While WWE’s Mixed Match Challenge has been a bit of a mixed success, WWE execs are talking big numbers when it comes to promoting the show.
Michelle Wilson, WWE’s Chief Revenue and Marketing officer, said that the show has done over 6 million views on Facebook and WWE fans watched over 12 million minutes ever since it started four weeks ago.
When pressed to give specifics about how much time people are spending when they sit down to engage with the product, George Barrios, WWE’s Chief Strategy and Financial Officer, did not want to get into numbers as he said they don’t have the data that the folks at Facebook have.
“So I like to stay out of the comparison. I would say we’ve seen a good number of improvement in the watch tab for WWE content, the time spent viewing versus pre-watched tab. Obviously, we want continue to see that grow, but I would not want to make any comparisons just because we don’t have access to that information,” Barrios said.
The live Mixed Match Challenge watch-counter on Facebook peaks at around 100,000 viewers every week but then that counter adds up once fans watch the on-demand show. Considering how many WWE has likes on Facebook, the live number is a bit of a disappointment although the show is restricted to those living in the United States only.
During the conference call with investors, a question regarding Ronda Rousey was asked if she will be a part-timer like The Rock or used more of an ambassadorial role.
Triple H, who was sitting in on the call along with Stephanie for the first time, said that they’re “finalizing the details of the deal now” but stressed that this is a multi-year deal that will see Ronda Rousey in WWE for the foreseeable future.
“We’re in first position on everything with her. And as she has stated, she wants to be ingrained in the fabric of WWE,” Triple H replied. Rousey has stated in an interview with ESPN that WWE will be her first priority to whatever she does outside the ring so she will be working around her WWE schedule and not the other way round.
“This is not a journey into something quick where she wants to come in and do a few events. This is her life now and she wants to be here, wants to be ingrained in it and wants to be with us for a long time. And we look forward to that opportunity as she is a massive global star that can do amazing things in this industry,” Triple H added.
Rousey had to jet back to Colombia immediately following the Royal Rumble but once she wraps up that movie this month, she will resume her WWE work full-time and will be training at the WWE Performance Center during the weekends.
WWE today announced that Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson and Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios have been promoted to Co-Presidents and appointed to the WWE’s Board of Directors.
“The successful transformation of our business model has put us in a position to capitalize on all that the changing global media landscape has to offer,” said WWE Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon. “I am confident that our executive management team, led by Michelle and George, will achieve continued success across key strategic initiatives and ensure our long-term growth.”
Both individuals will continue to report directly to Vince McMahon.
Their addition to the Board of Directors sends the total number of members to 11. They are the only WWE employees apart from Vince, Stephanie, and Triple H to be on the board. The rest of the board are executives from other high-profile companies in the United States.
On March 13, St. Martin’s Press will publish The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be it, a book by WWE’s longest-running tag team champions The New Day.
The Book of Booty tongue-in-cheek handbook will take a look at The New Day’s storyline world where fans will learn about the feel-good story of three underestimated Superstars, the facts of their stratospheric title reign, the power of the outfits and instruments of the New Day world, and much more.
The preview of the book reads, “Multi-time W . . . W . . . E! (WWE) TAG! TEAM! CHAMPIONS! The New Day want you to feel the power!! And now you can with The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It. From the purveyors of positivity themselves, each chapter of this handy guide will help you embrace the New Day way of life. Even if you’re feeling booty―and who (who?! who?! who?! who?! who?!) has never felt booty? ―you’ll be clapping, gyrating, and radiating positivity like the New Day themselves. By the time you finish this book, you’ll be a rainbow-gazing, trombone-playing, unicorn-loving soldier of positivity, ready to take on nefarious WWE tag teams with a smile on your face. Pro tip: Eat your Booty O’s every morning for added strength!”
The main event for the Smackdown Fastlane pay-per-view has been changed again and it’s going from a triple threat match to a fatal 4-way match for the WWE title.
AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn will be joined by either Dolph Ziggler or Baron Corbin, with the winner of the match between the two set for next week advancing to the main event.
The change was announced by Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon on Twitter who wrote that he’s going to make Fastlane “a bit more interesting.”
AJ Styles immediately commented on the change and wrote, “Swell. Line ‘em up. I’m gonna knock them down.”
