There’s always something slightly sanitized about WWE documentary DVD releases — pretty much par for the course. When they finally got Warrior back, watching his sitdown after he became re-ffiliated with the company, we saw a far less angry and confrontational persona than we had seen online in the years prior. What’s obvious from Sting: Into The Light is that Steve Borden is clearly a very nice guy. But for one of the most iconic and important wrestlers of our time, there’s something really muted about the whole experience of this release.
When the documentary piece starts, it actually feels quite eerie. He’s settled in the back seat of a black SUV being taken to WWE HQ and is talking about the nerves and excitement he has for going in for the first time. He’s essentially just going through the exact same motions and emotions that Warrior was doing all of 6 months before.
Over the course of his interview, we’re shown him going from room to room, from department to department, meeting executives who tell him about what they plan to do with him now that he’s with WWE. It would seem that a performer coming in who is in the position that Sting or Warrior is in gets the same programme and agenda for the day, culminating in a meeting with Triple H. It is almost a propaganda movie for WWE, how professional they are and how they are completely unrivaled in a business sense in this industry today. It’s almost identical to the Warrior film. And, frankly, it couldn’t be more dull. Even Sting looks a little bored.
Equally lacking in excitement is footage of Sting going through boxes of old posters, ring gear, boots and other merchandise in his enormous garage. If you’re a fan of Sting, seeing him on his ranch, building a fire and mooching around on a golf kart might interest you. Certainly, seeing his parents, who talk about his athletic prowess as a college student, is the kind of colour one would normally look for in these sorts of documentaries.
Essentially, the narrative follows his return to the ring against Triple H at WrestleMania in San Jose, but in doing so, sees us do a whistle-stop tour of his break into the business, his work with WCW, his subsequent character change and his path to finding faith in real life. We see Sting watching the WWE Network in his home, watching matches that he’s not seen in full since he wrestled them. We follow him to his church where his brother, Jeff, is a senior pastor. Most entertaining is seeing him snuck in, hauled up backstage before his debut at Survivor Series in St Louis in November 2014 where you can tangibly sense his nervousness.
Talking heads from the likes of his father, Jim Ross, Lex Luger, and Ric Flair provide some insight, but a lucid performance from Scott Steiner, who shows great humility, is the most worthy of note. Everyone says, Sting included, that he was a locker room leader and a professional who got along with everyone. All note, and its entirely evident, that Steve Borden is very different to Sting. In fact, watching his WWE Table for 3 with Vader and DDP will tell that much.
Sting is humble and evidently very much at peace. You feel that there’s little to be cynical about with him. He talks openly, yet protectively, about how he was acting in the late 90s before he stopped doing so and found solace in religion. Just as honest, though, is his assessment of his character and gimmick change during the NWO-era WCW days. Some of the vignettes that the company produced for him were remarkable, but none are quite as awesome as that wonderfully cinematic, orchestral WWE 2K15 advert.
To see a full match list, you can do so here, but the stand-out matches are certainly the Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions battle from 1988 (a remarkable 45-minute commercial-free match at the time), as well as a very good match against DDP from Nitro in 1999 that Page himself is a huge fan of. Fans of Sting are never going to be disappointed by the wrestling on show in this collection.
75 minutes to tell the story of Sting is too little. But with a career that was at its peak with WCW and with a 7-8 year gap while he was with TNA (which he mentions by name), there’s little that WWE wants to tell other than the here and now. If you want to learn about his route in to the industry from Red Bastien to teaming with the Ultimate Warrior under Jerry Jarrett to Jim Crocket via Dusty Rhodes and Eric Bischoff and eventually to Vince, you’ll see an enjoyable story.
But, if you want to learn about what he really thinks about Hogan, or what he really thinks about the current product, you’re not going to get much more than a polite answer. Because, that’s really who Steve Borden is. And for all that this documentary doesn’t shine like his career in the ring has done, there’s something effortlessly charismatic and honest about the man that just makes you want to watch him.
Both WWE Hall-of-Famer and Smackdown commentator Jerry Lawler & girlfriend involved in auto accident Saturday nightJerry Lawler and girlfriend Lauryn Laine McBride have confirmed scattered reports that they were involved in a head-on automobile accident Saturday night.
The news was first reported at an independent show in Tennessee where it was announced to the crowd and said that they had gotten the information from Brian Christopher (Jerry’s son Brian Lawler). Jamie Dundee later had the same story, saying he heard it from Christopher. The word at the show was Lawler was fine but his girlfriend was banged up.
