WWE News & Notes from the 8/23 Observer

[Enigma 0]

With WWE ready to roll out its WWE 24/7 television concept, perhaps its most valuable nostalgia commodity, Hulk Hogan, may have his matches tied up in a legal choke hold.

 

Adding to the recent court case that Marvel Characters has filed against WWE, they've added a second case, against Terry Bollea, claiming trademark infringement and asking for $100,000.

 

As noted before, in either 1984 or 1985, depending on which side you believe, the WWF and Marvel Entertainment Group had a 20-year agreement where the company would have the rights to use "Hulk" name under certain provisions. Those included paying Marvel royalties on Hogan appearances and merchandise. One of the provisions of the agreement was that WWF could no longer bill Hogan as, "The Incredible Hulk Hogan," the name he used in his first WWF run in 1979-81, as well as used in the AWA from 1981-83, where he became the country's top box office star. The comic book news site newsarama.com, which had an in-depth story on the situation, also said the lettering for "Hulk" could never be larger in any advertising or promotional material than the lettering for "Hogan," no logo for Hulk Hogan could resemble a Marvel Entertainment logo for The Incredible Hulk, the WWE could never register the name Hulk Hogan, that the trademark for the name Hulk Hogan would be Marvel property and not WWF property, and WWF agreed never to challenge that in court. Also, there could never be a Hulk Hogan comic book, nor could the character Hulk Hogan be used in any comic book form.

 

In exchange, Marvel Entertainment Group would receive 1% of the total gross on all projects involving Hulk Hogan and 10% of the money Bollea would receive as Hulk Hogan, and $100 for every wrestling match Hogan appeared in. This would have worked out to several million dollars over the years.

 

As noted before, there is an argument over the date, and thus when this expires. The licensing agreement dates back to July 9, 1984, so it would have expired last month. However, WWE claims it was signed on March 25, 1985, so it doesn't expire for several more months. Marvel claims WWE has been in violation of the agreement for five weeks. Where it gets even more confusing is in 1994, Hogan and Marvel signed a second agreement with WCW. The WCW agreement was a one-year contract, with terms for renewal. WCW renewed the contract through 2002. The WWF claimed that it purchased the contract, for automatic renewals, in the WCW fire sale, and have renewed it.

 

Marvel Characters, the new company which came up in the reorganization of the former Marvel Entertainment Group, has stated it will not renew the deal any longer, and believes the deal expired last month. They claim WWE has no rights to produce any more videotapes, or produce more television that would use the name Hulk Hogan. WWE is alto making the claim that the Marvel Entertainment Group which cut the deal with the WWF, no longer exists, and claims the new Marvel Characters group does not own the name Hulk Hogan to begin with. WWE is asking that they be declared the owner of the trademark of the name Hulk Hogan, and thus be allowed to use it in perpetuity. Both sides are scheduled to have a settlement meeting on 9/17. Marvel's lawsuit against Bollea continues, with the close of discovery being 10/31.

 

WWE claims Marvel violated the 20-year agreement first, because in April of 2003, Marvel attorney Eli Bard told WWE they were using the Hulk Hogan mark without permission, and violating Marvel intellectual property rights, and wrote a cease and desist letter. WWE immediately came up with the contract, which had yet to expire, and also, one of the terms of the contact was marvel was prohibited from making any legal claim against either the WWF or Terry Bollea until the contract expired. However, Bard may have done this purely as a negotiating tactic, because he also proposed a new agreement for the company to continue to use the Hogan name. WWE rejected Bard's offer, noting they had a contract still in effect and wouldn't change the provisions of it, and Marvel conceded they had no case.

 

WWE claims they are sole owners of all material made during the 20 year period under the contract, claiming the ownership of the performances and imagery since they owned the license during that time period to use the name. Now even this gets tricky, because based on that logic, it would mean, if you use WWE's version of the dates, that everything prior to March 25,1985, would not have been covered, which would include Hogan's first WWF run, which includes the August 9, 1980, Shea Stadium match with Andre the Giant that the company is currently marketing on the internet, his entire AWA run as well as his first 15 months in WWF the second time, which would include marketing his first title win over Iron Sheik or using any of his footage from that period.

