Des Moines, Iowa: – NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Ken Fenelon beat Eddie Campbell to unify the MWA World Junior Title and the NWA World Junior Title
1949
– NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown is injured in an automobile accident, forcing him to retire. Brown is stripped of the title, and the title is awarded to National Wrestling Association Champion Lou Thesz. Brown and Thesz were scheduled to wrestle in a unification match later with Brown reportedly scheduled to win the unification match.
1955
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Ivan Kalmikoff & Karol Kalmikoff beat Butch Levy & Herb Schiff
1960
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Gene Kiniski dq (Bronco Nagurski was referee) – Joe Scarpello beat Hard Boiled Haggerty dq – Len Montana beat Roy McClarty
1962
Kansas City, Kansas: – Pat O’Connor & Sonny Myers defeated Lee Henning & Bob Orton in 2 of 3 falls – Bob Geigel defeated Red Bastien via DQ in three falls
1971
Rockford, Illinois: – AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Red Bastien beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens – Billy Robinson beat Larry Hennig – Ivan Koloff beat Bull Bullinski – Don Muraco beat Big K
1975
Chicago, Illinois: – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Ox Baker – Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat AWA Tag Team Champions Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher dq – Baron von Raschke no contest Pampero Firpo – Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Pepper Gomez beat Sgt. Jacques Goulet & Soldier LeBoeuf & Johnny Valiant – Wilbur Snyder beat Chuck O’Connor (Big John Studd) – Jimmy Valiant beat Billy Robinson – Bobby Duncum beat Bull Bullinski
1980
Richmond, Virginia: – Roddy Piper defeated Paul Jones in a tournament final for the Mid-Atlantic Title
1981
Lake Charles, Louisiana: – Ted DiBiase defeated Paul Orndorff to win the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Title
Tokyo, Japan: – Dory Funk Jr. defeated Bruiser Brody to win the NWA International Heavyweight Title
1987
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: – Tommy Rich won a Battle royal – AWA Champion Curt Hennig beat Greg Gagne – AWA Tag Team Champions Original Midnight Express beat Nord The Barbarian & Wahoo McDaniel – Tommy Rich beat Adrian Adonis dq – Kevin Kelly & Nick Kiniski beat DJ Peterson & JT Southern – Alan West beat Dick Slater dq – Soldat Ustinov beat Mitch Snow
1990
Tokyo, Japan: – Jushin Liger defeated Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
2003
Elizabeth, New Jersey: – Jay & Mark Briscoe defeated Special K (Izzy & Dixie) to win the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championship
2005
– Kane & Big Show defeated Trevor Murdoch & Lance Cade to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship – Intercontinental Champion Ric Flair defeated Triple H inside a steel cage – WWE Champion John Cena defeated Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle
This morning’s New Japan Pro Wrestling event is another Road to Power Struggle event held in Korakuen Hall. As with any New Japan card, there’s plenty of multi man tags that probably aren’t interesting at all, but at least will build to future matches. We’ll also be seeing the continuation of the Super Juniors Tag Tournament as The Young Bucks take on the new team of Matt Sydal and Ricochet, and in the main event Roppongi Vice take on champions reDragon.
Jushin Thunder Liger, Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu defeated Tiger Mask, Jay White and David Finlay
Pretty short, but was fine. Komatsu looked great in doing transitions, he’s really fluid in the ring. He made Finlay tap out to a Boston Crab.
Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata and Mascara Dorada defeated Juice Robinson, Captain New Japan and Togi Makabe
Another solid tag match. Dorada did a cool tope on the outside, taking care of CNJ while Shibata and Makabe went at it on the outside. Robinson escaped the shouten kai but Goto took him down and tapped him out with a seated armbar. Shibata and Makabe had a pull apart brawl after the match, so they seem to be teasing something between them.
Timesplitters defeated Chase Owens and Kenny Omega. Good match. Nothing out of this world, but perfectly fine. Timesplitters are just so fine tuned in synchronicity, it’s great. Omega was about to strike one of the Timesplitters when they moved and Owens was struck. Kushida put him in the hoverboard lock as Shelly gave Owens the Automatic Midnight for the win. Omega ground and pounded Shelley after the match and had to be pulled apart by referees.
Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale defeated Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshi-Hashi and Shinsuke Nakamura
Another good match. Some comedy early, but got into a groove once all of that was finished. Nakamura and Anderson worked a lot of the match together. Yoshi-Hashi made a great comeback. Nakamura tried to interfere but Anderson laid him out with a gun stun from the top rope. Yoshi Hashi made a comeback again but Anderson cut him off and pinned him with a gun stun.
Kazuchika Okada, Gedo and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi
Also a good match. Everyone got time to work with one another, and as usual it was all good stuff, though it’s also stuff you’ve seen before. Okada was about to lay out Taguchi with the rainmaker but Taguchi countered with a hip attack. Okada eventually countered with the dropkick, elbow, then pinned Taguchi with the rainmaker.
Super Jr. Tag Tournament Semifinals: Matt Sydal and Ricochet defeated The Young Bucks
Great match, probably one of the best matches in this tournament so far. Sydal and Ricochet is the fresh shot in the arm that this division needs. Both guys are just great, and so are the Young Bucks in terms of knowing how to get a crowd going. Ricochet had the win at one point with a springboard 450 splash but the ref was pulled out of the ring. Hall laid Ricochet out with a lariat allowing the Bucks to get the advantage. Ricochet did an amazing senton, leaping over the top turnbuckle that took out Cody Hall. Bucks tried to mount a comeback, but Ricochet and Sydal came back and they hit the double shooting star press for the win.
Super Junior Tag Tournament Semifinals: Roppongi Vice defeated reDragon
Excellent match, this surpassed the previous match as it was just great stuff throughout. Just excellent work from both teams. reDragon looked super crisp in everything they did during this match. RPG Vice were just as good and held their own. Crowd was super into it due to the work from both guys and helped the match a lot as well. Berettas leg was worked on early in the match and was used by both members for reDragon for submissions. Fish got him in one but he escaped, then hit the Dudebuster for a nearfall. O’Reilly and Romero got into it in a great exchange, with Romero getting the better of it and took him out with a suicide dive. Beretta then hit the Dudebuster again and Romero assisted with the dropkick for the win.
Romero cut a promo promising they’ll be the next IWGP Jr. tag team champions. He then addressed their opponents at Power Struggle, Matt Sydal and Ricochet, saying they’ll go down 1, 2, 3. That closed out the show. Definitely watch the last two matches as they were both great.
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.
Kansas City, Kansas: – Orville Brown beat Jim Wright 2 falls to 0 – Steve Brody beat Ray Schwartz 2 out of 3 falls – Jack Hader beat Jim Parker
1958
St. Joseph, Missouri: – Bob Geigel defeated Bob Ellis in a tournament final to win Central States Title
1973
Chicago, Illinois: – AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Billy Robinson & Red Bastien by countout – Jimmy Valiant beat Bull Bullinski – Bob Ellis beat Larry Heiniemi – Superstar Billy Graham no contest Wilbur Snyder – Pepper Gomez beat Ric Flair
1979
Nagoya, Japan: – Giant Baba defeated Harley Race to win the NWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Title (title switch was not planned in advance by the NWA)
1981
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: – Bodyslam challenge: Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell – Andre the Giant won the 15-Man Battle royal for $50,000 – Jim Brunzell beat Bobby Heenan – Greg Gagne no contest Sheik Adnan – Tito Santana beat Bobby Duncum dq – Laurent Soucie beat Jacques Goulet – Buck Zumhofe beat Dizzy Ed Boulder (Brutus Beefcake)
1983
– Johnny Mantell defeated Jimmy Garvin for the WCCW TV title
1987
Sheboygan, Wisconsin: – DJ Peterson won a Street Fight Battle royal – Jerry Blackwell & Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Original Midnight Express dq – AWA Champion Curt Hennig beat Tommy Rich – Adrian Adonis beat Mitch Snow – D.J. Peterson beat Mr. Magnificent Kevin Kelly – Dick Slater beat Alan West
1998
Tokyo, Japan: – Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Kenta Kobashi for the All Japan Triple Crown
2000
Rochester, New York: – Ivory defeated champion Lita, Trish Stratus and Jacqueline for the WWF Women’s Title
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.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz defeated Pat O’Connor
1952
Kansas City, Kansas: – Bobby Lane beat Red Berry to capture the Heart of America Heavyweight
1958
Kansas City, Kansas: – Bob Geigel and Bob Orton beat Cowboy Bob Ellis and Sonny Myers 2 falls to 1
1965
Omaha, Nebraska: – Danny Hodge & Reggie Parks beat AWA Tag Team Champions Larry Hennig & Harley Race dq – Stan Pulaski beat Haru Sasaki by countout – Jack Pesek beat Mad Dog Vachon
1969
Gifu, Japan: – Antonio Inoki & Michiaki defeated Buddy Austin & Mr. Atomic to win back the JWA All Asian Tag Team Championship
1973
Macon, Georgia: – Tim Woods & Mr. Wrestling #2 defeated the Super Infernos for the Macon Tag Team Titles.