McBride posted Sunday: “Not exactly how we expected to spend our Halloween, but while on our way home from dinner (Peyton wasn’t with us, thank God) a girl ran a red light and hit us, totaling the car. The airbag deployed, hitting me in the face (hence why I look like Sandy the Squirrel from SpongeBob), causing the swelling to my face…have to wear a silly brace and crutches for my knee for the time being. Thank God we are okay other than that and I think Jerry is Superman. Not a scratch or anything. He tried to cover me to save me from the airbag before it deployed. Thank God for my sweet BFF Haley Sterling Campbell for taking good are of me at the hospital tonight.”
Lawler posted a photo on his Twitter account of the smashed up car and said “@Lauryn911 and I were in a car crash last night. She spent four hours in emergency room but is home now. We were lucky,” and then “@Lauryn911 and I were lucky things weren’t worse than they were last night. My car not so lucky.”
They mixed up the tag team action by giving Kalisto and Viktor a singles match which freshened things up somewhat. The main event between Bo Dallas and Fandango was pretty entertaining with near falls and false finishes. A good show this week.
Show Recap:
Kalisto beat Viktor (4:13)
At the bell Viktor uses Kalisto to toss him around. He’s not a big guy which is partly why The Ascension doesn’t work for me; Konnor has much better size for this sort of intimidation gimmick but Viktor is a much smoother worker. A drop kick from Kalisto followed by a springboard arm drag takedown and a springboard headlock takedown makes this match come to life. Viktor rolls outside and Kalisto pounces with a springboard moonsault.
Back in the ring, Konnor distracts and so Kalisto runs into a high knee. Viktor follows this up with stomps and covers him for a two count. Viktor then uses European uppercuts and Flair chops that the crowd are all over. Then he uses an underhook suplex and a fist drop into another cover for two. Viktor locks on a modified chicken wing hold on the mat. When Kalisto gets out he leaps into action with a springboard arm drag and a headscissors takedown. He then uses his spike rana and goes for a cover but Konnor’s distraction means he gets rolled up for two. Sin Cara then goes at Konnor outside with a senton, and then Kalisto hits Viktor with the SDS for the win. Good short match.
Fandango beat Bo Dallas (9:20)
They lock up and Fandango takes the early going with a clothesline, two uppercuts and a chop. I know I always harp on about this, but Bo’s stomach. Its getting worse. He needs a gimmick change because he could be very good. They chain wrestle until Dallas just about runs into a drop kick by Fandango. Dallas then rolls up Fandango for a two count and then goes outside for a victory lap. Fandango scouts it and rolls outside and charges into Fandango who takes a bump as we head to a break.
When we come back, Fandango suplexes Dallas and covers him for two. Dallas gets a high knee to Fandango and then throws him off the apron into the dasher boards. Fandango sells it and takes an 8 count. When he rolls back Fandango undersells some knees from Dallas and hits him with a neckbreaker. He puts on a rear chin lock and when Dallas gets out, out of the whip, Fandango takes a knee to the stomach.
Fandango throws Dallas through the ropes and he clips his chin on the bottom rope on the way out. He looks dazed and the ref counts to 8. He rolls back in and is immediately set upon by Fandango with an atomic drop, three clotheslines and scoop slam a la Randy Orton. Fandango covers him but can only get two, so he goes up to the top rope to set up for the Last Dance but Dallas blocks it and they tease the superplex.
Fandango fights Dallas off and leaves him draped over the ropes and hits the Last Dance. This was pretty creative and looked good. Fandango gets the near fall and then uses a side Russian leg sweep but Bo rolls out under the ropes to the apron, sweeps Fandango’s legs and then comes back in and finishes him with his new finisher – a rope hung whiplash neckbreaker. The last few minutes of this were good. It was encouraging to see them get some time to build to a finish.
This weekly column is going to be a retrospective look at the December “classic” which began in 2009. For each of the next 6 weeks, I will watch and review one TLC PPV chronologically and report on it with 2015 eyes, leading up to this year’s PPV / Special Event on December 13, 2015 at the TD Garden in Boston, MA.
TLC 1 – December 13, 2009 – San Antonio, Texas – AT&T Center
This was the first TLC PPV and it was in the three-brand era. With seven matches on the card and plenty of them for titles, it had the potential to be a great show.
Dark Match – R-Truth defeated CM Punk (with Luke Gallows)
This match was not on the network, but it’s fun to think that of these three talents, only R-Truth is still on the roster, I guess.
