Linda McMahon: "Austin had short term impact".

[Guest Downhome]

The following is part of the WWE Finance report from 1wrestling...

 

A well-informed investor questioned the ratings falling due to competition, and asked directly how much of the ratings fall could be attributed to bad storylines, hot shotting angles, and the loss of Steve Austin. Linda said that the first obligation of WWE is to the fans, through their creativity. She said that they expected to take a "half step backwards" due to the brand extension, but that they are working on it, and that the split will eventually add more PPV events and that it allows them to tour more internationally.

 

She also stated the softening in ratings could be pointed out as contributing to the softening in attendance. She said that sometimes storylines miss, but that they have a proven track record of success over three generations. (NOTE FROM BUCK: Yes, I was wondering if she would actually answer the question at this point too.) When pressed, she said that when Steve Austin was injured, the Rock took his place. Now, with Rock making movies, she said they have Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Booker T to take his place. She said "Stone Cold had a short term impact, not a long term impact." She compared WWE to a football team putting in a new quarterback, and that the team needs time to learn to play together. She said it took two years to build The Rock.

 

- Linda stated that Stone Cold is on a suspension for his conduct, and The Rock is splitting time between movies and wrestling, and will be filming "Heldorado" at the end of the summer. The WWE will have a producers fee paid to them and profit sharing from the film.

[Guest Human Fly]

Now, with Rock making movies, she said they have Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Booker T to take his place.

 

What about Kurt Angle? And if they're so high on RVD, Jericho, and Booker T. why don't they do anything meaningful with them?!

[Guest Prince Paul]

So, Linda's putting Brock's name right up there next to Rocky, Austin, HHH, Taker and Jericho. Interesting how highly he is thought of already. I think he's getting the belt soon, and there's nothing we can about it. Where's the summer of RVD damnit? I should put that in my sig.

[Guest BigTim2002]

Umm...SHORT...TERM...IMPACT?

 

Linda, you been smoking with X-Pac again? THAT IS SO BULLSHIT! AUSTIN SAVED YOUR FUCKING COMPANY IN 1997! THAT IS A BLATANT LIE TO COVER UP THE ENTIRE SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE!

 

This just adds to the fact that Austin got the Bret screwjob, behind the scenes...and that ain't spam. That's the truth.

[Guest thebigjig]

This just adds to the fact that Austin got the Bret screwjob, behind the scenes...and that ain't spam. That's the truth.

Bret screwed Bret, and Austin screwed Austin

[Guest BigTim2002]

Bigjig, here's the deal. How much heat is Brock getting?

 

ZERO.

 

Austin getting beat by him, would have done nothing to his credibility, because Brock would have beaten him probably by having Heyman cheat.

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

This attitude is going to kill the company.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Short Term Impact, Linda?

 

Just keep telling yourself that....maybe it will ease the pain.

 

Is she fooling anyone?

[Guest jimmy no nose]

Bret screwed Bret, and Austin screwed Austin

The way I look at it Vince screwed Bret and Austin screwed Austin. That has nothing to do with anything though.

[Guest Prince Paul]

Bret screwed Bret, and Austin screwed Austin

The way I look at it Vince screwed Bret and Austin screwed Austin. That has nothing to do with anything though.

And why is that?

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

Well, guess what? Austin didn't do crap in the company since he lost the belt in 2001. He's just been 'there'. They can afford to replace him..mainly because he didn't get his way, and become the single focus of the entire company again.

 

Good bye, Austin.

 

-Shiro

[Guest Shaved Bear]

The WWF will now quicken their downward spiral to bankruptcy, now I just look foward to seeing who's gonna get the blame from here on out

 

I'm guessing Triple H

 

...call it an outside hunch

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

"She said that they expected to take a "half step backwards" due to the brand extension, but that they are working on it, and that the split will eventually add more PPV events and that it allows them to tour more internationally. "

 

The joke is on Linda if she thinks that anyone is gonna pay 35 bucks a piece for 2 crappy PPVS a month, let alone 1.

[Guest Brian]

They're not heading to wards bankrupcy. They turned a higher profit and revenue over the last quarter than the quarter before despite a fall in ratings. They have to start losing money before they are in danger of going out of business.

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

Brian..shh.

 

You'll just wind up confusing them with logic.

 

-Shiro

[Guest Some Guy]

I think if the downward trend in ratings, buyrates, attendence, etc.. keeps going their might be trouble in love land between Steph and Criple H.

 

Is being the biggest star in wreslting in for 4 years a short term impact? By that logic Criple H, Rock, and the others she mentioned have never had any impact.

