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WWE Network... It's Here


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I caught up on a bunch of Table for 3 episodes last night.

 

The ones I watched previously:

 

- Piper/Orndorff/Okerlund: Aweosme and touching. Probably still the high water mark for this series.

 

- New Day: ROCKS! Seriously, decent episode - LOVED their response to Vince's infamous "Brass Ring" comment.

 

- Sting/DDP/Vader: I liked it a lot, but based on the glowing reviews and participants involved, I honestly expected more. That's just me though.

 

The ones I watched last night:

 

- Miz/Truth/Axel: Had its moments, but too much non-wrestling content. Notice how they were all planning for "life after WWE," which is interesting in its own way and says a lot about what it must be like to work there now.

 

- Bryan/Ryback/Ziggler: This was a lot of fun. Tons of goofy road stories and ribs against Ryback. Panera bread does suck. :P

 

- Ambrose/Owens/Cesaro: I barely remember it, but maybe I was just tired? A couple of interesting stories and a good point that the indy scene of five years ago is today's WWE roster. Ambrose looked like he could use a bath though - he kept scratching himself.

 

I still need to watch the one with the women.

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I've noticed Ambrose seems to have a nervous tic where he seems to be always scratching, it's like he's doing a tribute to Flock era Kidman.

 

It makes him look like he has fleas. I get it that his "thing" is to be grungy, but does he really have to look so damn dirty too? Then again, his move is called Dirty Deeds.

 

I'm guessing the Table for 3 with Tamina, Charlotte and Natayla will never see the light of day.

 

Why wouldn't it? Tamina was still on Raw - and Total Divas - weeks after the Snuka controversy (she was even identified as "Tamina Snuka" on the latter), so I don't see that affecting Table for 3.

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I've noticed Ambrose seems to have a nervous tic where he seems to be always scratching, it's like he's doing a tribute to Flock era Kidman.

It makes him look like he has fleas. I get it that his "thing" is to be grungy, but does he really have to look so damn dirty too? Then again, his move is called Dirty Deeds.

I'm guessing the Table for 3 with Tamina, Charlotte and Natayla will never see the light of day.

Why wouldn't it? Tamina was still on Raw - and Total Divas - weeks after the Snuka controversy (she was even identified as "Tamina Snuka" on the latter), so I don't see that affecting Table for 3.

Total Divas was edited before the Snuka indictment and Naomi/Jimmy Uso are off the show next season. So most likely we won't see her on there in a highlighted role in the future unless Snuka is totally clear. Plus the Table for 3 was mostly going to be about them being the daughters of these "WWE Legends".

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network.png?itok=5FHwgvJO

With the increase in television rights fees and network subscriptions as the key components of the WWE's current business, WWE generated $166.2 million in revenue and $10.4 million in profits for the quarter ending 9/30.

 

The numbers compare favorably to the $120.2 million in revenue and $5.9 million in losses for the same quarter last year, but last year was supposed to be a losing year due to the start up of the network. This year was when profits were supposed to turn around big. While they are

nowhere near what was being projected and network numbers are well below original projections, the business is solid and contractual increases in television rights fees should lead to no more losing quarters and eventually the strongest profit margins in company history.

 

The growth in television was from $42.2 million in revenue for the quarter to $65.2 million. Some of that isn't misleading, because increased rights fees that are contractual are a solid increasing number. But part of the increase was having a full season of Total Divas and

Tough Enough during the quarter. There were only four episodes of Total Divas during the third quarter last year and Tough Enough didn't exist. Plus, Tough Enough ratings weren't good and thus far there has been no talk of a new season.

 

The other important driver of future growth is the network segment, which on 9/30 had 1,233,000 paid subscribers and 73,000 free subscribers. That's up from the 1.15 million at the end of June, but down from the 1.33 million at the end of March. It's pretty clear the network business looks to be big increases in the first quarter of the year due to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, and trying to hold those increases for the rest of the year.

 

The U.S. number was up from 703,000 at the same point last year to 990,000, while international went from 28,000 at the end of the third quarter last year when it was in limited markets, to 243,000 this year.

 

Besides the India launch on Monday, it was announced that both Japan and Germany would get the network starting in January, and they were working on China, Thailand and The Philippines..