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On the Bruno Sammartino front, there is a lot of controversy over the Mike Lano interview, some quotes of which were used in last week's issue. Sammartino's people told WWE that the interview never took place. Others close to the situation said it did, but he meant some of the comments, which he did say, to be off the record, and other things he didn't say at all, although nobody has differentiated what is and isn't accurate. Sammartino hasn't gotten an offer from WWE, and the part about him asking to put an offer and paper and he'd decide was legit, feeling that Sammartino's reps have asked for things WWE consider outrageous. At this point the odds of a deal have diminished. Sammartino himself would not be against doing the WWE 24/7 deal, and commenting on matches from the 60s and 70s. He's not against doing the Hall of Fame, but isn't going to live or die over it, and doesn't want to be a current TV character or do angles. All the talk has opened up a lot of opportunities as Sammartino has agreed to do a few autograph shows and wrestling conventions in the Northeast.

 

Some updated buy rate numbers: Backlash (HHH vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels; Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton) is now at 293,000 buys. Judgment Day (Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL), still the lowest buy rate in years, is now at 224,000 buys. Bad Blood (Shawn Michaels vs. HHH Hell in a Cell) is at 265,000 buys. Great American Bash (Guerrero vs. JBL Bullrope match) is at 235,000 buys and Vengeance (HHH vs. Benoit) is at 232,000 buys.

 

Matt Hardy's knee turned out to be far worse than it was believed after being thoroughly examined by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, days before SummerSlam. Hardy has a minor tear of his MCL, a severely torn meniscus, and his ACL is totally destroyed, all in his left knee. Andrews said the ACL had been gone for some time and was amazed he'd been able to work without it. He will be haying reconstructive surgery on it, and will be out six to eight months. Worse, it was also found he's gone bone spurs in his hip that he's going to have to get taken care of at some point.

 

While the HHH vs. Randy Orton idea for WrestleMania is the current plan, it has not been decided which one is going face in the Evolution break-up. HHH is the natural one as going face, but he has the most power and knows he's a better heel. They are using the fact Orton got some cheers at house shows against Edge as the basis for those who want Orton to turn, even though HHH got as many, if not more cheers at house shows, working with Chris Benoit, and Benoit doesn't have the negative backlash babyface thing going that Edge had with the initial push after his comeback.

 

After her interview last week in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazelle, Rena "Sable" Mero, who turned 37 on 8/8 (nobody believes that age, but it was documented in her lawsuit and it does add up as she was 28 when she was first signed by the WWF in early 1996), was fired before the Smackdown taping the day after the Fort Wayne show. Well, it isn't as if she doesn't know the rules of the game. Her status had been in question long before the interview, as after one of her implants punctured and she was out for a while, when she was taken care of, there was considerable talk of her not being brought back. She had signed a three-year contract in February 2003, but all the contracts have 90-day renewal cycles. They ended up bringing her back, but it was clear they weren't going to do much with her. She had asked for an easier schedule due to family issues (not regarding Brock Lesnar, but her having to raise her 16-year-old daughter, Mariah), and got taken off a lot of bookings. All things considered, with her only wanting to work a few dates per month, and her not being involved in any significant stories, nor any long-term ideas for her, that led to her release. It's almost always very difficult, on both sides, for someone who was a major star (in 1998, she was just as red hot in marketing and merchandising as Steve Austin) to be hanging around like a big player, even not throwing all these factors in.

 

Brock Lesnar was moved to nose tackle after Vikings Coach Mike Tice, citing the numbers game, felt there is no way he'd be able to make the team, or even practice squad, at defensive tackle. The Vikings already had ten solid players at defensive tackle, and the team is only going to keep eight of them. Lesnar played on the kickoff team as well as the final minutes of the 8/14 Vikings win over the Arizona Cardinals by a 23-6 score before 63,658 fans in the preseason opener at the Metrodome. Lesnar went into the game with 6:26 left, and got a big pop coming out. He assisted on one tackle, and the name got a big reaction there as well.