1976
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: – Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Duncum dq – The Crusher beat Mad Dog Vachon – Peter Maivia beat Baron Von Raschke – Pedro Morales beat Moose Morowski dq – Pierre Poisson beat Iron Sheik
1978
Greenville, South Carolina: – Ric Flair & Big John Studd defeated Paul Jones & Ricky Steamboat to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles
1986
Amorohi, Japan: – Ashura Hara & Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) defeated Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue to win the All Japan All Asian Tag Team Titles
1987
Whitewater, Wisconsin: – The Original Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose) w/ Paul E. Dangerously defeated Bill Dundee & Jerry Lawler to win the AWA World Tag Team Titles
2001
Cincinnati, Ohio: – Christian defeated Bradshaw (JBL) to win the WWF European Title – Booker T & Test defeated Chris Jericho & The Rock to win the WWF World Tag Team Titles
Late Thursday night/Friday morning, news broke from MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that top UFC lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov suffered a rib injury training in Russia and is out of his fight with Tony Ferguson at December’s UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Mendes, making a great weekend just a little less great.
Nurmagomedov (22-0) has been out of action with various knee injuries since April 2014 when he beat now-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. On an Instagram post confirming the news, Nurmagomedov opined that “I’m not sure that I’ll ever be back” which could be a case of emotions running wild.
Helwani says sources tell him Edson Barboza could be lined up for past TUF winner Ferguson, a winner of six straight and a guy that is making a lot of noise at 155 pounds in the process.
With dos Anjos defending his title against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in December, the next challenger for the belt is likely to be the winner of January’s Anthony Pettis vs. Eddie Alvarez tilt with Ferguson as a dark horse if a) the Barboza fight happens and b) if he can beat Barboza. It can also be assumed that Ferguson could be slotted into either RDA or Cerrone’s spot if either guy gets injured before their showdown.
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.
Former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar will be wrestling on a major house show on Dec. 19 at the Forum in Los Angeles, CA.
The match is part of his new contract where, besides a few PPV and television shows, he agreed to work scattered house shows. In the past, all of his house show appearances (July at Sumo Hall in Tokyo against Kofi Kingston and October in Madison Square Garden against Big Show) also became WWE Network live special events.
WWE has not run the Forum in recent memory as the L.A. Sports Arena, Honda Center and Staples Center have been the venues of choice in the Los Angeles and Orange County area over the last two decades.
There is advertising out listing both John Cena and Lesnar for the 12/19 date, indicatating Cena will be returning a week before his prior first advertised date of Dec. 26 as MSG, making this a pretty big house show.
First of all, an early Happy Birthday to your favorite NXT recapper and mine: me! But before I turn 31 tomorrow, let’s talk about NXT tonight.
Emma submitted Shazza
We kick things off with Diva’s action. It is the debut of Shazza, who is replacing Alexa Bliss as the cute little pixie-looking girl. Shazza has white-blonde hair and is not nearly as tan as the other girls, so it is shocking to the eyes when they show a closeup of her. Shazza is also from Melbourne and they pushed that she is the last person Emma wrestled before coming to NXT.
Shazza went down into the splits for a drop down spot, but when she didn’t get right up, Emma waited for her to look up and dropkicked her in the face. This match was all Emma and she won the Battle of Australia with a bridging chinlock.
