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The Best/Worst Announcer results from the late 90s into the mid-00s were always pretty funny. Take them with a grain of salt. John

No shit? What is Coach doing? And they've got that other cat from WWE....what was his name? Todd Grisham. I don't know if he still does it, but I've seen him do Friday Night Fights there a few months back. Apparently, he mentioned on ESPN that he got voted worst pro wrestling announcer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He hosted FNF in 2013... haven't seen it this year, but think he's still the host. His twitter hasn't been updated to change that. Does SportCenter a pretty fair amount, and MMA Live for a while... don't know if he still does that since I don't catch it often. You have to give it up to Coach and Grisham. For all the shit they took from hardcores, and likely even within the business... they've done pretty well for themselves at ESPN. Paid their dues, worked their way up, and probably still have ceiling. Given their age and the wide scope of TV Sports these days across so many networks, they're likely to be making a decent living for some time to come. There's an initial generation of Cable Guys who are going to be slowly weeded out over the next decade, and also some on the big networks as well. Lots of opportunities. Beyond that, if you were just a sports fan and didn't know either from wrestling, you'd think of them as just another pair of ESPN guys. My dad doesn't know about their wrestling stuff, and knows "Coach" at this point as an ESPN guy. Pretty well done for the two.

He's likely to do some small things for the WWE while staying with ESPN. People initially went goofy thinking he was fully returning, but that was... goofy. He's got a very good thing at ESPN, with both SportsCenter cred (rather than just ESPN News) and the national radio show.

I suspect that the WWE might be fine with one or more of the major carriers (Comcast, DirecTV, Dish or TWC) *not* carrying Extreme Rules or Payback... and possibly even Money in the Bank. From Chris, here are the domestic buys last year: Extreme Rules 2013 (5/19/2013): 137k North American buys Payback 2013 (6/16/2013): 108k North American buys Money in the Bank 2013 (7/14/2013): 169k North American buys Revenue to the company from these PPV is around $20 per in the books... maybe a bit more for domestic PPV rather than international, but when you do the math you get an idea of how marginal tossing in a few additional $1 per buy are. North American revenue estimate: $2,740,000 Extreme Rules $2,160,000 Payback $3,380,000 Money in the Bank Profit last year on PPVs in non-Mania quarters was 44%, 57% & 41%. The 57% was the one with SummerSlam. Let's say the profit on these is in the 44% range. Lost revenue if no one carries it domestically would be $4.9M, and lost profit would be $2.2M. Which isn't chump change, but also isn't brutal. Except... It's not like Comcast, DirecTV, Dish and TWC (along with every other carrier) won't carry it. If there's a boycott, some will, some won't. But it won't mean all of that vanishes. Except... What better way to advertise the Network to people on the edge with subscribing with this: Pitch No. 1: "DirecTV no longer carries WWE pay per views. Don't worry, you can get it via the WWE Network at just $9.95 a month...." Pitch No. 2: "Just as DirecTV isn't carrying this PPV, we're unsure about the future with other carriers. The best way to ensure you'll get every PPV is by subscribing to the WWE Network at just $9.95 a month..." There are times where "bad news" can easily be turned into good news. In sense, DirecTV would be driving potential PPV buyers to the Network every single month that they don't carry a PPV. If I were Vince, I'd probably want one of these to be a dick. Everyone bailing at once creates an issue, but them dribbling out one at a time across the next year probably would be okay. John

Cool! Er... I mean... terrible!

I take this as a rather strongly positive number. Pretty sure I tried to get it across quite a few times in earlier threads that Mania was unlikely to crater in buys due to (i) International buys, and (ii) there still being a large number of Mania Party types who didn't want to risk it with the Network. I also agree with the notion that a chunk these buys do represent potential future Network buyers. It's still the fact that: "For the cost of Mania you get 5 other PPVs and all that other content for free!" Selling that in the reverse is always tough: there are far fewer people interested in the other PPV and all that content than there are for Mania. But if you're tempted to buy Mania and/or even just one other Biggie a year, you're basically paying for the Network. Why not just get the Network: you get Mania, your other impulse buy or two... and all that other shit. The question never really has been whether they can get to 1M subs by having Mania and all PPVs part of the network at $9.95 a month. That price point makes 1M a year very reasonable. It was the 2M that was the bigger question, and how that 2M would be diced around the world. Anyway... it's very difficult to call Mania at that buyrate and Network number as anything other than a success. They just now have to convert "buyers" into "subs". 1M by the end of the year remains very doable, especially if they book for spikes at SummerSlam (renewal) and Survivor (sealing new buyers). John

Loss - is this the one you were suggesting I check out? This would be awesome: I can check her out without watching the WWE!