 

The Ric Flair book was No. 4 in Canada on the 8/8 Globe & Moll bestseller list and No. 8 on 8/15. It will fall to No. 11 on the 8/22 New York Times list.

 

"Be Cool," starring John Travolta, with The Rock being one of the supporting cast members, opens now on 3/4, having been moved back a few weeks. “Be Cool” is the sequel to 1995’s “Get Shorty.”

 

British media regulator Ofcom listed two shows that have gotten complaints for violation of content codes. One was on 5/8 and the other was 4/19. It doesn't specify the violations, but on 5/8, they aired the Eddie Guerrero's mother having a heart attack angle, and on 4/19 they aired the incident where Big Show choke slammed Kurt Angle off the balcony.

 

The Rock coming to Samoa was gigantic news on the island this past week. It was only the second time he had ever been to the island of his ancestry on his mother's side, the other being on a trip with his grandfather at the age of 14. The leading newspaper, the Samoan Observer, ran front page stories all week and every day there were huge photos. Rock was given, by Samoan Head of State Malietoa Tanumaflli, a new Samoan name, "Seiuli," and like his grandfather, is now a Chief. To show how he's viewed, one of the newspaper headlines read, "Ordinary Samoans Humbled by Dwayne Johnson Visit."

 

Ric Flair, while doing a book signing in Raleigh; reopened the idea that he might get involved in Republican party politics after he retires from wrestling. He had been talked about when it came to running for Governor of North Carolina for years. After he talked with Jesse Ventura, and Ventura told, him how they open up your personal life, Flair decided against it because he's got too many skeletons in his closet Flair said, "The reason I didn't run was because of the book. Now if they want me to run, I'll run. Because there's nothing I haven't told them." Flair was on the not-at-all watched John McEnroe show, which was gotten a 0.0 rating (I'm not making this up), 19 of his first 25 shows on CNBC. It was funny. First, Flair talked about how he was getting along so well backstage with Eliot Spitzer (New York state attorney general, who wants to be governor), but when he came out and he found out he was a democrat, he wanted to wrestle him. Then Flair started talking about how Vince McMahon should be governor because he'd get things done, and talked about how wonderful it was to work for him the past three years. McEnroe was stunned that anyone would have something good to say about Vince. I don't think anyone in WWE has clue one what the real world thinks of Vince.

 

Tickets for the 10/10 Raw show in Cardiff, Wales (4,500 seats) sold out in one hour. It's the first company show in Wales in ten years. As for the other U.K. shows, the 10/7 show in Sheffield has a few seats left. 10/8 in London and 10/10 in Cardiff are both sold out. While WWE hits both 10/7 and 10/8 in Belfast as sold out, there are tickets available in most price ranges at press time. The 10/11 Raw TV taping in Manchester has the floor seats sold out but tickets remaining everywhere else. The 10/12 Smackdown TV tapings in Manchester have tickets in all prices ranges available.

 

Trish Stratus performed on 8/12 in Toronto at the Second City comedy club. The show got a lot of local publicity, as she worked with established comedy professionals, but was clearly the draw. She got a positive response for a sold out show which included celebrities in the audience like Maple Leafs Tie Domi, Paul Godfrey, the president of the Toronto Blue Jays, and famous 70s boxer George Chuvalo, as well as WWE's Victoria, Gail Kim, and Doug Basham. She brought Victoria and Kim on stage at the show.