[Guest Prince Paul]

They're nowhere near going out of business yet.

 

But 2 ppvs's a month at 35 dollars a pop is a joke. I'd rather watch NWA TNA.....maybe.

[Guest Ripper]

They have to lose a WHOLE lot of money before they are even thinking that they MIGHT be in trouble. When we are all dead and buried, a Mcmahon will be running a wrestling company that will be making money hand over fist.

 

And, um... Austin had a amazing impact on the business from 1997-2000...THATS SHORT TERM. This is a what, 50 year old company...how exactly does 3-4 years equal a huge long term impact. As much as everyone wants to act like it was all Austin that got the WWF on top again, DX, a strong undercard and Vince McMahon had ALOT to do with it also.

 

I'm not going to get into the who screwed bret thing, BUT AUSTIN SCREWED AUSTIN. Austin didn't want to job to Lesnar(which no doubt was written to have the entire roster runin and hit him with chairs bats, sledgehammers and shoot him a few times before he jobbed.) so instead of saying, Hey, change it(like he did with Hall at mania and killed the NWO angle) he said..."I'm going home, even if 90% of the show and Eddie's and Beniots angles are written around me" yet somehow Vince screwed Austin?? Whatever.

[Guest BigTim2002]

Ripper, he brought wrestling back to mainstream. Come on...

[Guest Brian]

He was right with Hall and he was probably right with Lesnar, because hot shotting the win just so you can further the Flair angle does nothing, and I repeat does nothing for Lesnar. You can say Austin screwed Austin in the end when he decided to leave, but that's just poor booking trying to get a heatless guy heat by hot shotting a potential money making match in an attempt to further an angle that doesn't involve said wrestler, and thanks to creative that sucks and has proven to suck, it won't be followed up.

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

Ripper..good thought..but..eh.

 

You're not gonna change people's opinions around here. It's mostly a love-Austin case. (I hate his guts, and have for almost two years now). I don't buy into this Austin saved the company singlehandedly stuff..

 

There were all those other people, y'know. Just because Austin was the top draw didn't mean he made the damn thing himself. As popular as a person may be, nobody will sit there and watch them and them alone for two hours. (Except for perhaps The Rock..that wouldn't suprise me).

 

-Shiro

[Guest BigTim2002]

Brian, thanks for backing me up.

That's what I'm talking about.

[Guest Brian]

You've got to treat it like the Bret situation. No one is right. Both sides are wrong. There is no middle ground.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

I was just thinking, if the NWA - TNA weekly PPV proves to be even a modest success for them(which I don't see it being but anyway), how long before the WWE decides they want to go this route and air two PPVs a month, one minor one (For fun I'll call it In Your House) and then the major one (ala Wrestlemania..etc..) The IYH PPV is 2 hours and about half price of the major ppv (14.95).

Make some kind of deal where you order both PPVs and save 5 bucks or something too (Which is what I think the NWA needs to do; All 4 PPVs for 29.95 instead of 9.95 each)

[Guest Nostril king]

You know sometimes I feel the WWF is just like me playing EWR - signing a high prestige free agent like Ric Flair (OVER Rating in the Game: 90+) and ruining him with nonsensical turns, clean jobs with no buildup and horrible feuds.( Rating now: 50)

 

The only reason in EWR you would EVER sign Hogan or Flair is because of their overness - ability to cut good promos and get the feud smoking - the heat of the feud makes up for the shitty match ratings and you get good overall ratings for your segments.

 

But if you FUCK UP these high priced free agents and ruin their "overness" - there's no way to build them back up again...and they're too old and too expensive to job them out (considering they refuse anyway).

 

Anyway the WWE/F has destroyed their invasion angles and destroyed the heat of anyone who was in WCW...destroyed the heat of Nash and Flair and now the Undertaker (no more cheap pop for rollin = no pop at all)...they're going to have a whole roster of high priced wrestlers who can't work, have no heat...and in EWR

 

YOU GO BANKRUPT ...

 

Proven track record my ass - FUCK YOU LINDA YOU LOOK LIKE A MAN YOU DYKE

[Guest Brian]

"YOU GO BANKRUPT ..."

 

When you're turning a higher revenue and profit than last quarter. Ahhh, yeah...

 

Video games aren't real life kid.

[Guest Nostril king]

"YOU GO BANKRUPT ..."

 

When you're turning a higher revenue and profit than last quarter. Ahhh, yeah...

 

Video games aren't real life kid.