Brisco vs Funk. Painful originally, and even more painful on re-watch.

The hell with test being a Celeb thing. It's being marketed to all of us dude now, along with all the other cock medication: http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7wNC/androgel-low-testosterone John

But people don't give a shit because "hallowed" records aren't being challgened on a yearly basis. As I said: the same level of delusions on the outside. People, including the overwhelming, vast majority of Pro Wrestling Fans, don't give a shit about the Wellness Issues of wrestlers because they just want to be entertained. People, including the overwhelming, vast majority of Pro Football Fans, don't give a shit about the Wellness Issues of football players because they just want to be entertained. So they either don't care, or delude themselves into thinking things are "okay" on some level. I don't want to say this thread is laughable... but we're basically trying to pat Vince, the Wrestlers and ourselves on the back to feel warm and fuzzy about something where we know a big number of wrestlers are still fucked up on drugs, dopes, PED and what not. But yeah... it's been a success because people in the WWE aren't dropping dead. Wait... how many wrestlers have overdosed over the past two decades while on the WWE's payroll?

You do have to wonder what Vince thought he was going to do with Warrior to make back that $750K base over the coming years. While his $$$ issues were gone, he still wasn't beating WCW yet. You also wonder what in the heck he would be booking Warrior into with (i) Shawn heel, (ii) Stone Cold getting the title at Mania. 15 days a month? 12 PPV a year (or even say he was on 8 of them). What in the hell would you do with Warrior at that point? He'd sucked the last two times he came back to the WWF, and then blew in WCW.

I would be surprised of Bret wasn't getting royalties on Merch when "everyone else is getting 25%". He also was likely getting the standard license rate, which is from the pool of money that goes to wrestlers for video. Bret was pretty prominent on those, so probably got as much as anyone from those over a course of years (i.e. Nash and Shawn spiking in their title years, but Bret consistently being #1 or #2 because of his placement on loads of videos). As far as calling into question the old story, we need to remember the time frame it was given for: * Vince had $$$ issues when initially going to Bret about $$$ issues (earlier in the summer) * Vince didn't have $$$ issues at the time when Bret made the decision to go Hence he had the $$$ for Warrior, especially since Bret's contract was off the books when he left.

I think the WWE's Wellness Program is as successful as the NFL's anti-drug policies over the past three decades. Same level of bullshit of those involved, and delusional both on the inside and on the outside. John

http://grantland.com/features/undertaker-loss-brock-lesnar-wwe-wrestlemania-30 Folks can sift through that. This one is... odd: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-ultimate-warrior-1959-2014 Just one piece:

I think you want to run Brock-Bryan at SummerSlam. If the company senses that Brock is also red hot off beating Taker, then they need to get the belt on him at SummerSlam to set up three months of build for a rematch at Survivor Series. If the two of them are truly hot, they may have their pair of matches to spike those two and get their 1M before the end of the year. Not totally sold that works... but it probably would be my Plan A to try to get a gauge of over the next month, then get a strong sense for it in say June before fully balls to the walls committing to it. Plan B is a bit trickier... but it depends on how desperate they end up in trying to spike those subscription numbers. That might be a Cena-Bryan feud, with Cena going heel. My guess is that they would rather save that for a Mania main event if Bryan ends up truly super over.

Here's the other thing to keep in mind: They need to book strong Summer Slam and Survivor Series to spike Network renewals and non-Mania cycle purchases. So if Bryan actually has a rocket launcher strapped to his back with the fans right now, and this is their Austin moment with him, they need to figure out how best to book him to draw (i.e. Network subscriptions) at SummerSlam and Survivor Series. Whether that's in a long run with the title like we just saw Punk have, or it's at least with one of those being placed in a position to challenge again against someone he has a major issue with... hard to tell.