 

Former WCW employee Kevin Eck wrote a story on JBL last week in the Baltimore Sun. It was mostly bio stuff that is well known, his playing football before wrestling, spending all his money from football and winding up broke, and learning from the experience about finance. He credited Mick Foley with his break, saying that Foley did an interview in Fortune Magazine and made a passing remark if they asked he invested in the stock market, he said, "No, but Bradshaw does," and suddenly, some people were interested in finding out this wrestler who invests. It noted his firing from CNBC from the goose stepping. JBL is in major denial about the incident these days, failing to see the other point of view. Recently on the WWE web site, he thanked people in Germany who backed him, and then said that those from Germany who wrote negatively about his goose stepping don't know what they were talking about and don't they realize it's all an act. "I did it not as an anti-Semitic thing, goodness. I was just trying to irritate the Germany people, so I was trying to pick at the most sensitive issue they had. Nobody was offended in the audience. In fact, the German media came to my defense. They said, ‘this guy is just portraying a role.'" If nobody was offended, why was he specifically told not to do it ever again the next night, before it became any kind of an issue in the U.S? If nobody was offended, why were the most offended letters the first day coming from people at the arena live, who said it put a negative cloud over the event? And while I don't read German, I don't know of any German media defending him (it's possible someone may have but I'm thinking if it was any kind of high profile thing; and a consensus to where you could even say 'German media' because I was told it got no coverage one way or the other, we'd have heard about it by now) other than an article from a writer in a German wrestling magazine.

 

Rico should be returning soon from a hamstring injury, as he's in OVW this week preparing to come back. He made it back a lot faster then expected.

 

Stacy Keibler's name was mentioned on the Spike TV's 52 hottest women in show business special. I believe she was around No. 35, and was the only WWE personality mentioned. The guy doing the voiceovers talked like she was some bruising tough wrestler.

 

Bobbi Billard, the ex-Playboy model who briefly worked in developmental until suffering a neck injury, underwent double vertebrae fusion neck surgery under Dr. Lloyd Youngblood (taken car of by WWE), so that answers to the legitimacy of her injuries while in OVW.

 

The company returns to Edmonton on 9/14, and as a sign of the times, instead of booking the Rexall Place, where Backlash took place in, they are booking the Shaw Conference Centre, which holds maybe 2,500. They are doing a three-way for the title with JBL vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle.

 

Chandra Costello, who was voted off in the Divas competition on the 8/9 Raw, said in an article in a local paper in her original home town of Lexington, KY (she now lives with her twin sister in Los Angeles pursuing the acting gig), before she was cut, that the WWE told her that both she and her sister had a spot on Raw waiting for them no matter how the voting went. The two sisters were the "Juggy Twins" on "The Man Show." I guess we'll have to wait and see on this one.

 

The 8/27 Smackdown show at the Sydney, Australia Superdome, has sold out.

 

The Honky Tonk Man claims he's twice been asked, most recently for the 7/5 Raw in Winnipeg, to come in and do a quick TV angle, leading to putting Randy Orton over. He's declined both times, feeling doing a 3:00 squash on television isn't good for his independent business.

 

Shawn Daivari, who has claimed to be the nephew of Sheik Adrian Al Kaijsie (he isn't), has signed a developmental deal, so he should be in QVW shortly.

 

Christian went on a vacation to Germany (his wife is German), but should be back, perhaps before you even read this, if not, very soon after.

 

At the 8/9 taping in Cleveland, Mike Bucci worked as Simon Dean again, but it was a dark match, so the company hasn't committed to the name.

 

8/8 Raw in Toledo drew 1,900 and $63,000. 8/8 Smackdown in Hershey drew 3,300 and $125,000. 8/9 Smackdown in Fort Wayne drew 1,900 and $63,000.

 

Attendance for the 8/2 Raw TV in San Antonio was 6,000 and the 8/3 Smackdown TV in Houston was 5,700.

[AndrewTS 0]

The Hulk/Marvel stuff gives me a huge headache. Man, imagine trying to find a precedent for that...

 

It's hard to really favor either side because of there being plenty of good points in either case.

 

--

"Be Cool," starring John Travolta, with The Rock being one of the supporting cast members, opens now on 3/4, having been moved back a few weeks. “Be Cool” is the sequel to 1995’s “Pulp Fiction.”

--

 

Uh--I thought it was the sequel to Get Shorty? After all, that's what I've always heard it reported as, and Travolta's Pulp Fiction character is dead anyway.