I realize you are a moderator - so I realize i'm stepping on eggshells here but

 

if you scroll to the top of my post you will see "SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE" and then the rest of my post

 

and on top of that I never claimed the WWE would go bankrupt...I simply pointed out that it happens in the game - implying that it MAY happen in the WWE...

 

and even if I DID say the WWE will go bankrupt as per the game's prediction - regardless of how much profit they turned this quarter - the poorer the product - the more people will stop buying the PPVs, the less people will go to the sports bars to watch, less sports bars buying PPVs....if the product gets poor enough, they already pulled the shock value card - there's nothing coneivably left for them become a pop culture sensation EVER AGAIN! ...so my logic wouldn't really have been too flawed in that case either.

 

and in regard to the assinine "video games aren't like real life kid" - I had a nice little comeback for that but I figured I'd respect your power for the time being.

[Guest gwf0704]

Well, the high and mighty attitude im reading from some people on this board makes it sound like the WWE is untouchable. Trust me, I've been watching wrestling for 22 yrs and no company is "untouchable." Or does anybody remember the NWA, AWA, who where around longer than WWE and WCW who no one thought would go under. WWE is a business but to think it cant happen to me, well, thats being foolish.

 

Also, it tends to be irritating when some smarks, SMARKS FOR GOODNESS SAKES, talk down to other smarks. I mean, this isn't trigonometry. Everyone has an opinion on this board and if people dont like that opinion, fine, but to say "Well I dont like Austin, never have, never will thus I am right and you are all just worshipping" is pretty lame. Flaming posts are elsewhere on the board.

 

B) Peace!!

[Guest Ripper]

You can't treat this like the Bret situation at all. AUSTIN GOT SPOILED and for some reason seemed to forget that the reason he got over is because he was put over a bunch of vets. Before the Bret fued(and after the imfamous 3:16 speech) noone gave a rats ass about Austin. They didn't care. he got over by jumping a huge amount of people during matches and being the person that attacked Bret during his big comeback. You could have put close to anyone with talent in that spot and they would have gotten over. Yes, Austin took this chance and RAN with it. I am not trying to shiot on his accomplishment AT ALL. But what got him started, what got the ball rolling was him being given the rub by working with and going over top talent.

 

Well, Steve is near the end of his career. The WWF has a guy they want to push for the future. Whether he thinks its a great idea or the worst Idea since man, YOU DO IT. YOU DO WHAT WAS DONE FOR YOU. Everyone jumps on Bret saying that the thing for him to do what you historically do for the company. Austin not only spit on that once, but many times. how is he still being defended. You might have agreed with him, but its how he did it.

 

Austin refused to work with(not put over, work with) Billy Gunn(while I agree wholeheartedly, it wasn't his place to kill Billy's push like that) Jeff Jarrett(say what you want about Bret, at least he would work with Shawn and he had many more reasons to dislike him), didn't want to put over HHH(so they made Mic take the loss, and hotshot the title to HHH the next night) didn't want to put over Hall (even though it would be through massive screw job) and not want to work with/job to Brock(how you can say a win over Austin would do nothing for brock is amazing. You know and I know that Brock doesn't have a win over a established person yet...he is Brock the Jobber killer, which doesn't get too many people over)

 

Austin SCREWED Austin because he forgot what his job was. Because he was a major part of a huge turnaround in '97 gives him no right to act like a dick today. You know how everyone says X-pac is living in '98?? well at least he is a year ahead of Austin. Austin was just finding it hard to accept that all of his matches that hasn't envolved Angle, Jerhico or Rock have absolutly sucked to no end and that the company wanted to push other people. Every other wreslter gets chastised and all they have are rumors against them but Austin is cool because he brought the WWF back to the mainstream(the NWO is what brought WRESTLING back to the mainstream people, lets not forget that.)

 

Linda said what she had to say. You don't sit there and fellate a person who left your company. What does that say to the wrestlers that actually show up and bust thier asses. "We love Stonecold, we are in trouble without him because noone can cover his lost." I really thought they should have exploited him even more and squeeze every bit of juice out of him leaving until there was nothing left. Austin HELPED the WWF, the WWF made Austin and he showed no respect to the people that took him in when he was doing Hogan impressions in ECW and on the long road to indy-ville. THEY made him a millionare...THEY made him the popular person he is today. Now he can see where his celebrity gets him with out the WWF backing him....like sable and chyna did.

[Guest Brian]

I'm sorry. I just get tired off all the doomsday perdictors who continue to pimp the fact that the WWE doing a downturn in business, despite still turning a profit, means they are going to die, despite being the only national wrestling company.