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Post by Fred Richards on Feb 17, 2018 16:09:11 GMT -8
A very interesting article. An article signaling a marketplace that might not provide and economic welcome for The Pumpkin Smasher and his "creative crew."
WWE officially drops brand-specific PPVs, moves back to one special a month
Posted on 2/17/118 by Colin Vassallo
WWE officially announced that pay-per-views after
WrestleMania will feature both Raw and Smackdown brands with
the company dropping its brand-specific pay-per-views.
That means that it’s back to one pay-per-view per month
moving forward, although the length of each pay-per-view
will probably increase to four hours instead of three to
accommodate all the matches.
The pay-per-view calendar post-WrestleMania sees Backlash on
May 6, Money In The Bank on June 17, Extreme Rules on July
15, SummerSlam on August 19, Hell In A Cell on September 16,
TLC on October 21, Survivor Series on November 18, and Clash
of Champions on December 16.
Payback, Great Balls of Fire, Battleground, and No Mercy
were all dropped from the schedule moving forward.
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Post by philvarlese on Feb 18, 2018 9:53:46 GMT -8
It's no secret that WWE lost money with their touring NXT shows.
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Post by Jay Cal on Feb 19, 2018 10:32:48 GMT -8
Full disclosure, I'm a WWE investor. What I noticed is that the stock price has more than doubled on the back of its Network. It should be noted that its action figures are outselling Marvel Action Figures, Marvel is responsible for some of the biggest blockbusters of 2017. The way I see it as an investor is this... the price of the network is consistent at $9.99. It doesn't matter if they have 12 pay per view or 20 pay per views, they are only making $9.99 a month. But each event costs more money. Each event especially PPV will cost more money. Where is the incentive to spend more on an event that will cost the same?
Its a smart business decision.
What I'm curious to see if the WWE creates more distribution deals. What if the WWE could work out a deal to make Wrestlemania Live Exclusive to Amazon Prime Members? With replays airing on the network. What if Netflix became the official home of Wrestlemania?
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Post by josephd32 on Feb 19, 2018 20:51:00 GMT -8
This will allow them more time to build up the "Pay Per Views", and in turn, present a better product while at the same time filling out the Network with original and legacy content. No reason to rush to the next 'big' show when you own the medium in which you are presenting it.
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Post by dody on Feb 19, 2018 20:56:36 GMT -8
1 PPV per month, that's better than oversaturating of PPVs.
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Post by dbatman on Feb 21, 2018 17:06:48 GMT -8
Since they are only running one PPV a month, I would like for them to do something like a SPECIAL show in place of the second PPV.
A perfect example would have been the Starrcade Event that they did on Thanksgiving weekend in Greensboro, NC this past year. While none of the matches were PPV caliber matches, they were "Special" matches. It provides nostalgia for the fans by using the name, and it gives them cheap content to use.
Another one could be a monthly "Saturday Night Main Event" show.
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Post by bgski on Feb 23, 2018 0:30:33 GMT -8
I really wasn't sure where to put this or if it was more appropriate to put this in the WWE area but nevertheless, I'll just leave it here unless someone wants to move it. A number of reasons comes to mind for them going back the standard format of duel brand ppvs even though this shouldn't come as no surprise since it's been an ongoing trend for years now but things seem to be changing and not for the better. While network subscriptions seem to be doing well, its been rumored for sometime that WWE has been losing money in general. I do not know how long or keep track of how many times I've seen elsewhere that attendance has been dropping from their house shows alot and even apparently someone had posted a pic during this past weeks SD! live which didn't look to good. Although Raw usually has more than enough fill for their live shows, the solo brand ppvs which I think usually airs only exclusively on the network might not be turning as much of a profit as it should be, add to the amount of money being put aside for the new XFL which Vince mentioned in a story not so long ago from The New York Times that's a huge amount which I can only think that his ideal amount while until he started running the numbers isn't even enough to even fund it. That story is here.Don't want to read the whole thing? Here's one of the more important points from the man himself. “I am very committed to this, and it’s going to take more than $100 million to do this league,”More recently Jim Cornette made some comments on how much money NXT has wasted in the past couple years. How relevant it is has some of the IWC up in arms about it. For those that do not want to sit through the video, here's an excerpt. “NXT in 2016 sold $7 million in tickets and had $20 million in expenses. In 2017, NXT had let’s say $6 million in ticket sales and $25 million in expenses... In all honesty, 2016 they lost $13 million, 2017 they lost $19 million and that’s not a ton of money for that whole company and organization up there. But can you imagine what me and [OVW founder and former owner] Danny Davis could’ve done with Ohio Valley Wrestling if they said, ‘OK guys, you can bring in anybody that you want that’s not on the main roster or signed to New Japan and you can lose $32 million over the next two years.’ Holy ****!
I understand they’re making the investment in training the future superstars and they have to, they’ve figured out that they have to because they’re not getting them from anywhere else. So they have to train their own, but my God!”Whether any of what was mentioned is true is subjective since these are just opinions of mine but of course there is something going on that perhaps only those within the WWE may know as just why they are going back to one ppv a month. |
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Post by MKCS on Feb 23, 2018 16:30:51 GMT -8
I've always liked the idea of having a development territory rather than whatever NXT is. Might be my love of the NWA but Ohio Valley running their weekly TV show or whatever it was and then touring the territory doing spot shows in front of 25 people at a gas station (Christian York spoke of that I believe) and just learning from guys who have 20-30 years experience like a Danny Davis or Jim Cornette type is really more beneficial than just having them go to a multi million dollar training centre, learning the business and then being thrown on the NXT circuit which is filled with amazing wrestlers and is doing shows in small arenas.