[Guest Staravenger]

Please....NO Triple H in a babyface role. Unless it's a mid-card wiseass gimmick, he doesn't work good as a face.

 

I really doubt WWE would waste money on the Juggie Twins, probably because...

 

A.) They aren't that good looking.

B.) Probably have zero wrestling knowledge.

C.) Couldn't wrestle to save their lives.

[The Tino Standard 0]

That Orton-HHH blurb looks like it was written before the angle Monday. It would seem pretty stupid to shoot that angle if they planned on having HHH go face.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

The Hulk/Marvel stuff gives me a huge headache. Man, imagine trying to find a precedent for that...

 

It's hard to really favor either side because of there being plenty of good points in either case.

 

--

"Be Cool," starring John Travolta, with The Rock being one of the supporting cast members, opens now on 3/4, having been moved back a few weeks. “Be Cool” is the sequel to 1995’s “Pulp Fiction.”

--

 

Uh--I thought it was the sequel to Get Shorty? After all, that's what I've always heard it reported as, and Travolta's Pulp Fiction character is dead anyway.

GET SHORTY

 

Not Pulp Fiction

[Promoter 0]

I'm going to have to agree with the HHH thing. He is obviously being built as a heel for now. What could they possibly do to have Orton turn back heel and then Triple H turn face? I think it's a recipe for disaster having Trips as a face myself. He is just generally not that likeable of a person to the audience. He gets cheers out of respect or if his opponent sucks/lower than him in the eyes of the fans.

 

As for the Marvel issue sometimes I wish the law can just use COMMON SENSE. Who really confuses Hulk Hogan and the Incredible Hulk? Kids today for sure as hell aren't that dumb to confuse and which sane adult would mix the two. Of course, I was thinking the same thing with the wwf initials and look where that got Vincent. Speaking of Vince how many times is Flair going to kiss his buttocks? Geez!

[Enigma 0]

Yes, in translation, I made an error and typed "Pulp Fiction" and not "Get Shorty." My apologies. I will edit accordingly.

[BHK 0]

Some updated buy rate numbers: Backlash (HHH vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels; Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton) is now at 293,000 buys. Judgment Day (Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL), still the lowest buy rate in years, is now at 224,000 buys. Bad Blood (Shawn Michaels vs. HHH Hell in a Cell) is at 265,000 buys. Great American Bash (Guerrero vs. JBL Bullrope match) is at 235,000 buys and Vengeance (HHH vs. Benoit) is at 232,000 buys

 

 

So, does WWE consider that many PPVs in such a short time a success or failure? Are they pleased with the numbers or not? Does anyone know?

[Guest Staravenger]

Thats GOTTA be great numbers for 3 PPV's in a small amount of time. Around 750,000 buys for Bad Blood, Great American Bash, and Vengeance sounds good for 6 weeks of PPV.

[Enigma 0]

I wonder how HHH feels about JBL outdrawing him by 3,000 buys.

[Karc 0]

Thats GOTTA be great numbers for 3 PPV's in a small amount of time. Around 750,000 buys for Bad Blood, Great American Bash, and Vengeance sounds good for 6 weeks of PPV.

Which is exactly why WWE calls it a success and are going to do it again next year. It also lets them get away with the crap they are pulling, because people still buy it.

[Guest Staravenger]

I wonder how HHH feels about JBL outdrawing him by 3,000 buys.

It can be blamed on 3 PPV's in a 6 week period. More people bought Bad Blood, then fewer bought GAB, and fewer Vengeance, which is the order they were done.

[spman 0]

I think 200,000 is probobly about the absolute bottom that WWE can hit which includes the hardcore fans who will watch the TV and order every PPV no matter how awful it is.

[Guest Staravenger]

I think 200,000 is probobly about the absolute bottom that WWE can hit which includes the hardcore will will watch the TV and order every PPV no matter how awful it is.

There's a sucker born every minute. It just happens to be that 200,000 of them are wrestling fans who will buy horrible PPV's like GAB & Judgment Day this year.

