reigns (yes), Cristiano Ronaldo and Kobe Bryant. I guess this was one of those weeks when pro wrestling was a sport. It would have been so funny that Reigns won but it was not to be.
Sabre and Ibishi's Future
Almost all indications are Zack Sabre Jr. isn't signing with WWE, at least right now. It was said he has some goals he still wants to achieve outside. At least those he works with have been told he's made that decision and he's told people the same thing.
Kota Ibushi is claiming in Japan that he hasn't signed. He didn't claim he won't sign, which is very different, and you're supposed to not say anything about signing.
Almost all indications are Zack Sabre Jr. isn't signing with WWE, at least right now. It was said he has some goals he still wants to achieve outside. At least those he works with have been told he's made that decision and he's told people the same thing.
Kota Ibushi is claiming in Japan that he hasn't signed. He didn't claim he won't sign, which is very different, and you're supposed to not say anything about signing.
NJPW G-1
After 11 days, the G-1 tournament is not close to the level of 2013 or 2014, and the jury is very much out if it can close as strong as 2015, but it's still physically grueling and emotionally rewarding. Many of the competitors, another year older and more beaten up, are still out there having good-to-great matches the majority of the time.
There have been no matches of the year, although the 8/3 match with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii and the 7/18 match with Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji were not far from that level. There have been some misses. There was a tough crowd in Takamatsu, but most of the shows this past week delivered, in particular Nagoya on 7/30 and Kagoshima on 8/3.
Thus far, nobody has missed a match, but that doesn't mean nobody is injured. The worst off is Hiroyoshi Tenzan, the 45-year-old sentimental favorite. In trying to play up his story of the banged up veteran in his last G-1 willing himself to his best matches, he's in really rough shape at this point. Besides the usual neck and back problems that have slowed him down for years, his knees are beyond shot from either doing or missing moonsaults every night in trying to bring back memories and nostalgia of the old Tenzan for one last go. On 8/3, he was walking slowly to the ring and the most limited he's been, and was working with Bad Luck Fale, perhaps the toughest opponent to get a match out of. The crowd is into his story, but not super into it. It's nothing compared to when they did the same story in the past with Riki Choshu and Masahiro Chono. But it remains top storyline of the tournament.
On 7/31, after Tenzan lost to Okada, Tenzan stated that this would be the last time he ever had a singles match against the world champion. This started up rumors that by making the statement, Tenzan may be readying to retire.
Michael Elgin, Katsuyori Shibata and Yoshi-Hashi have bad shoulders, as does Tanahashi. Seiya Sanada has a bad elbow. Ishii is probably banged up everywhere but he'll never sell any of it. Yuji Nagata has back issues. And on it goes.
Going into the 8/4 show in Fukuoka, here are the standings:
A block: 1. Okada 5-1; 2. Togi Makabe and Naomichi Marufuji 4-2; 4. Bad Luck Fale, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto 3-3; 7. Sanada, Tenzan, Tama Tonga and Tomohiro Ishii 2-4.
B block: 1. Tetsuya Naito, Elgin, Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Nagata 3-2; 7. Toru Yano, Shibata and Tomoaki Honma 2-3; 10. Evil 1-4.
The major stories of the week were that on 8/3 in Kagoshima, Okada beat Makabe to take sole possession of first place. They are keeping the IWGP champion strong, with his only loss coming to Marufuji, the NOAH star who is also being kept strong. Most likely there will be an Okada vs. Marufuji title match in the fall. Tanahashi lost his first three matches, putting his back against the wall, because it's unlikely a 5-4 record in the A block will get you to the finals. He's won his last three and even as banged up as he is, he's been the star of this year's tournament so far. Tenzan is only 2-4, which isn't good. Just because of his story, I'd have expected him to be 4-2, because his back is against the wall as he may already be out of the running, and with one more loss, he's done. If Tenzan wasn't at least in the running on the final night, to me, it's a wasted storyline even though the crowd has been behind him.
In Kagoshima, when Tenzan lost to Fale, giving him his fourth loss, the crowd, way more into the match than they should have been, was deflated because they "knew" he had to win it.
