KrisZ Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Mark Henry's spot is pretty much set as the strongman that everyone believes is a beast but can do jobs and not hurt his character Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Size matters. It's a lot easier to repackage/repush a giant/monster/huge guy than someone like Tyson Kidd. I bet that within a week or two they could have Khali presented as huge threat and Khali doesn't have nearly the talent of Show or Henry or even Kane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Jiz Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Size matters. It's a lot easier to repackage/repush a giant/monster/huge guy than someone like Tyson Kidd. I bet that within a week or two they could have Khali presented as huge threat and Khali doesn't have nearly the talent of Show or Henry or even Kane. Â How tall do you think Tyson Kidd IRL? WWE advertises him as 5'10'' but he doesn't look to be more than 5'8'', and he probably wears lifts at that. Anyway, he's really underutilized. I'm not sure if he can sell in a way that 1-2-3 Kid could in getting the fans behind him, but he could play a much more effective role. He does seem a bit short on charisma. Â Â Â The "youth movement" thing is a little weird to me. Cesaro is 33. Bryan is 32. Punk is 35. Â For comparison's sake, Orton is 33. Cena is 36. Â It's very much a New Generation thing when your new generation was a bunch of guys in their early 30s. Â That was addressed well, but I'll add too as you have before in another thread that most wrestlers aren't going to be much good until they approach 30. So the age issue isn't strange. Roman Reigns is 28, but he came from a wrestling family as well which usually will help with intuition. I think a lot of people are just tired of seeing the same headliners year after year and that there comes a time when the top has to change up. Right now is a good time for that. Â Cena gave an interview on Austin's podcast saying that he thinks the crowd splits largely because people want to see new faces. If that's true and it's just general fan discontent, this year's Royal Rumble really enhances his point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Â WWE's fourth quarter 2013 and full year financial report reveals one of the worst pay-per-view buy numbers in WWE history for the Battleground pay-per-view at 114,000 buys. The pay-per-view featured Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton. Â The results then show a strong 228,000 buys for the October Hell In a Cell pay-per-view, which featured Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton with Shawn Michaels as referee. That is up from the 199,000 in 2012. Â The Survivor Series pay-per-view, with Big Show vs. Randy Orton, in November drew 177,000 buys, down from the 208,000 buys in 2012. Â December's TLC pay-per-view, with John Cena vs. Randy Orton, drew 181,000 pay-per-view buys, up just a bit from the 175,000 buys in 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Â Â WWE's fourth quarter 2013 and full year financial report reveals one of the worst pay-per-view buy numbers in WWE history for the Battleground pay-per-view at 114,000 buys. The pay-per-view featured Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton. Â The results then show a strong 228,000 buys for the October Hell In a Cell pay-per-view, which featured Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton with Shawn Michaels as referee. That is up from the 199,000 in 2012. Â The Survivor Series pay-per-view, with Big Show vs. Randy Orton, in November drew 177,000 buys, down from the 208,000 buys in 2012. Â December's TLC pay-per-view, with John Cena vs. Randy Orton, drew 181,000 pay-per-view buys, up just a bit from the 175,000 buys in 2012. Â Â This tells me a few things, all of which are not really that negative about Bryan's drawing power. Â Battleground tanked because it came 3 weeks after the highly-criticized Night of Champions show (which, itself, did a poor number compared to the previous year). One could argue that this shows Bryan wasn't a draw, but let's also remember that SummerSlam did a disappointing number (with Cena and Lesnar in prominent roles). Call me a "glass half full" guy, but can you imagine the numbers these shows would've done WITHOUT Bryan? Â Oh wait, you can. Look at Survivor Series, where Bryan was put in a tag match of little consequence. It dropped 31,000 buys. Â Hell in a Cell (which, I must add, also featured Cena's return) was up - and, to me, that has a lot to do with the fact that you had Shawn Michaels serving as ref and people may have actually felt like Bryan was going to win the big one (I'm not sure anyone thought that about NoC or Battleground). Â As for the TLC butyrate....6,000 more buys? For a card featuring The Most Important Match in WWE History? A card that was 10 Years In The Making? A card that featured a unification match that many fans expected would be a "natural sell"? There's no way to put lipstick on that pig. TLC was an underperformer while Battleground did what most would expect for a last minute, thrown together show mere weeks after an abysmal PPV like NoC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 HIAC had Cena's return as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlk23 Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 - Following the release of the 2013 WWE financials, here is a breakdown of the company's top 10 revenue streams. TV Rights Fees - $160.9 million Live Events - $111.5 million PPV Revenue - $82.5 million Licensing - $43.6 million Home Video - $24.3 million WWE.com - $23 million Venue Merchandise - $19.4 million WWEShop - $15.5 million WWE Studios - $10.8 million Magazine Sales - $5.7 million- TV rights fees continue to be the biggest line of revenue, and the $160.9 million represents approximately 32% of the company's revenue, which is up from 2012, when it represented approximately 29%.