Christian (c) defeated Shelton Benjamin in a ladder match for the ECW Championship:
Styker, Cole, and Lawler on commentary. Stryker was bad, but not as bad as he would get.
Christian came up bloody and they sent in a doctor, which is one of the first times I can recall this happening. It did not look like a blade job.
Never catch Shelton’s kick; it always backfires. Didn’t Christian learn anything from watching RVD?
Pretty tame ladder match, but solid nonetheless.
When making a title belt, don’t make it silver. The ECW belt looked like a second place medal, which in this case is a step up, but still.
If you’re in a ladder match, climb the ladder as fast as possible. Anything else is agonizing for the viewer.
I’m not sure Christian’s status with the company, but he’s not on the active roster. We’ll keep a running tally of those still on the active roster. This match has zero, the previous had one, so we’re at 1 yes and 4 no.
This match used the WWE gimmicked “steel” (but actually wood) ladder that broke in half. The first time I remember seeing a gimmicked ladder was a match between Jarrett and Benoit, and the rungs were supposed to break as Benoit stepped on them, but they didn’t so Benoit was stomping on them trying to break them and it looked ridiculous.
Drew McIntyre defeated John Morrison (c) for the WWE Intercontinental Championship:
Nobody on the current roster here, so we’re at 1-6.
Fun fact: Morrison always went tanning with his pants on. That’s true.
Decent match that absolutely no one cared about in the building, or in my living room.
Michelle McCool (with Layla) (c) defeated Mickie James
Zero current roster members here, for a total of 1-6, and that one was on the dark match and hasn’t been on WWE TV in forever.
Mickie James wrestling in bedazzled jeans and McCool in bedazzled everything. When did we sign off on bedazzling being ok for anyone other than 4th grade girls?
The “Piggie James” shirt that was clearly made with iron on letters the night before was awesome.
Do you think Lou Thesz felt honored by Mickie James doing his move?
Red hat “Sign Guy” is in the crowd behind the announcers.
Stryker really sucks in this match.
Sheamus defeated John Cena (c) in a tables match for the WWE Championship
Two active guys here, but Cena is on a break and Sheamus was just paired up with Wade Barrett. Still, we’re up to 3-6.
Mark Cuban was somehow involved with this angle. What? Here’s how you get into WWE: Be 6’2 and 265, or be a whacky billionaire.
In his promo, Sheamus kept saying that all he has to do is put him trough a table, not really beat him. Awesome.
“We Hate Cena” T-Shirt guy in the front row. I love him.
This is the “Sheamus ended Jamie Noble’s career” push that went so well.
I wonder what types of tables would be accepted to be put through for the win? What if Cena came to the ring with a poster rolled up and unfurled a periodic table and somehow made Sheamus rip through it? I think that would count, right? That would prove you’re a better wrestler just as well as breaking a piece of plywood with your opponent’s carcass.
I miss Cena’s jorts.
The weakest ending ever, with Sheamus pushing Cena off the top as he was going for a superplex, and Cena took this baby looking bump. That’s how we settle a score here in WWE.
The Undertaker (c) defeated Batista in a chairs match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Only one current guy here, and it’s the freaking Undertaker, a guy who averages 1.2 matches per year! Now 4-7.
The heat for this match is Big Dave killing Rey. What?
A zombie wearing the Pope’s garb sporting MMA gloves is just confusing.
No “gun show” for Big Dave. That sucks. That was the best part of his entrance.
Since all chairs are legal, I would like to see some more variety, and have someone use a high chair, or a beanbag chair. Hey WWE, would it kill you to get the stipulation over first by having someone DQ’d for using an ottoman?
All wrestlers please choose to either stomp or kick. Lift your foot high and stomp it down, or bring it back and kick it forward. Doing some combo looks awful. It looks like my mom trying to pass a soccer ball in the font yard.
Winner out of nowhere with Big Dave winning after a low blow. Uh oh, Teddy Long is out to keep the match alive. Let’s see if they follow the typical WWE script of going only 90 more seconds on the restart… Nope, way less.
One problem with the chairs match was that they weren’t allowed to hit the guy in the head. If you can’t do that, then don’t do a chairs match because it’s stupid to believe that the most effective way to use a chair will never happen. If you were swinging a chair to hurt someone, first, you’d probably swing it sideways like an axe, and second, you’d definitely be aiming for the skull.
Randy Orton defeated Kofi Kingston in a singles match
Two for Two here, but Orton is out for a stretch currently, and Kofi has been rebranded as a unicorn. Now 6-7.
If you want to see some remarkable body transformations, look at Randy Orton just once a year at the Royal Rumble. Get a still shot from each Rumble and see.