The B block has been parity booking. The big story has been Yoshi-Hashi, who didn't figure to do well in his first G-1, but is tied for first place. It looks like this block will continue to be guys trading wins until it gets decided on the 8/13 show. Naito remains the heavy favorite to advance with Omega and Shibata also candidates.
From a business standpoint, it's been so-so. Of the five shows this week, only two sold out, the 7/31 show in Gifu with 2,581 fans and the 8/3 show in Kagoshima with 3,202 fans. As far as comparisons with last year, only two of the five arenas run this week were part of last year's tour. Nagoya on 7/30, one of the most important shows of the tour, was down from its usual sellout for G-1 last year doing 6,500 paid, to 5,500. Takamatsu didn't sell out this year or last. It ran on 8/1, and did about the same as last, doing 2,144 this year as compared to 2,070 last year.
As far as major stories, one would think Evil will start getting wins. Omega vs. Shibata is a key match on 8/4. Tenzan has to get a win over Goto on 8/5 unless they want to bury him. Now Tanahashi pretty much has to beat Tenzan and Marufuji. Okada has to lose to Ishii or Fale because I sense Okada at 6-2 and Tanahashi at 5-3 going into their last match. At that point, a Tanahashi win would give him the tournament, while a draw or an Okada win puts Okada into the finals. There are times it makes sense for the IWGP champion to win G-1, but I don't think this is the right year for that. So Okada should either survive or beat Tanahashi and the B block winner beats Okada to win G-1 and headlines against him at the Tokyo Dome. That almost has to be Naito, but this would be the third Okada vs Naito match already this year. Omega isn't strong enough to main event the Dome, so Shibata is the other option, and he's questionable in that spot. Since 2008, Tanahashi has headlined every Tokyo Dome but one, in 2010, there's a reason for it, and in G-1, even while limited in the ring, he comes across as clearly the biggest star on the roster.
Tanahashi could beat Okada, and then lose to Naito, meaning one less Okada vs. Naito match this year, and Okada vs. Naito at the Dome. Or Tanahashi could beat Okada, lose to Naito, which would lead to another Tanahashi vs. Okada match at a major fall PPV with the winner defending against Naito at the Dome.
After 11 days, the G-1 tournament is not close to the level of 2013 or 2014, and the jury is very much out if it can close as strong as 2015, but it's still physically grueling and emotionally rewarding. Many of the competitors, another year older and more beaten up, are still out there having good-to-great matches the majority of the time.
There have been no matches of the year, although the 8/3 match with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii and the 7/18 match with Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji were not far from that level. There have been some misses. There was a tough crowd in Takamatsu, but most of the shows this past week delivered, in particular Nagoya on 7/30 and Kagoshima on 8/3.
Thus far, nobody has missed a match, but that doesn't mean nobody is injured. The worst off is Hiroyoshi Tenzan, the 45-year-old sentimental favorite. In trying to play up his story of the banged up veteran in his last G-1 willing himself to his best matches, he's in really rough shape at this point. Besides the usual neck and back problems that have slowed him down for years, his knees are beyond shot from either doing or missing moonsaults every night in trying to bring back memories and nostalgia of the old Tenzan for one last go. On 8/3, he was walking slowly to the ring and the most limited he's been, and was working with Bad Luck Fale, perhaps the toughest opponent to get a match out of. The crowd is into his story, but not super into it. It's nothing compared to when they did the same story in the past with Riki Choshu and Masahiro Chono. But it remains top storyline of the tournament.
On 7/31, after Tenzan lost to Okada, Tenzan stated that this would be the last time he ever had a singles match against the world champion. This started up rumors that by making the statement, Tenzan may be readying to retire.
Michael Elgin, Katsuyori Shibata and Yoshi-Hashi have bad shoulders, as does Tanahashi. Seiya Sanada has a bad elbow. Ishii is probably banged up everywhere but he'll never sell any of it. Yuji Nagata has back issues. And on it goes.
