Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[JRH]

I doubt they book one of the major events in Saudi, just because of the whole time zone thing. It would look really weird to have a WM airing in the early afternoon (in the US). 

 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, JRH said:

I doubt they book one of the major events in Saudi, just because of the whole time zone thing. It would look really weird to have a WM airing in the early afternoon (in the US). 

When PPV business mattered, of course not. Now, it doesn't at all. The money is with the Saudis. Vince said it was their "home". Major UFC attraction are gonna take place over there. The latest Crown Jewel already felt like a major event, with LA Knight, their new big merchandise draw, getting the main event against Roman. And hell, Roman being at Crown Jewel but not at Survivor Series is telling. Add in Kairi Sane making her comeback over there and not on RAW, Smackdown or a US based PLE. The timeframe is much better for the European viewers, and their European presence for PLE is only gonna get bigger too, with at least Germany next year and maybe France (and I would guess the UK too). With WWE becoming more and more a real global entertainment company getting a huge part of the money deals from the Saudis, there's no reason not to do one eventually. Unless MBS gets bored of it and looks at much bigger, more mainstream things (hello World Cup).

The one issue would be the fly-in audience of course. Going to Dubai is one thing (although Dubai is disgusting too, don't get me wrong). Going to Saudi Arabia is another. TBH, they absolutely don't *need* to do it, and they get so much money from cities around the US to bring Mania/SummerSlam/Rumble they have no particular reason to do one of the major PLE over there. But there's no reason not to either considering the Saudis is the most valuable business partner this side of US tv deals. 

[PeteF3]

The non-West Coast WrestleManias from 1-10 were all in the afternoon (Eastern Time). Some of the early Rumbles were afternoon shows as well. It wasn't until 1995 that the WWF standardized every PPV as being on Sunday night.

[fxnj]

The UFC hosting major events in the UAE and having them start in the afternoon US time is pretty common. They just held one a few weeks ago. 

[NintendoLogic]

One major potential stumbling block is the fact that Mania weekend usually falls during Ramadan.

[sek69]

MBS is a big fan so I would expect WWE shows to continue until there's a...change.... of regime. 

[El-P]

Vince selling stocks is, interesting. The more it goes, the more it seems the evil plan to get back into full power is blowing in his face. Well, money wise of course, it's ridiculous. Apparently gets him 700M$. Who the fuck needs that kind of money anyway (no to mention at his age, but at any age really) ? Give 699 millions back to the community already. But anyway, what a year for Vince, that Netflix show should be put on hold forever, because the story ain't finished yet.

[Dooley]

Was it really an evil plan to get back into full power or just maximize his cash-out?

[pmo]

Or it could be once he realized that the promises only meant a sinecure with no real authority that he decided to cash out knowing that at worst he gets paid and at best a founder selling out could destabilize the stock price.  

[El-P]

If he only wanted to maximize his cash-out, he would not have bothered getting back controlling the creative. The power-plays in WWE for the last 18 months have been much more interesting than whatever booking they've did apart from that small window where Sami Zayn got the Bloodline storyline going. Hunter went from being ousted from NXT and having really serious health issues, to being the man in power for the entire company, then not so much in power, then in power again.

[Dooley]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:25 PM, El-P said:

If he only wanted to maximize his cash-out, he would not have bothered getting back controlling the creative. The power-plays in WWE for the last 18 months have been much more interesting than whatever booking they've did apart from that small window where Sami Zayn got the Bloodline storyline going. Hunter went from being ousted from NXT and having really serious health issues, to being the man in power for the entire company, then not so much in power, then in power again.

With all due respect, it seems like you're focusing way more on rasslin storylines than billions of dollars. 

[El-P]

28 minutes ago, Dooley said:

With all due respect, it seems like you're focusing way more on rasslin storylines than billions of dollars. 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that. Care to elaborate or explain ?

[Dooley]

50 minutes ago, El-P said:

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that. Care to elaborate or explain ?

Your argument seems to focus more on the creative aspect of the company. I don't know that Vince cares more about that than adding an extra zero to his cash out.

If Vince's point of view is that when he dies, the company dies (right or wrong), then it's reasonable to assume that his point of view is that he who dies with the most money wins.