Oh wait, Ted and Cody were sent to intimidate Kofi, so we have to add to our tally. Now we’re at 7 still on the roster and 8 gone.
Interesting that they put this match on second to last instead a title match, or the girls match. They must have considered this feud either hot, or dead.
Well Kofi, you shouldn’t have trashed a NASCAR that Randy Orton didn’t even buy, and really only owned for like 90 minutes.
Nothing match.
DX defeated Jeri-Show in a TLC match for the Unified Tag Team Championship
Unbelievably, all four of these men have been in a WWE ring in the past month. I guess Shawn isn’t on the active roster, but what a rib. Way to build for the future WWE. So 3-1 in this match, giving us a total of 10 still sort of on the roster, and 9 definitely not on the roster. Bravo WWE. You’ve made zero new stars in the 6 years since this match.
Was DX ever really neon or was that just this new super lame reincarnation?
Dueling chairs with HBK and Jericho was pretty good.
Do you think they’d allow you to use any type of ladder? Yah, same joke a third time… Could you wheel out one of those ladders that rich people had in their study? What about driving a scissor lift? Could you pull out a DVD copy of Jacob’s Ladder and throw it? Too soon?
I hope they’re using a Werner ladder, the official ladder of the NCAA March madness net cutting down ceremony. I wish I was making that up. Why do I know that! I don’t even know my shoe size.
The Code Breaker and the Backstabber look good about 10% of the time.
The Big Show’s big bump was literally off the third rung, which was maybe as high as the second rope, maybe.
Well, Jericho is dead. That final bump off the Big Show’s shoulders was a bad idea.
A thumbs up show if you like TLC style matches, but not spectacular by any means.
Bull Dempsey beat Tino Sabatelli with the seated splash off the top
Tino entered as the heel here, giving people dirty looks, and taking a knee and putting his fist to the ground pose in the center of the ring before the match. Even match, Bull took some hard shots before firing up for the win.
Asuka beat Peyton Royce via Asuka-Lock
Peyton entered first with new gear and a better than you attitude about herself tonight, she did a splits on the apron roll in to the ring, asked for the microphone and cut a short heel introduction promo about how she is “The Venus Fly Trap” of NXT. Asuka entered to a great reaction, she has a star aura about her. Well worked match, a couple fun Asuka comedy spots mixed with serious action. Hopefully we see more of these two in the future.
Riddick Moss beat Levis Valenzuela Jr.
These two have been working around the state lately, Levis has so much charisma while Riddick shows a lot of solid WWE Style wrestling ability, he’s under control and everything he does is done well.
Indian music hit as three men in all black made their way to the ring, they were Sunny Dhinsa, Gzim Selmani and Lovepreet Sangha. Heel promo about how they want us to stand up and show our respect, one of which said he came from a rich oil family. They received the WHAT? treatment from the crowd.
Tye Dillinger beat Hugo Knox with the exposed knee facebreaker after Hugo missed his split leg moonsault
This was a fun match, Hugo’s dancing and party boy personality is easy to enjoy, and Tye can work as a heel whenever he chooses yet his Perfect Ten gestures still get a positive reaction. After the bell rang, Dillinger said this would be no dance contest, so of course this made Hugo demand a dance contest. They took turns twerking and dancing before Dillinger took a cheap shot on Hugo to get the match going.
NXT Tag Team Champions Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson beat Jason Jordan and Chad Gable
Champs won with the assisted codebreaker type maneuver they are using these days. Very good match, as Gable & Jordan have broken through as one of the most popular acts in NXT. Scott & Dash are good old fashioned rough and tough workers and the dynamic between them and the technical wrestling of Jordan & Gable is excellent. Post match, the heels were still laying it in on the faces so Enzo Amore ran them off to a big reaction. Enzo promised that Big Cass would be back and they were going to get payback on Dawson & Wilder. Enzo shook Gable & Jordan’s hands, endorsing them before leaving.
Apollo Crews beat Baron Corbin
Crews won with a big slam, similar to the Blue Thunder Bomb, good finisher, still need it to get more tv time so crowds will know that’s what he’s going with these days. Very strong match here, two large men hitting major moves and selling the damage between them. Brawling and felt like a fight.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, Gionna Daddio, and Adrien Reese beat Emma, Billie Kay, and Aliyah
Good guys won when Bayley hit the Belly-To-Bayley on Aliyah. Despite using the name Marley at the recent taping, Gionna was introduced as this name, also Aliyah is what Nhooph was introduced as even though Breaking Ground focused on her so much. The majority of the match saw Emma or Billie Kay working over Adrien or Gionna, crowd was very in to Bayley, calling for her with chants and singing songs to which Emma even danced a bit to, which received a “You’re Still Evil!” chant. The finish saw Gionna go to the top for a big cross body on Aliyah after Bayley had tagged herself in to then hit the huggplex on the unsuspecting Aliyah. It’s great to see these types of matches because Bayley and Emma are able to keep everything together and teach the wrestlers around them by guidance or watching their actions.