 

Even though the results were better than most analysts expected, the stock price had fallen from $19.95 per share at the close of the market yesterday to $17.95. That's a big drop, but not a surprise given the big ramp up leading to the call based on the buy on hype, sell on results mantra.

 

The other categories were more good than bad. By running more shows, total attendance, revenue and merchandise sales for house shows increased with $5 million more in revenue, part of which was due to the successful Barclays Center run in August. Attendance was similar per show, but high ticket prices and more shows led to the increase.

 

Home Entertainment was the only division down, but that's not unexpected given the network would cannibalize that.

 

Licensing was up from $10 million to $11.5 million for the quarter due to the success of the video game.

 

WWE shop also continued to show big increases, from $4.3 million in revenue in this quarter last year to $6 million.

 

The 10/3 live event from Madison Square Garden was the company's most watched network show to date with the exception of the regular Sunday PPV events. Other strong performers were the Beast in the East show from Japan and the August 22 NXT Takeover show from Brooklyn, as well as the Stone Cold Podcast and Swerved.

 

The expectation, due to contractual growth of the television deals that the company is healthy and profits should grow. In many ways, the investment call was vague, but due tot he changing landscape of distribution both domestically and abroad, nobody really knows exactly

where things are going. WWE pointed to its strength in places like You Tube and Facebook in that they will be ahead of the curve in however things change, and downplayed the declining TV ratings by saying it's not about singular metrics, and most metrics are up.

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Breaking Ground looks interesting. Those 30 minutes flew by.

 

Breaking Ground was really good and if they keep up by the end it may be the best series WWE has ever produced.

 

Being a modern WWE fan (not something I'd call myself) must be really frustrating because you see them doing high quality narrative like this and then you tune in on Raw and see another MONSTER KANE reboot and Lana in denim skirts.

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The editing on that one will be interesting.

 

I watched it last night. Seemingly no editing (outside of the normal editing that goes into any of these shows). Snuka was mentioned over and over. I suppose they could have removed the more flowery stuff about him, if there was anything, but we have no way of knowing that. Come to think of it, Snuka was mentioned more than Anvil. You'd think Anvil was the one in trouble with the law.

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The editing on that one will be interesting.

I watched it last night. Seemingly no editing (outside of the normal editing that goes into any of these shows). Snuka was mentioned over and over. I suppose they could have removed the more flowery stuff about him, if there was anything, but we have no way of knowing that. Come to think of it, Snuka was mentioned more than Anvil. You'd think Anvil was the one in trouble with the law.

I watched it too and I was surprised by how much he was talked about but it felt like Nattie was dominating the conversation for the most part. Wanted to her more from Charlotte and Tamina especially with Tamina cause she had kids before she got into WWE.

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Breaking Ground looks interesting. Those 30 minutes flew by.

 

Breaking Ground was really good and if they keep up by the end it may be the best series WWE has ever produced.

 

Being a modern WWE fan (not something I'd call myself) must be really frustrating because you see them doing high quality narrative like this and then you tune in on Raw and see another MONSTER KANE reboot and Lana in denim skirts.

 

 

 

The problem with Breaking Ground is that odds are the fan who's hardcore enough to watch it knows when the narratives they try to push are bullshit.

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Watched the newest Table for 3, Regal's brass knuckles story is great. I could listen to that man talk forever. The guys mind just works on a different level.

I love Regal. The fact that his favorite thing he's ever done in his career was dressing in drag in Vegas is just awesome.

 

Regal talking about how he'd always try and make a change to his appearance to make sure they'd create a new action figure of him was great. As was Barrett joking about how they're the three least-effective King of the Ring winners.

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Breaking Ground looks interesting. Those 30 minutes flew by.

 

Breaking Ground was really good and if they keep up by the end it may be the best series WWE has ever produced.

 

Being a modern WWE fan (not something I'd call myself) must be really frustrating because you see them doing high quality narrative like this and then you tune in on Raw and see another MONSTER KANE reboot and Lana in denim skirts.

 

 

 

The problem with Breaking Ground is that odds are the fan who's hardcore enough to watch it knows when the narratives they try to push are bullshit.

 

 

Episode 3 already seemed like an episode of Total Divas with all the forced shopping and nightlife events (well, I don't know, I have seen Total Divas two or three times in the background, but that's the bullshit that I imagine them doing in that show).

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