– Last week James Storm cut a promo with Tom Phillips after his debut match. Storm was quite happy that the fans chanted he belonged here. If anyone doesn’t like him being in NXT, sorry about their damn luck.
– We got a Finn Balor video package, featuring interviews with a lot of the NXT fans. They also used footage from the Balor documentary they did back in June.
Jason Jordan & Chad Gable defeated Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano
Jordan and Gable got a standing ovation from the crowd, which was weird since they are heels. They do love them some Gable. Ciampa and Gable began. They did the spot where they did a Greco Roman Knuckle Lock and Ciampa forced Gable down, but Gable bridged up, but was unable to hold Ciampa up when he jumped on him.
The fans love Gargano, Ciampa and Jordan as well, but they like Gable the most. They chanted Johnny Wrestling and This is Wrestling, in addition to chanting both Gable and Jordan to the tune of Kurt Angle’s WWE theme.
This was an excellent tag team match. Despite technically being the heel team Gable was the one they beat on to get the heat. Jordan got the hot tag and ran wild on both men, including a t-bone suplex on Ciampa. Gargano had the match won with a slingshot DDT on Jordan, but Gable broke it up at the last second. Finally Jordan & Gable won with their toss into a Bridging Side Suplex on Ciampa.
That was the best match on a regular NXT tv show in months.
– Bayley was interviewed by the departing Devin Taylor about her feud with Alexa Bliss. Bayley is proud to be champion and be an inspiration to children and that it bothers her that that bothers Alexa.
– Eva Marie is still in Paris and she is threatening to come back soon.
Nia Jax destroyed Kaylee
They acknowledged Nia being the cousin of The Rock. Kaylee got frequent flier miles for the amount she flew when Nia threw her across the ring in this match. Nia traded in the jumping bear hug for the jumping Over The Shoulder Backbreaker, which still wasn’t her finish. The finish saw Kaylee springboard off the ropes, but get caught, dropped with a spinebuster and Nia won with a legdrop.
During the commercial, I assume they sent out a giant spatula to get Kaylee off the mat.
Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs Dash & Dawson never got started
If it feels like you’ve read me talk about this match before, it’s because they just wrestled last week. Enzo and Cass won, but got beaten down after. Enzo and Cass were walking to the ring when they were attacked by Dash & Dawson. They threw Enzo off the ramp and began working on Colin, including executing a double team maneuver to Colin’s leg.
After the match a parade of referees and trainers came out to check on Colin. No one checked on Enzo, who was in a heap on the floor.
– Alexa Bliss challenged Bayley to a 6-person tag team match and wished her luck at finding two losers to team with her.
– Next week: Finn Balor vs Apollo Crews for the NXT Championship. That announcement led to part 2 of the Who Is Apollo Crews feature. I know this goes without saying, but WWE puts together some amazing videos.
Samoa Joe submitted Tyler Breeze
Main event time. This match was set up two weeks ago when Samoa Joe eliminated Tyler Breeze during the battle royal and Breeze, frustrated, pulled Joe out as well. They did show footage of Breeze’s SmackDown debut. His best chance of success is if Vince recently watched Zoolander. In all seriousness, good luck to Tyler.
Breeze’s strategy early was to tease locking up with Joe and then quickly roll outside, which annoyed Joe to the point that Joe followed him out the third time. Of course Joe got stomped on when they rolled back in the ring. Joe used his Suicide Dive, which never fails to look impressive when the big man does it.
Breeze used his rolling backstabber on Joe, but only got a 1 count. Shouldn’t that move hurt Breeze when Joe rolls over and lands with 280 pounds on his scrunched up body? Anyway Joe made his comeback, hitting all his big moves. We saw the snap power slam and the corner uranage, but Breeze slipped out of the Muscle Buster and hit a Super Model Kick for a 2 count. The finish saw Breeze use a rollup for a 2 count and when Joe kicked out, Breeze landed in position for the Coquina Clutch.
– The show ended with a Finn Balor promo regarding his title match next week. Balor put over Crews beating Joe, Breeze and Baron Corbin in the battle royal, but the one person he did not defeat was Finn. One day Crews will be NXT Champion, but Finn vowed it will not be next week.
So that does it for this week. Next week it is Finn Balor vs Apollo Crews for the NXT Title and with that in mind, until then remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