NXT Champion Finn Bálor beat Samoa Joe with the Coup de Grâce
Joe was out first to make sure he was the heel, spoke about how Finn was a coward and should have just given him the title match he deserved. Went on to trash Citrus Springs, calling it a “podunk town”. Joe claimed he hadn’t seen Finn all day but he was here for a fight, the lights went out and Finn’s music hit to a big reaction, lights came back on quickly as Finn in his hoodie had hopped the barricade to sneak attack Joe. They brawled as the bell rang for this match. Joe was able to cut Finn off and really laid in to him with punches and stomps. Joe looked ferocious tonight, a dangerous, calculated heel. Finn would fire back to keep the crowd in to it and always showed fire. They teased the ref bump a few times until finally there was one, during this time Joe grabbed the NXT title and was winding up to hit a belt shot, Finn ducked it, was able to hit the running dropkick to the corner and get up to the top for the Coup de Grâce. Bálor celebrated this big win to send everyone home happy.
Coming on the heels of the acclaimed Prince of Pennsylvania 30 For 30 that aired two weeks ago, ESPN is going in a completely different wrestling direction with a new pro wrestling piece. Legacy Talent and wrestling legend Ric Flair announced today that the 16-time world champion started shooting a 30 For 30 piece on his career.
It’s unclear whether it’s a full length doc, a 30-minute short, or even a 10-minute version.
“We named this company Legacy Talent because it’s our mission to help preserve the legacies that our clients have worked a lifetime to build,” stated Flair’s management company in a press release. “Yesterday we took a huge step in documenting Ric Flair’s legacy by starting to shoot his 30 for 30 ESPN Film. We are honored to work with such a prestigious group on a project we are so passionate about!”
WWE announced their Q3 2015 earnings Thursday morning of $0.14 per share, beating Capital IQ Consensus of $0.08 per share. During the period of July 2015 to September 2015, WWE brought in $166.2 million in revenue while third quarter operating income was $17.9 million and adjusted OIBDA was $23.4 million.
Compared to the financial turbulence of 2014, this was a successful quarter with the highest adjusted OIBDA on record since Q2 of 2012. However, this good news wasn’t reflected in the WWE share price which hdropped more than 10% since the market opened Thursday morning.
The key drivers for WWE growth have been the recognition of the escalating television rights which WWE negotiated in 2014 and the evolution of the WWE Network subscription model.
Television Rights
WWE has secured large growth from a bundle of key TV contracts (United States, United Kingdom, India, Thailand, Canada, Mexico and United Arab Emirates). Combined, these agreements were worth almost three-quarters of WWE’s total 2014 television rights revenue ($176M). In the latest earnings release, WWE finally provided an outline of the annual escalation expected for these contracts for 2015 & 2016.
Already, WWE has earned $175.5M year-to-date on television rights fees in 2015 compared to a nine-month number of $126.3M in 2014. While 39% annual growth is impressive, it’s worth noting that the plunge in WWE stock value last year was tied to WWE underdelivering against investor expectations for renegotiating their major US deal with NBC Universal. In fact, some investors felt so misled that lawsuits were filed.
Nevertheless, television rights remain the economic engine for WWE’s year-round growth. While some divisions have seasonal fluctuations (live events during the WrestleMania quarter, WWE Shop in December, licensing in Q1), WWE’s television rights contracts are structured so they continue to grow each quarter through the deal. Quarterly variations are largely driven by the scheduling of supplemental programming such as WWE’s reality shows Total Divas and Tough Enough, both which aired in Q3 of ’15. While these additional programs bring in additional money and possible new audience/demographics, it was noted during today’s conference call that the cost of production for reality shows was much higher than the “in-ring” entertainment.
One topic that was not addressed during today’s call is the ongoing dispute between WWE and their new television partner in Thailand, CTH, which owes several million to WWE.
Recently, live WWE ratings have been their lowest levels since 1997.
Yet, WWE’s television rights agreements are not tied to weekly ratings. Still, there are several reasons that ratings still remain a relevant component in evaluating the WWE business model.