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

Yeah its a success. Just looking at the June numbers, if you add up the two PPVs in that month you get 500,000 buys. They were never going to do 500,000 buys for any single secondary PPV, hell they would happy to do 500,000 for Summerslam. The April PPV did under 300,000 and the May PPV was in the toilet so the numbers were already trending downwards. Clearly the 3 PPV in 6 weeks deal didn't hurt the numbers to any degree.

 

I would say the big test will be how Summerslam did, and then how the next 3 PPVs do. If they can get 400-500,000 for Summerslam and hit close to that 750,000 mark for the next 3 shows after SS I think they will see it as a huge success. And before long we'll have 20 PPVs in the year. On the other hand if these next shows dip below the JD numbers they might have to rethink their strategy.

 

In terms of HHH going face, that would have been easy to book. You have Orton win the title, he starts to get a big head, HHH asks for a title shot, Orton refuses and Evo beats him down. Orton takes over as leader because the rest of the guys feel that Hunter has lost it and therefore isn't Evolution worhty. HHH proves them wrong by going through them one by one until he gets to Orton at Mania and wins. Pretty easy to book actually.

 

However, I can see why they did what they did, Hunter likes being a heel, so thats what he'll be. That said, I think he'll have to turn babyface whenever that WWE Films project comes out that he's starring in. I would think it would be better for tix sales for Hunter to be a babyface when selling the movie.

[Promoter 0]

IMO, those numbers are atrocious, yet I can see how they see it as a success. Yes, combined it would beat having only one ppv for the month, but I disagree with a sucker born every minute motto. The wwe got away with it this time because it was new and not drum into people's head that both brands have monthly ppv shows now. I guarantee if they take this route things will only get worse They did a title change for smackdown with the rematch. They gave away the singles rematch with Triple H/Benoit and also supposedly had the final fight between HHH and HBK in a cell(who have been feuding for two years). It will be surprising to see what SummerSlam does and if it gets something similar to the buy rate for the off months(which I'm guessing it might with the casual interest low). I think it's still too much and it over-exposes things. I think the ratings say it all. These numbers are almost rock bottom as it is.

 

I think it was easier to book HHH as the face, but not the better option. HHH imo shouldn't end up going over or the whole Orton project is a waste of time. He will hit the glass ceiling as everyone else on raw has in the last two years. Benoit somehow avoided this, but as we see he was not booked above Evolution. In fact he just furthered Evolution's storyline.

[Guest syncer55]

Triple H must be pisses that JBL outdrawed him. He must be thinking up new arcs to screw him.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I wonder how HHH feels about JBL outdrawing him by 3,000 buys.

 

Bradshaw suddenly gets traded to RAW shortly after this report comes out.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

WWE Breaks Their Own Rule: Wrestler To Appear On RAW & Smackdown

 

OVW Talent gets the "honor"

This weekend a wrestler will do break the WWE's own rule of keeping the brand extension separate and wrestle on both a Smackdown brand and Raw brand television program.

 

Wavell Starr, a Canadian independent worker who has wrestled in Ohio Valley Wrestling (and used the name 'Standing Thunder') is the man who will do it. Starr will appear on both Velocity (a Smackdown show) and Heat (a Raw show) this weekend.

 

According to the official Velocity preview on WWE.com "Mark Jindrak will take on Wavell Starr" and on the Heat preview it states "Tough Enough Champion Maven will be in action." Maven fought Starr at the last Heat taping.

 

It will be interesting to see if WWE gives Wavell a different name for his Heat appearance, or if they actually acknowledge that he is wrestling for "both brands." It is not expected that many casual fans will notice.

 

While it isn't unusual for wrestlers to appear on Raw and Smackdown cards in dark matches the same week, it is very rare for them to appear in television matches on separate brands that will air the same weekend.

 

Credit: Buck Woodward, PWInsider.com

[Fökai 0]

It's happened before with Bobby Rude.