[El-P]

14 minutes ago, Dooley said:

Your argument seems to focus more on the creative aspect of the company. I don't know that Vince cares more about that than adding an extra zero to his cash out.

Oh, of course. What I meant was that as an outside observer basically only reading news about WWE, I find the real life and business aspect much more intriguing that whatever the product is. It's really been a crazy year and a half or so. 

14 minutes ago, Dooley said:

If Vince's point of view is that when he dies, the company dies (right or wrong), then it's reasonable to assume that his point of view is that he who dies with the most money wins.

Yep, most probably. He'll be the richest guy in the cemetary. Congrats. With the new management and owners, the idea of WWE dying with Vince is very far fetched though. Although I thought very interesting what Meltzer said about the latest earning call and how it was completely different from what it used to be, in that it's obvious none of these people care about pro-wrestling at all. It's just the bottom line that matters. As I said before, sports agents ? Talk about an amazing level of parasites. WWE is still probably idiot proof and safe for a while, but with the media landscape changing at a fast pace, who knows what happens in 5 years from now. 

[JRH]

We've had 2 months without new classic content uploaded to the WWE Network/Peacock, so it looks like they dont care about that anymore and just see it as a way to air PLEs.

[sek69]

3 hours ago, JRH said:

We've had 2 months without new classic content uploaded to the WWE Network/Peacock, so it looks like they dont care about that anymore and just see it as a way to air PLEs.

Honestly that's all they ever saw it as. WWE Network exists so they didn't have to split the PPV profits with cable companies anymore, and their commitment to classic content was lackadaisical at best, 

[JRH]

5 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Honestly that's all they ever saw it as. WWE Network exists so they didn't have to split the PPV profits with cable companies anymore, and their commitment to classic content was lackadaisical at best, 

I miss the old Hidden Gems category (you'd think with the whole Lost Media craze, and some actual wrestling lost media being brought to light via the network, they'd put up more stuff thought to be lost).

[strobogo]

I don't understand why, after 8 years of WWE Network, they still haven't uploaded the full run of all the territories or even WWE programming. I would find it impossible to believe that it all hasn't been digitized since there is content from missing periods and shows on WWE Network in 2023 that were digitized and available on WWE 24/7 / Classics on Demand in 2006. 

What's the point of spending the time and money/manpower to digitize everything and the not do anything with it

 

[fxnj]

Yes, WWE removing Hidden Gems is total BS. So much great content that'd cost them nothing to leave up.

[Timbo Slice]

The point is that the downside cost to digitizing is a one-time expense whereas when you put it out there, it needs to make money. And that part is the most difficult when cheaper programming with a better ROI is there with existing footage. 

[KawadaSmile]

Holy shit

[Embrodak]

I mean that’s by far the biggest match they could put on that’s not Roman vs Rock, absolutely zero reason not to see if Austin is game. TKO and Nick Khan aren’t going to tolerate the weird McMahon-style psychological mind games where a talent has to be properly humbled and happy to be in a niche the Booker has deemed appropriate for them, and they’re paying Punk millions, which is a big investment to have to recoup in an era where the contribution of individual talents is always in question.

[strobogo]

2 hours ago, Timbo Slice said:

The point is that the downside cost to digitizing is a one-time expense whereas when you put it out there, it needs to make money. And that part is the most difficult when cheaper programming with a better ROI is there with existing footage. 

Content, content, content. If you already spent the money it takes to digitize, to just sit on it makes no sense. There is zero way to recoup any costs if you just keep it in house. Maybe the non WWF/WCW/ECW vault stuff doesn't get as many views. Surely the views it does get and the ads you run on it is more money than you'd get from digitizing it and just storing it somewhere.

[Jmare007]

4 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Holy shit

They better fucking pay Austin enough for him to be on a couple of TV shows in the build to cut some damn promos. I was so disappointment he never showed up to son Kevin Owens and do the type of shit he did to Miz and the students on Tough Enough.

[KawadaSmile]

Worst thing is that CM Punk and Austin had a fantastic interview segment... to promote WWE 2k13. 

Austin is just unmatched.