First of all, NBC Universal does care about their television ratings. They’ve earmarked hundreds of millions of the dollars to pay WWE with a relationship largely built on the history that WWE can deliver large weekly audiences and in turn, a boosting of value for cable channels such as USA Network and SyFy Network. Indeed, NBCU is planning to move WWE’s SmackDown from SyFy to the USA during Q1 of ’16. If Raw stops being able to deliver the eyeballs, the WWE’s value to NBCU’s portfolio may greatly diminish.
Second, advertisers care about ratings. One of the interesting elements in today’s Q3 press release was a note that “37 new advertisers were secured for WWE programming following NBCUniversal’s upfront”. Largely, this advertising money would not be going directly to WWE, but rather NBCU. In some cases, WWE may directly benefit as advertisers may decide to integrate the advertising into the WWE programming (such as sponsorship of PPVs or in-program ads). Either way, the ability of WWE to combat the negative profile and low advertising revenue that professional wrestling has historically garnered is one of WWE’s key initiatives. WWE’s decision to pursue “PG” programming and go after blue-chip sponsors such as General Mills and Kraft is built around improving their image among advertisers.
Lastly, in order to gain and retain subscribers for the WWE Network, WWE needs to create new fans, create new superstars, and monetize their audience. Declining ratings demonstrate diminishing interest in the WWE.
Live Monday night Raw viewership was under 4,000,000 hourly viewers throughout July-September 2015. This was a significant drop in July (-11%) and September (-14%). WWE’s own numbers don’t fully reflect this, likely because WWE is including delayed +3/+7 day viewing and DVR consumption. When questioned about the drooping ratings during the conference call, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios brushed off the concern, stating that the company looks at the totality instead of just one metric, reaffirming that WWE feels they are bigger and engaging with their audience globally more than ever before.
For the time being, WWE is locked in lucrative television rights deals which will continue to pay out generously for several more years. The true test will be come when it’s time for WWE to negotiate their centamillion dollar contracts. Has the “live events” rights bubble burst? Is cord cutting taking its toll? What will the media ecosystem (to borrow one of Barrios’ new favorite terms) look like in 2018-19 when WWE is looking for television partners? Obviously, no one really knows.
WWE Network
As of September 30, 2015, the WWE Network had 1,233,000 paid subscribers. This number was up 6.6% from last quarter’s ending total of 1,156,100 paid subscribers. This actually exceeded the guidance WWE provided during last quarter’s press release of 1.2 million paid subscribers as of 9/30, growing 3-5% above 6/30 levels.
Over Q3 ’15, WWE averaged 1,173,000 paid subscribers, down 3.4% from Q2’15 average of 1,215,170 paid subscribers.
Overall, the WWE Network revenue for the third quarter of 2015 was about the same as the second quarter of 2015 at $36M. About one-third of the growth in subscribers came from international subscribers (+26,200, +12%). There were 50,700 additional domestic subscribers though the rate of growth in the United States which was only about 5%.
Since the launch of the WWE Network, there is a general subscription trend emerging. The peak for interest and acquiring new subscribers is during the first quarter in the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania season. Then, the remainder of the year is a gentle curve with slight variations which, thus far, have depended mostly on the external factors such as bringing online new external marketplaces.
In the past week, WWE has announced three new launches for the WWE Network: India (November 2015), Japan (January 2016), and Germany (January 2016).
WWE Network will go live in the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan) on November 2. The service will cost $9.99 USD and pay-per-view events will be blacked-out for 24 hours before being available on the WWE Network. While Barrios is clearly excited about the prospect (he spoke of “long tailwind” in India), it’s questionable how many new subscribers the service will attract considering the PPV-restrictions, the relevant high cost and broadband reliance (as opposed to specific mobile solutions that other streaming companies have adopted in that marketplace).
The announcement of the WWE Network launches in Germany and Japan for January 2016 fill in noticeable gaps in WWE Network coverage across developed nations. However, even Barrios admitted during the conference call that the consumption and ARPU (average revenue per user) of pay-TV in Germany was much lower than other countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. Likewise, Japan has historically been a weak pay-per-view marketplace. Even the native New Japan World over-the-top streaming service has only a small foothold in the country.
International markets certainly represent an important piece to growing the WWE Network. Still, about 80% of subscribers are have registered domestic accounts and it’s clear that the key marketplace for the WWE Network is still North America.