Old Six Years = Current One Year Similar to Punk's long reign. One doubts they'll book Bryan that way. They'll likely want to play into his underdog status and put him back into that role. Probably worth remembering that in Austin's prime babyface days of 1998-99, he held the title this long: Reign #1 - 91 days Reign #2 - 90 days Reign #3 - 56 days Reign #4 - 55 days Not exactly recommending that they do that with Bryan. On the other hand, his storyline (rather than his character) has similarities to Austin's in that period.

Yep.

I get mushy watching it too. Then again, the Hobacks and I were watching my favorite Dr Who episode before Wrestlemania and I think all of us where misty eyed (at the very least) by the end of it. What can I say... I'm a big mushy sap.

If it's just an auto-renew on the card, they'll have little bleeding. If you have to once again "opt-in", then they might have some bleeding. We'll likely get a loaded up SummerSlam and Survivor, and probably will from here on out. I wouldn't say that they'll downgrade the Rumble, but it's so close to Mania that it adds just 2 months to a subscription. It's going to be in the area in the six months *after* Mania when subs will expire each year where they will make the effort to spike renewals and new subs. In a sense Off Season, while Mania would been the Season. It'll auto-renew like these services always do. Most do. I've seen a number of file sharing sites that had 30 day non-renewable. Now that probably is due to the credit card companies not autorenewing with the site (i.e. it needing Visa Verify), so the sites force you to renew. Something like the WWE... yeah, it make sense and I certainly would have set it up that way if I'm the WWE.

Look at the quality of the AJW 1988 and 89 classes and then 1990 onwards. While they aired in prime time, they'd advertise the tryouts along the bottom of the screen. The number of girls they had trying out was significantly higher in the mid-80s than in the 90s and the quality of the girls chosen was higher. New Japan's best talent came on the back of Inoki being a big TV draw in the 70s and New Japan's popularity in the early 80s. Baba seemed to prefer guys from an amateur background or from judo or sumo, but TV was a factor and I think the promotions should have worked harder at keeping earlier timeslots or at getting them back. If you'd rather not be selective in editing, here's what I said in full on recruitment: If you want to focus on AJW, by all means go for it. We know Joshi hit a wall, though there is some irony on the company re-peaking in the early-to-mid 90s with wrestlers who really didn't get over in the better time slot days other than Bull. The rest all got over, and drew a hell of a lot of money, after 1987. As far as across the board recruiting in pro wrestling, we saw a rather big spike after TV audiences declines, which eventually led to NTV and TV Asahi moving All Japan and New Japan to later hours. Why? There were more promotions, and despite the shitty times, pro wrestling was actually more popular in drawing than it had been in salad days of the JWA or AJPW+NJPW in the 70s and early 80s. The talent that UWF 2.0, UWFi, PWFG, Universal, Michinoku, FMW, etc drew really didn't have a lot to do with those promotions being on TV in primtime drawing 20+ ratings. All Japan's recruiting was shitty because it always had been shitty. It just never was something Baba was terribly good at, nor seemed terribly interested in casting out a big net. As for New Japan, their recruiting in the 90s, long after their hot TV days, was pretty damn solid. They kicked out a number of quality heavies, and far more juniors than they had previously. They had booking issues later in the decade, Inoki lost his mind with the shooty shit, and they destroyed the company's anchor wrestler. It's hard for me to put a ton of blame on guys like Tenzan and Kojima on how they turned out when it really was the company going to shit. Hell, even Nakanishi was showing promise 2.5 years into his career before the company screwed him up. As far as New Japan and/or All Japan fighting to keep and/or get those time slots back, do you honestly think that said, "Please give up a midnight slot and keep us there"? Or that Baba wanted his time slot cut in half eventually? Viewership didn't warrant a primetime slot. Then for whatever reason, for All Japan it didn't warrant a full hour. It's a bit like saying Firefly should have fought harder to stay on Fox: the ratings sucked, and the network wasn't going to give it time to turn around. There are times you can fight, and there are times when you'll lose anyway. John