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com is reporting that UFC is looking at the possibility of having CM Punk fight Mike Jackson at the upcoming UFC 225 card on June 9 in Punk’s hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
Both Punk and Jackson have a record of 0-1 and Jackson actually lost the fight to Mickey Gall where the winner was going to get Punk at UFC 203. Gall defeated Jackson and then tapped out Punk in the first round.
While Punk moved out of the spotlight ever since his quick loss, he continued his MMA training at Roufusport in Milwaukee and has been very vocal about getting another shot inside the UFC Octagon.
UFC 225 will take place at the United Center a week before WWE comes to Chicago for Money In The Bank.
WWE has hired Serena Deeb as the newest women’s coach at the WWE Performance Center on a full-time basis.
The name should be a familiar one as Deeb is a former WWE star who was part of CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society and recently participated in the Mae Young Classic tournament.
Deeb will join Sara Amato in teaching the up-and-coming female WWE Superstars and she hopes that one day she’ll be given her own class at the Performance Center.
The 31-year-old California native said that offer to join the Performance Center was presented to her around a year ago before the MYC tournament kicked off. “The tournament was the first stop on the tracks, and following that, I came back in a week in the fall for an official coaching tryout, and following that, it was pretty quickly offered,” she told WWE.COM.
Out of the nine main WWE business segments, six of them registered an increase compared to the prior year quarter while three saw a drop, including one of the biggest drivers.
Those who did better than the prior year quarter include TV revenues which increased 10% to $75.3 million from $68.6 million; Network revenues – including WWE Network and PPV – increased 6% to $46.2 million from $43.7 million; Licensing was up to 11.3 million from $10.1 million; Digital Media revenues were $12.8 million compared to $8.5 million; WWEShop.com did $14.3 million versus $12.8 million in Q3 2017; and WWE Studios had $9.6 million in revenue compared to $2.4 million in the prior year quarter.
Home entertainment, venue merchandise, and live events revenues were all down compared to Q3 2017. Live events revenues decreased to $35.2 million from $38.6 million; Home entertainment was way down to $900,000 from $4.2 million; and venue merchandise was down to $4.4 million from $4.9 million.
WWE ended its fourth quarter of 2017 with a total of 1,547,000 subscribers to the WWE Network, of which 1,471,000 are paid while the rest are on a free 30-day trial.
While that number is up 5% from the same quarter ending in 2016, the WWE Network has less subscribers than the last quarter. In Q3 2017, the Network had a total of 1,578,000 subscribers and 1,522,000 paying subscribers, which means there are 51,000 less subscribers paying for the Network up until December 31, 2017.
There are 1,065,000 paid subscribers in the United States and an additional 406,000 paid international subscribers. The WWE Network had a year-to-date average of 1,533,000 subscribers.
WWE added nearly 300 hours of original content to WWE Network programming and more than 2,400 hours of archival content. At the end of 2017, there was around 9,400 hours of footage available on the service.
WWE today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2017. For the quarter, the Company reported Net income of $4.8 million, or $0.06 per share, as compared to a Net income of $8.0 million, or $0.10 per share, in the prior year quarter. Net income in the fourth quarter 2017 reflected charges totaling $11.3 million ($0.14 per diluted share) arising from the enactment of the new tax law. Operating income increased to $27.0 million from Operating income of $13.9 million. Excluding items affecting comparability, Adjusted OIBDA increased to $34.8 million from $20.5 million.
“In 2017, WWE achieved record financial results, generating the highest level of revenue and Adjusted OIBDA in the Company’s history. Our operating metrics demonstrate the strength of our content and brands worldwide, which positions us well to achieve our long-term objectives. We will continue to focus on creating compelling content for multiple platforms, leveraging data analytics and capitalizing on international opportunities to drive our continued growth,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
George Barrios, WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, added, “We achieved record revenue that exceeded $800 million, record Adjusted OIBDA that was within the range of our guidance, and record subscriber levels. As we continue to drive WWE’s digital and direct-to-consumer transformation while optimizing the monetization of our long-form content, we expect to balance 2018 OIBDA growth with investment in strategic areas, maximizing our long-term opportunities and shareholder value.”