Going into the 8/4 show in Fukuoka, here are the standings:
A block: 1. Okada 5-1; 2. Togi Makabe and Naomichi Marufuji 4-2; 4. Bad Luck Fale, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto 3-3; 7. Sanada, Tenzan, Tama Tonga and Tomohiro Ishii 2-4.
B block: 1. Tetsuya Naito, Elgin, Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Nagata 3-2; 7. Toru Yano, Shibata and Tomoaki Honma 2-3; 10. Evil 1-4.
The major stories of the week were that on 8/3 in Kagoshima, Okada beat Makabe to take sole possession of first place. They are keeping the IWGP champion strong, with his only loss coming to Marufuji, the NOAH star who is also being kept strong. Most likely there will be an Okada vs. Marufuji title match in the fall. Tanahashi lost his first three matches, putting his back against the wall, because it's unlikely a 5-4 record in the A block will get you to the finals. He's won his last three and even as banged up as he is, he's been the star of this year's tournament so far. Tenzan is only 2-4, which isn't good. Just because of his story, I'd have expected him to be 4-2, because his back is against the wall as he may already be out of the running, and with one more loss, he's done. If Tenzan wasn't at least in the running on the final night, to me, it's a wasted storyline even though the crowd has been behind him.
In Kagoshima, when Tenzan lost to Fale, giving him his fourth loss, the crowd, way more into the match than they should have been, was deflated because they "knew" he had to win it.
The B block has been parity booking. The big story has been Yoshi-Hashi, who didn't figure to do well in his first G-1, but is tied for first place. It looks like this block will continue to be guys trading wins until it gets decided on the 8/13 show. Naito remains the heavy favorite to advance with Omega and Shibata also candidates.
From a business standpoint, it's been so-so. Of the five shows this week, only two sold out, the 7/31 show in Gifu with 2,581 fans and the 8/3 show in Kagoshima with 3,202 fans. As far as comparisons with last year, only two of the five arenas run this week were part of last year's tour. Nagoya on 7/30, one of the most important shows of the tour, was down from its usual sellout for G-1 last year doing 6,500 paid, to 5,500. Takamatsu didn't sell out this year or last. It ran on 8/1, and did about the same as last, doing 2,144 this year as compared to 2,070 last year.
As far as major stories, one would think Evil will start getting wins. Omega vs. Shibata is a key match on 8/4. Tenzan has to get a win over Goto on 8/5 unless they want to bury him. Now Tanahashi pretty much has to beat Tenzan and Marufuji. Okada has to lose to Ishii or Fale because I sense Okada at 6-2 and Tanahashi at 5-3 going into their last match. At that point, a Tanahashi win would give him the tournament, while a draw or an Okada win puts Okada into the finals. There are times it makes sense for the IWGP champion to win G-1, but I don't think this is the right year for that. So Okada should either survive or beat Tanahashi and the B block winner beats Okada to win G-1 and headlines against him at the Tokyo Dome. That almost has to be Naito, but this would be the third Okada vs Naito match already this year. Omega isn't strong enough to main event the Dome, so Shibata is the other option, and he's questionable in that spot. Since 2008, Tanahashi has headlined every Tokyo Dome but one, in 2010, there's a reason for it, and in G-1, even while limited in the ring, he comes across as clearly the biggest star on the roster.
Tanahashi could beat Okada, and then lose to Naito, meaning one less Okada vs. Naito match this year, and Okada vs. Naito at the Dome. Or Tanahashi could beat Okada, lose to Naito, which would lead to another Tanahashi vs. Okada match at a major fall PPV with the winner defending against Naito at the Dome.
Lucha Underground
The third season of Lucha Underground will debut on 9/7 at 8 p.m. on El Rey. Originally season three wasn't going to debut until January. They filmed 40 shows during the long taping schedule that concluded in June. This schedule would indicate the season to run until June 7, 2017. The several week long Ultima Lucha would begin either on 5/10 or 5/17.
There has also been talk of filming season four starting late this year as opposed to waiting until early next year.