- Live events have been steady as the secondary line of revenue, representing approximately 21% of the revenue for the last three years.- PPV remains the third biggest lien of revenue, with $82.5 million, representing 16.2% of the company's revenue. This is roughly even with last year, which was $83.6 (17.3), but up from 2011, which was $78.3 million (16.2%).- WWE licensing was at $43.6 million, which is approximately 8.6% of the revenue. Licensing fees for the company dropped for a second straight year, starting at $54.4 million (11.2%) in 2011, then $46.3 million (9.6%) in 2012 and now $43.6 million (8.6%) this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 That tells me house shows should mean way more to the creative direction than they currently do. Seems like missed opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 HIAC had Cena's return as well. Â It weird, if his return meant something for the big spike in buys for HIAC, shouldn't at least some of that carry over to Survivor Series and TLC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 You only get one return from an absence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 He was gone for 2 months. I can't imagine his return match was that big of a deal or would move the needle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 He's John Cena. There is always a noticeable difference between his absence and his presence. Why would a match that headlined the last two PPVs and did abysmal start suddenly drawing otherwise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russellmania Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 That tells me house shows should mean way more to the creative direction than they currently do. Seems like missed opportunity. Seems like the same can be said of TV. Their mentality for a long time now has been to not give away too much on TV because they need to protect their PPV business, but TV is by far their biggest revenue stream so you'd think they'd run more big matches, title changes, and angles on TV than they currently do in order to strengthen their TV footing. Obviously times have changed a ton, but their current TV product is extremely predictable compared to their heydey during the Monday Night Wars, and it's very rare that they do anything on RAW to make the show feel like it's must-see TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I'm curious how different the TV will become once the WWE Network launches. I mean, they're not really selling Pay-Per-Views anymore, they'll be selling the network. So does RAW just become a 3-hour commercial for the WWE Network every week? Do you think they'll start doing things like starting a match, or a best-of-series & then telling you to see the rest on the network? Things like that. Â I know the network is mostly older stuff & RAW and Smackdown will still be on TV but I gotta imagine that the PPV shows won't just cease to matter at all. I'm sure they'll matter less because they're cheaper but that mean that RAW will matter more? Â It'll be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 He's John Cena. There is always a noticeable difference between his absence and his presence. Why would a match that headlined the last two PPVs and did abysmal start suddenly drawing otherwise? Hell in A Cell. Shawn Michaels. Anticipated title change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 So, knowing how this works, the Network will report their (probably big) earnings, but at the same time, it's destined to be in the red come Q4 2014. And the $260M for rights fees right now still looks hilarious. They should be looking for a similar number while looking to expand on the streams they have already, especially considering TV rights fees are only going to matter for a few years longer before networks get smart to consumer demand for Over-The-Top apps...like the WWE Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Â He's John Cena. There is always a noticeable difference between his absence and his presence. Why would a match that headlined the last two PPVs and did abysmal start suddenly drawing otherwise? Hell in A Cell. Shawn Michaels. Anticipated title change. Â Â Shawn Michaels is a difference maker but John Cena is not? Suddenly, people care enough about a match to pay for it, despite that they haven't for the two previous PPVs? I don't buy that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I get your point but it ignores all of the shitty buyrates Cena had on top or huge drops shows did year to year while Cena was in the featured program including Summerslam this past year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 He was returning. Returns always do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 A (wax?) Hulk freaking Hogan and the so random NXT crew ranging from Sara Del Ray to Robbie Brookside to XPW's GQ Money. Â Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I didn't know Dinsmore was training now. Glad to see that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Dusty's looking pretty healthy these days. Good for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Rooster is one of HHH's boys right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Rooster is one of HHH's boys right? Â Yes. Hunter slept on Terry's couch during the early WCW days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheGreatPuma Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Claudio vs Dragon was terrific on Smackdown. It's the type of match everyone will give thumbs up to. If you want limb selling, than this is your match. Bryan's shoulder injury started by Kane looks to be a long term deal. I don't want to spoil anymore. Watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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