Smackdown this week drew 2,505,000 viewers, virtually identical to last week’s episode with just 4,000 less viewers. The show was #3 on the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #10 in overall viewership for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
PWInsider.com is reporting that Vince McMahon has handed over the reigns of 205 Live completely to Triple H, with the show taking a different approach over the past two weeks as a result of change in leadership.
McMahon, who is hands-on with everything except NXT, had one vision for 205 Live that revolved around characters while Triple H’s vision is completely different and focuses on the high-flying action that makes the cruiserweights different than the rest of the main roster and 205 Live different than Raw and Smackdown or any other regular WWE television show.
With Triple H leading the charge, 205 Live will have a feel more like the very successful Cruiserweight Classic in the coming weeks, something that was the original plan before McMahon wrapped his hands around it.
The 72-year-old is still very much involved in running the company and does not give up control over a product easily. Even with the new XFL on his plate, McMahon has said that it will not affect his day-to-day work at WWE.
Apart from an appearance coming in at #30 at the Royal Rumble, we have not seen Dolph Ziggler on WWE television since the Smackdown following Clash of Champions in December.
Next week, the former United States champion will be returning on the show and will wrestle Baron Corbin, the man he beat for the title on the pay-per-view in a triple threat match that also involved Bobby Roode. Ziggler vacated the title on Smackdown two days later and “walked out” of the company.
Ziggler’s appearance at the Rumble, although a surprise, was underwhelming and Ziggler lasted two minutes and one second before he got eliminated by Finn Balor.
A limited number of remaining rooms are available at The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans for WrestleMania 34 weekend at the special price of just $309 per night. This rate will be available until the cut-off date of February 19, 2018.
This is Wrestling-Online.com’s fifth collaboration with The Ritz-Carlton brand for WrestleMania weekend and the second one with the New Orleans property following our successful partnership for WrestleMania XXX.
The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans is located on the edge of the French Quarter and provides guests with access to the city’s most popular and unique attractions. It’s one block away from the world-famous Bourbon Street and minutes away by walk from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the home of WrestleMania, as well as the adjacent Smoothie King Center, the home of Hall of Fame, NXT, Raw, and Smackdown.
This distinctive luxury hotel in New Orleans features a 25,000-square-foot destination spa with 22 treatment rooms, an acclaimed signature restaurant and a new stylish lounge. Rooms with the preferred Wrestling-Online rate are available from April 5 to April 10, both days included (latest check-out is Wednesday, April 11). A minimum 3-night stay is required to take advantage of the discounted rate.
The Fastlane pay-per-view, the final show before WrestleMania, will be headlined by a triple threat match for the WWE title, a change from the originally advertised fatal 5-way match.
WWE champion AJ Styles will be defending the title against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a quasi-rematch from the Royal Rumble, although this time, Owens and Zayn are not teaming up.
The main event was announced by Daniel Bryan last night on Smackdown after the #1 contenders match for the title between Owens and Zayn ended in a no contest with Styles interfering.
Fastlane takes place on March 11. The original advertised main event was AJ Styles vs Randy Orton vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens.
This season finale was jam-packed with the drama that has become a hallmark of the show.
A large part of the drama this season has been caused by the ongoing fight between Natalya and Lana. Natalya has made it perfectly clear that she feels as though Lana should stick to her original job as manager to her husband, WWE Superstar Rusev. While Lana is excellent at doing promos and talking on a microphone, her wrestling skills leave something to be desired.
Natalya has even suggested that Lana doesn’t have a place as a female wrestler. Lana has countered by saying that Natalya has no skills on the microphone. However, the women’s fight reached its climax on this episode when Lana asked Natalya’s husband, Tyson Kidd to help train her.
Kidd has been out of the ring for two years due to a serious neck injury. He is now a producer on Monday Night Raw. However, he still enjoys aiding the new talent to improve their skills. So, it was no surprise when he agreed to help Lana with her training. It was further no surprise that Natalya had problems with the arangement!
She insisted that her recent fights with Lana had nothing to do with her discomfort. According to Natalya, the reason that she was upset was that she was concerned was that she was afraid that while training Lana, Tyson would remember all of the things that he was missing in the ring. In an effort to protect Tyson, Natalya made up an elaborate lie about how Tyson had shingles. I understand that it is the instinct of a wife to protect her husband from any unnecessary pain, but Natalya should have allowed Tyson to make his own choices. I also think that Natalya was still angry about Lana’s previous comments. However, by the end of the episode Lana and Natalya had made peace with one another.