Totally disagree. Once Taker lost, there was no way in hell Bryan wasn't winning. No way there were sending people home after watching both Taker and Bryan lose. Our group were 4 adults, a 14 year old and a 16 year old. When Taker won, the 16 year old called Bryan winning. That after all of us thinking that if the threeway went on last, Bryan was winning. The 16 year old doesn't read the WON or the Torch or hang out on PWO, or really talk hardcore booking with guys like Hoback. He's just a fan, follows the WWE a bit... And he knew what was going to happen in the main. The "Anything Can Happen Now" nonsense is just fans like us thinking too hard about it. Why would he think this? In his lifetime of watching Wrestlemania, just like the entire lifetime of the event, the Good Guy wins the Last Match almost all the time. Sure, there's some shit like Miz over Cena. But they are the exceptions to the Rule. Good Guy wins Last Match. If the 3-way went on last, Bryan was winning. If Taker went on last, Bryan might get screwed and of course Taker was winning. Taker jobbing meant that there was zero chance that there would be another Miz Moment (or Triple H 2000 moment).

I tend to think the eventual ceiling is quite a bit higher than 600K at this price point ($9.95 a month). I had a Double Whopper with cheese, medium combo for lunch with a couple of co-workers. It was somewhere between $8.50 to $9.00 with tax. That's lunch... one day. If we went to Togos, I would have spent more for a combo. When we go to our favorite sit down Mexican place, it's going to be $12+, then toss in some tip for my combo. While I can get food for a hell of a lot cheaper, and of course do when I bring something in from home, a $10 meal isn't terribly uncommon, and isn't like I'm splurging. We spent a lot more per person at Wood Ranch Grill on Saturday night, and that's not even an really expensive BBQ/Steak place. $9.95 a month is insanely cheap. When thinking back in the past about the WWE pricing the Network to cover for PPV's moving there, I don't think any of us thought it would be $9.95. PPV dvd's weren't even that low. That's priced to move. So at that price, they have quite a ceiling. They also haven't even begun to scratch the surface of "content" to put on the Network. Think of it in these terms. Let's that once the WWE Network gets to Subscriber Equilibrium under their current model of PPV + Modest New Content. They get to a certain number, and it makes them a certain profit. So okay... they're looking for something to spike some addition new subs. Let's say... They have a new Programing Idea that costs them $10M a year to produce. That spikes subs by 200K. Nothing through the roof, but a new 200K that are drawn in by that. 200,000 * $9.95 a month * 12 months = $23,880,000 New Revenue $23,880,000 - $10,000,000 cost = $13,880,000 "Profit" Their current PPV Revenue is $82.5M, of which $66.9M was domestic. The profit (OIBDA) was $34M, which was down quite a bit from 2012. Anway, if you can spike 200K a month in Subs on something you invest $10M a year on, that's not a small chunk of revenue... and it's right into your own pockets without the middle men. That's where the WWE wants to get to: (i) find Subscriber Equilibrium, and (ii) then figure out what low cost "exclusive" things they can do to add more subs. On some of this, they don't really need to think big. Down the road they might want to see if they can find their Walking Dead or Duck Dynasty that is an insane cult hit drawing millions and millions. But really it's probably wiser to after finding Subscriber Equilibrium to find some additional small hooks that start pulling in more of the viewers who regularly watch Raw & Nitro, but have been holding out on the Network. This being the WWE, of course they're far more likely to try to Think Big and instead piss away $20M on something that adds only 100K subs, which only makes them just under $2M in profit.

If it's just an auto-renew on the card, they'll have little bleeding. If you have to once again "opt-in", then they might have some bleeding. We'll likely get a loaded up SummerSlam and Survivor, and probably will from here on out. I wouldn't say that they'll downgrade the Rumble, but it's so close to Mania that it adds just 2 months to a subscription. It's going to be in the area in the six months *after* Mania when subs will expire each year where they will make the effort to spike renewals and new subs. In a sense Off Season, while Mania would been the Season. John

At some point I'll get the Network. I'd have to find a show she's on that I'd actually want to watch.