In the conference call, WWE did affirm that they are refocusing their efforts in China. Barrios noted that WWE has been investing in growing their business in China since 2007 through distributing content on local TV stations to build audiences. He also mentioned that WWE is reshaping their strategy in China to recognize the rapid changes in the “media ecosystem” in that country, and the emphasis in China’s new five-year plan towards investing in sport & entertainment. They’re planning to expand their Shanghai office. As always, WWE teased that they’re exploring launching the WWE Network in China somewhere down the line without getting into any specifics.
Quarterly, WWE Network churn remains large. In Q3 ’15, the WWE Network lost 376,000 subscribers (2nd highest quarter yet) and gained 453,000 subscribers (3rd highest quarter). Regarding churn, Barrios said that the plan was making great original content and improving the user experience and user interface. It will also be interesting to see what impact new programs such as selling pre-paid three-month gift cards at Walmart has on WWE Network subscription numbers and churn.
Other
The WWE Home Entertainment division continues to profitably limp onwards with $3.0M in quarterly sales and $1.3M in quarterly OIBDA for Q3 ’15. While Home Entertainment sales have been sliding downwards for the past several years, WWE did flood the marketplace in recent months in the bargain bins with discount $3/$5 discs such as 2012’s “Rock vs. Cena Once in a Lifetime” which is the second-highest selling title of 2015 thus far behind WrestleMania 31.
Live event attendance remains flat for North America (5,100/event, same as Q3’14) while Q3 ’15 had stronger international results (8,900 for 6 international events). However, “adverse changes in foreign exchange” offset most of the expected revenue increase.
Licensing continues to be a strong performer in 2015. A large contributor has been video game revenue, especially from WWE SuperCard downloadable content and the WWE Immortals mobile video game.
An interesting note that WWE’s Night of Champions, with Sting challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE title, was up almost 60% in total PPV buys versus last September’s event that featured John Cena vs Brock Lesnar.
However, the true lesson on WWE pay-per-views is that there is still 31,000 domestic households that are buying full price PPVs each month though the majority of buys are from international customers.
As always, WWE brags about their Digital Media footprint (VOD presence and Social Media Followers) on every call. As Barrios loves to say, “we’re going to get our unfair share of that viewership.” He believes that where the eyeballs go, the money will follow. Digital media for Q3 ’15 was $5.8M, buoyed by higher advertising revenues. It’s clear that the company views digital media as an integral part of their engagement strategy with primarily short-form video content being available on Facebook and YouTube. WWE is certain a superstar at making things trend on Twitter, but they’ve got a long way to go before they will be seriously monetizing this medium.
Looking Forward
The remaining quarter (Q4 ’15) will include about 90 hours of new original content (compared to 85 hours in Q3’15). New programs will include the recent premiere of Breaking Ground, NXT Takeover: London from Wembley Arena, new episodes of WWE 24 and new episodes of the popular Stone Cold Podcast. Some analysts questioned whether WWE should be spending so much money on creating new content, but WWE officers defended the strategy, stating that they believed this content had a long tail effect and generated a lot of interest.
WWE did provide an estimate for Q4 ’15 WWE Network paid subscriptions (approximately flat to Q3’15 at 1.2 million), and were surprisingly cagey about putting out predictions for WWE Network in 2016.
To quote the press release, “Regarding WWE Network, given the inherent uncertainty of this nascent and growing business, management will not provide guidance for 2016 subscriber levels. However, the Company has evaluated other successful subscription businesses and observed a wide range of subscriber growth rates in the early stages of their development.”
However, WWE then went on to point out that Netflix grew at an annual rate of 22% in their early days and that growing 20-25% for the WWE Network would be “very strong performance”. Surprisingly, many analysts on the conference call actually challenged WWE’s numbers as being too conservative since WWE Network is a worldwide service while Netflix was originally only a domestic service. While the Q1 peak for the WWE Network next year will likely be higher than Q1 ’15 (1.327M paid), it seems ambitious to assume that WWE would be able to average a full 1,500,000 paid subscribers throughout the entirety of 2016.
Even WWE confirmed internal expectations that 80% of the growth in the coming year would still be domestic and in light of flat live event numbers and sagging ratings, WWE Network’s crystal ball remains very opaque.
Overall, the state of the WWE is solid. They have escalating television rights, a profitable WWE Network service, and a growing digital media footprint. However, the fundamentals for interest (ratings, attendance) still seem stuck in a general malaise. The company has rebounded from a tough 2014 and transformed from pay-per-view to over-the-top. Next year, we’ll see the continued roll-out of the WWE Network, the re-launch of the joint venture TapouT brand, an enormous WrestleMania 32, and the continued rise of the NXT brand. It should be interesting.