[Scroby 0]

Chandra Costello, who was voted off in the Divas competition on the 8/9 Raw, said in an article in a local paper in her original home town of Lexington, KY (she now lives with her twin sister in Los Angeles pursuing the acting gig), before she was cut, that the WWE told her that both she and her sister had a spot on Raw waiting for them no matter how the voting went. The two sisters were the "Juggy Twins" on "The Man Show." I guess we'll have to wait and see on this one.

 

Porn

[Guest Dazed]

The two sisters were the "Juggy Twins" on "The Man Show."

 

There's something dignified about that.

 

As for the 700,000 or so combined buyrate - while that may be good for a 6 week period, there are other factors: Wrestlers are getting 3 times the regular payoff, three venues are booked, decked out and so on, advertising is three fold.

 

There's got to be a point where it's more profitable to run one or two big shows, than three or four crappy drawing ones.

[SuperJerk 0]

The two sisters were the "Juggy Twins" on "The Man Show."

 

There's something dignified about that.

 

As for the 700,000 or so combined buyrate - while that may be good for a 6 week period, there are other factors: Wrestlers are getting 3 times the regular payoff, three venues are booked, decked out and so on, advertising is three fold.

 

There's got to be a point where it's more profitable to run one or two big shows, than three or four crappy drawing ones.

I'd really love to know how much it costs them to put on a PPV. Do ticket sales pay for the production costs of the event, or is that where the wrestler pay-offs come from?

[Enigma 0]

Ugh, that GAB buy rate needs two asterisks next to it.

 

Let us not forget that GAB was offered free to any military personell, but they still had to order the show first, which is factored into the buyrate and can be quite decieving.

 

Also, none of the Blast Areas showed the PPV (unless they independently ordered it, which I know a Hooters in another city did), so the people that really wanted to watch the PPV that go to Blast Areas had to go home and order it, which also has to factor in to that GAB buy rate.

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

But the point is all the shows were profitable. I dont know what their brak even point in terms of buys for each PPV, but I'm sure it below 200,000 and I'd say its even under 150,000. So as loing as they keep going over that, its still a good move. Like I said look at Backlash and Judgment Day, those numbers weren't very good, and they were the standard one show per month. So its not like they would get a big number for any of the shows in June or July if they had only done say 2 of them instead of three.

 

But yeah it would interesting to find out exactly where they stop making money and when too many shows is too much.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

The two sisters were the "Juggy Twins" on "The Man Show."

 

There's something dignified about that.

 

As for the 700,000 or so combined buyrate - while that may be good for a 6 week period, there are other factors: Wrestlers are getting 3 times the regular payoff, three venues are booked, decked out and so on, advertising is three fold.

 

There's got to be a point where it's more profitable to run one or two big shows, than three or four crappy drawing ones.

Someone hit the nail right on the head. A few thousand extra buys isn't worth the extra production. 200,000 is probably close to breaking even for the WWF when you take into account all the expenses. They could've actually lost money on this venture when all is said and done.

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

The two sisters were the "Juggy Twins" on "The Man Show."

 

There's something dignified about that.

 

As for the 700,000 or so combined buyrate - while that may be good for a 6 week period, there are other factors: Wrestlers are getting 3 times the regular payoff, three venues are booked, decked out and so on, advertising is three fold.

 

There's got to be a point where it's more profitable to run one or two big shows, than three or four crappy drawing ones.

Someone hit the nail right on the head. A few thousand extra buys isn't worth the extra production. 200,000 is probably close to breaking even for the WWF when you take into account all the expenses. They could've actually lost money on this venture when all is said and done.

Except they didn't.

[Slickster 0]

Why didn't the Blast Areas show GAB?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Like the WWF would admit something lost money.

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

Like the WWF would admit something lost money.

They have to be honest, they are a publically traded company. Well unless they want to get into trouble. Meltzer posted today on his site that they made over $4 million profit for the quarter (May to July), which would include the PPVs in question, with house show business the way it is, clearly the PPVs helped pave the way for another successful quarter.