The third season of Lucha Underground will debut on 9/7 at 8 p.m. on El Rey. Originally season three wasn't going to debut until January. They filmed 40 shows during the long taping schedule that concluded in June. This schedule would indicate the season to run until June 7, 2017. The several week long Ultima Lucha would begin either on 5/10 or 5/17.
There has also been talk of filming season four starting late this year as opposed to waiting until early next year.
Hogan vs Gawker
Nick Denton and Gawker's attempt to appeal the$140.1 million judgment against them in the Hulk Hogan lawsuit is now falling apart. There was a lot of belief that there was no way that sized verdict would hold up to appeal, but Judge Pamela Campbell, who presided over the original case, refused to lessen it. Many expected the entire verdict would be thrown out on appeal. The issue became with a verdict so large, Campbell wanted Denton and Gawker to post $50 million just to get an appeal, and if they lost the appeal, that money would go directly to Hogan. Denton then posted his 29 percent ownership stake in Gawker, which he told Campbell was a company worth $276 million, so his stake would be worth about $81 million.
On 7/29, Campbell released a statement claiming that Denton misled her when she found out that when Denton had made the statement in June to Campbell about the company's value, that he already intended to sell the company for $90 million to Ziff Davis, the publicly-traded company that owns PCMag.com, meaning his stock was worth closer to $26 million, or not enough for the bond. Campbell wrote, "The integrity of the civil litigation process depends on truthful disclosure of facts. Revealing only some of the facts does not constitute truthful disclosure." She ruled that Hogan can now start collecting the award. Denton is planning an filing an emergency stay of the ruling. Denton claimed it was Hogan's side who claimed his stock was worth $81 million. "We told the court they did not know what the company's shares would be worth."
The ruling led to Denton immediately filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 8/1, to avoid Hogan being able to seize his assets. Denton was on the hook for $10 million of the verdict. A.J. Daulerio, also on the hook for some of the verdict, is also expected to file for bankruptcy. He's on the hook for $100,000 but he doesn't have much money. There is also $115 million of the verdict against Denton, Daulerio and Gawker. Denton claimed that Gawker will thrive under new ownership when the sale closes in a few weeks. "On this bitter day fr me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaire's vendetta." Gawker itself filed for bankruptcy in June.
Nick Denton and Gawker's attempt to appeal the$140.1 million judgment against them in the Hulk Hogan lawsuit is now falling apart. There was a lot of belief that there was no way that sized verdict would hold up to appeal, but Judge Pamela Campbell, who presided over the original case, refused to lessen it. Many expected the entire verdict would be thrown out on appeal. The issue became with a verdict so large, Campbell wanted Denton and Gawker to post $50 million just to get an appeal, and if they lost the appeal, that money would go directly to Hogan. Denton then posted his 29 percent ownership stake in Gawker, which he told Campbell was a company worth $276 million, so his stake would be worth about $81 million.
On 7/29, Campbell released a statement claiming that Denton misled her when she found out that when Denton had made the statement in June to Campbell about the company's value, that he already intended to sell the company for $90 million to Ziff Davis, the publicly-traded company that owns PCMag.com, meaning his stock was worth closer to $26 million, or not enough for the bond. Campbell wrote, "The integrity of the civil litigation process depends on truthful disclosure of facts. Revealing only some of the facts does not constitute truthful disclosure." She ruled that Hogan can now start collecting the award. Denton is planning an filing an emergency stay of the ruling. Denton claimed it was Hogan's side who claimed his stock was worth $81 million. "We told the court they did not know what the company's shares would be worth."
The ruling led to Denton immediately filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 8/1, to avoid Hogan being able to seize his assets. Denton was on the hook for $10 million of the verdict. A.J. Daulerio, also on the hook for some of the verdict, is also expected to file for bankruptcy. He's on the hook for $100,000 but he doesn't have much money. There is also $115 million of the verdict against Denton, Daulerio and Gawker. Denton claimed that Gawker will thrive under new ownership when the sale closes in a few weeks. "On this bitter day fr me, I am consoled by the fact that my colleagues will soon be freed from this tech billionaire's vendetta." Gawker itself filed for bankruptcy in June.