Meanwhile, another WWE couple is also experiencing major stress of their own. The Miz and his wife Maryse have just recently discovered that they are expecting. However, the only problem is that the baby is due on April 6th, two days before WrestleMania, the biggest WWE show of the year. Apparently, the baby isn’t concerned about it’s parents work schedule. Also, the baby isn’t worried that the couple has just sold their Los Angeles home. They have no idea where they are going to move next.
In an effort to help take something off his wife’s plate, The Miz made appointments to see houses in his hometown of Cleveland despite knowing that Maryse can’t stand the place. Maryse became upset when The Miz tried to pass it off as a joke…maybe The Miz should keep his sense of humor to himself until after the baby is born!
Another WWE couple has reached a milestone. Nikki Bella has finally set a date for her wedding to John Cena. However, after setting the date Nikki hasn’t had much time to wedding plan due to being on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. So. while she was in town for the show’s premiere, Nikki’s sister Brie suggested that they go wedding dress shopping. Due to rehearsal, Nikki didn’t have time to shop. So, Brie hired a wedding dress stylist who brought several dresses for her to try on. Brie is such a good sister!
Nikki’s wedding will no doubt cause even more drama on next season of Total Divas.
Former Raw and Smackdown Tag Team title holder Jason Jordan has undergone surgery – called minimally invasive posterior cervical microdiscectomy – to repair a neck injury reports WWE.COM.
“He had an injury to a disc in his neck which resulted in significant pain that was refractory to all conservative measures,” WWE Medical Director Dr. Joseph Maroon said. “It was decided to do a minimally invasive operation to decompress the nerve, to allow it to heal.”
Jordan was written out of television on Monday Night Raw when his on-screen father Kurt Angle sent him home after causing the DQ in the Tag Team title match.
It’s not known how long Jordan will be out for yet.
Monday Night Raw drew 3,055,000 viewers this week, down 339,000 viewers from the post-Rumble episode.
Hour one started with 3,161,000 viewers, then went up to 3,212,000 in the second hour, and then crashed to 2,793,000 viewers in hour three. Raw lost nearly 420,000 viewers from hour two to hour three.
The show was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The LIDS Sports Group today announced a new partnership with WWE, gaining the licensing rights to create on-demand WWE headwear. The new licensing agreement allows for LIDS to embroider the names, logos, and autographs of WWE Superstars and Legends on WWE-licensed headwear within its stores and upon orders online.
“The passion that runs through the veins of WWE fans is indisputable, so we are thrilled to be able to further connect with this fanbase by offering them a new way to demonstrate support for their favorite Superstars and Legends,” said David Baxter, president and CEO of LIDS Sports Group. “Customization is an important aspect to our brand, and we hope to continue the expansion of our WWE customization offerings in ways that take customers’ fandom to the next level.”
The new agreement also allows for the on-demand creation of custom WWE headwear. Customers can select from a wide selection of blank headwear options offered by LIDS and then choose from the new library of WWE custom embroidery options to create personalized, one-of-a-kind looks. Thanks to LIDS’ unique customization capabilities, creating a custom WWE hat in-store will take only minutes.
“LIDS shares our vision of fan engagement by providing customized offerings that connects our passionate fans with their favorite Superstars,” said Casey Collins, WWE Executive Vice President of Consumer Products. “We’re excited to launch this new on-demand initiative with a brand who can offer WWE products in real-time alongside our biggest events.”
PWInsider.com is reporting that Jason Jordan will be off television for the next several weeks as he continues to deal with an injury that is preventing him from wrestling.
The backstage segment involving Kurt Angle yesterday where he told Jordan to go home was a way to explain why the former tag team champion will not be seen on TV. He has not wrestled for a while and was also taken from the non-televised live events tour.
PWInsider adds that while his exact injury is not known, it’s believed to be either a neck or a shoulder issue. Yesterday, Jordan caused the DQ in the match between Rollins and Reigns versus The Bar which led to the segment where he gets sent home by his on-screen father.