The situation with Alberto Del Rio and AAA is no longer looking good as WWE has confirmed that Del Rio will be working Monday’s Raw in Denver, as well as Smackdown on Tuesday in Colorado Springs, before going on the entire European tour, working on the Roman Reigns half of the tour.
AAA was under the impression that Del Rio would be fulfilling most of his advertised dates with the promotion, starting with a TV taping on Monday in Nuevo Laredo, and would be missing Raw. The other taping date he was advertised was November 15 in Ciudad Juarez, and he is booked the day before in Minehead, England, and traveling to Greenville, SC, from there, so it would appear very difficult to reroute him to Mexico.
At this point it appears AAA will be lucky to even get one date with him to drop their Mega heavyweight title.
With the increase in television rights fees and network subscriptions as the key components of their current business, WWE generated $166.2 million in revenue and $10.4 million in profits for the quarter ending 9/30.
The numbers compare favorably to the $120.2 million in revenue and $5.9 million in losses for the same quarter last year, but last year was supposed to be a losing year due to the start up of the network. This year was when profits were supposed to turn around big. While they are nowhere near what was being projected and network numbers are well below original projections, the business is solid and contractual increases in television rights fees should lead to no more losing quarters and eventually the strongest profit margins in company history.
The growth in television was from $42.2 million in revenue for the quarter to $65.2 million. Some of that is misleading as increased rights fees that are contractual are a solid increasing number, but part of the increase was having a full season of Total Divas and Tough Enough during the quarter. There were only four episodes of Total Divas during the third quarter last year and Tough Enough didn’t exist. Plus, Tough Enough ratings weren’t good and thus far, there has been no talk of a new season.
The other important driver of future growth is the Network segment, which on September 30th had 1.233 million paid subscribers and 73,000 free subscribers. That’s up from the 1.15 million at the end of June, but down from the 1.33 million at the end of March. It’s pretty clear the network business looks to be big increases in the first quarter of the year due to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, and trying to hold those increases for the rest of the year.
The U.S. Network number was up from 703,000 at the same point last year to 990,000, while international went from 28,000 at the end of the third quarter last year when it was in limited markets, to 243,000 this year.
Besides the India launch on Monday, it was announced that both Japan and Germany would get the network starting in January, and they were working on China, Thailand and The Philippines.
Even though the results were better than most analysts expected, the stock price had fallen from $19.95 per share at the close of the market yesterday to $17.95. That’s a big drop, but not a surprise given the big ramp up leading to the call based on the ‘buy on hype, sell on results’ mantra.
The other categories were more good than bad. By running more shows, total attendance, revenue, and merchandise sales for house shows increased with $5 million more in revenue, part of which was due to the successful Barclays Center SummerSlam run in August. Attendance was similar per show, but high ticket prices and more shows led to the increase.
– Home Entertainment was the only division down, but that’s not unexpected given the Network would cannibalize that.
– Licensing was up from $10 million to $11.5 million for the quarter due to the success of the video game.
– WWE Shop also continued to show big increases, from $4.3 million in revenue in this quarter last year to $6 million.
– The 10/3 live event from Madison Square Garden was the company’s most watched network show to date with the exception of the regular Sunday PPV events. Other strong performers were the Beast in the East show from Japan and the August 22 NXT Takeover show from Brooklyn, as well as the Stone Cold Podcast and Swerved.
The expectation is, due to contractual growth of the television deals, that the company is healthy and profits should grow. In many ways, the investment call was vague, but due to the changing landscape of distribution both domestically and abroad, nobody really knows exactly where things are going. WWE pointed to its strength in places like YouTube and Facebook in that they will be ahead of the curve in the future. However, things change, and they downplayed the declining TV ratings by saying its not about singular metrics, and that most metrics are up.
WWE NXT GM William Regal underwent a second neck operation Wednesday after results of a CAT scan six weeks ago showed more damage to the back of his neck that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible.
Regal had surgery on four different vertebrae, C-3, C-4, C-5 and C-6, to clean out calcium deposits, performed in Pittsburgh under Dr. Joseph Maroon. The surgery differed from his 2014 fusion surgery that went in the front of the neck.
In an interview with WWE.com, he noted being glad he got checked because he was feeling better than he had in decades and was expecting to get back into ring, at least when it came to training the NXT talent. Regal said he’ll be recovered well enough by December to travel with the NXT crew for the tour of the U.K. He would not be able to wrestle on that tour, but that was never in the plans to begin with.