I guarantee the guys who didn't work indies and just came through the NXT system are a lot more entitled than the likes of Masters, Snitsky, Albright, Cena, Batista, Heidenreich etc who came through the OVW system. Plus, back in the day it'd be kind of motivating for a guy like Big Show to be stuck in OVW working those small crowds because it wasn't up to his standard but if you're in WWE and get dropped back to NXT you're still wrestling in front of thousands and working top level talent.
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Post by Jay Cal on Feb 26, 2018 8:02:55 GMT -8
I've always liked the idea of having a development territory rather than whatever NXT is. Might be my love of the NWA but Ohio Valley running their weekly TV show or whatever it was and then touring the territory doing spot shows in front of 25 people at a gas station (Christian York spoke of that I believe) and just learning from guys who have 20-30 years experience like a Danny Davis or Jim Cornette type is really more beneficial than just having them go to a multi million dollar training centre, learning the business and then being thrown on the NXT circuit which is filled with amazing wrestlers and is doing shows in small arenas. I guarantee the guys who didn't work indies and just came through the NXT system are a lot more entitled than the likes of Masters, Snitsky, Albright, Cena, Batista, Heidenreich etc who came through the OVW system. Plus, back in the day it'd be kind of motivating for a guy like Big Show to be stuck in OVW working those small crowds because it wasn't up to his standard but if you're in WWE and get dropped back to NXT you're still wrestling in front of thousands and working top level talent. I always thought the WWE should have a brand... that was exclusive to a property in Las Vegas... not unlike a Celine Deion, Britney Spears, Elton John type residency in a hotel. To me that brand would be where you'd use talent under contract, but not exactly TV ready. Guys coming off of injuries. Guys needing a break from touring or guys needing a bit more seasoning before their working regularly for NXT. For those who follow baseball... if Raw is the AL, Smackdown is the NL, and NXT is AAA... this would be the Single A affiliate. |
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Post by Fred Richards on Feb 26, 2018 13:47:47 GMT -8
I've always liked the idea of having a development territory rather than whatever NXT is. Might be my love of the NWA but Ohio Valley running their weekly TV show or whatever it was and then touring the territory doing spot shows in front of 25 people at a gas station (Christian York spoke of that I believe) and just learning from guys who have 20-30 years experience like a Danny Davis or Jim Cornette type is really more beneficial than just having them go to a multi million dollar training centre, learning the business and then being thrown on the NXT circuit which is filled with amazing wrestlers and is doing shows in small arenas. I guarantee the guys who didn't work indies and just came through the NXT system are a lot more entitled than the likes of Masters, Snitsky, Albright, Cena, Batista, Heidenreich etc who came through the OVW system. Plus, back in the day it'd be kind of motivating for a guy like Big Show to be stuck in OVW working those small crowds because it wasn't up to his standard but if you're in WWE and get dropped back to NXT you're still wrestling in front of thousands and working top level talent. I always thought the WWE should have a brand... that was exclusive to a property in Las Vegas... not unlike a Celine Deion, Britney Spears, Elton John type residency in a hotel. To me that brand would be where you'd use talent under contract, but not exactly TV ready. Guys coming off of injuries. Guys needing a break from touring or guys needing a bit more seasoning before their working regularly for NXT. For those who follow baseball... if Raw is the AL, Smackdown is the NL, and NXT is AAA... this would be the Single A affiliate. And then there was The Brownsville Brand = Little League. |
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Post by Jay Cal on Feb 26, 2018 15:39:23 GMT -8
I always thought the WWE should have a brand... that was exclusive to a property in Las Vegas... not unlike a Celine Deion, Britney Spears, Elton John type residency in a hotel. To me that brand would be where you'd use talent under contract, but not exactly TV ready. Guys coming off of injuries. Guys needing a break from touring or guys needing a bit more seasoning before their working regularly for NXT. For those who follow baseball... if Raw is the AL, Smackdown is the NL, and NXT is AAA... this would be the Single A affiliate. And then there was The Brownsville Brand = Little League. That's an insult to little league. |
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Post by bgski on Feb 26, 2018 17:24:35 GMT -8
I've always liked the idea of having a development territory rather than whatever NXT is. Might be my love of the NWA but Ohio Valley running their weekly TV show or whatever it was and then touring the territory doing spot shows in front of 25 people at a gas station (Christian York spoke of that I believe) and just learning from guys who have 20-30 years experience like a Danny Davis or Jim Cornette type is really more beneficial than just having them go to a multi million dollar training centre, learning the business and then being thrown on the NXT circuit which is filled with amazing wrestlers and is doing shows in small arenas. I guarantee the guys who didn't work indies and just came through the NXT system are a lot more entitled than the likes of Masters, Snitsky, Albright, Cena, Batista, Heidenreich etc who came through the OVW system. Plus, back in the day it'd be kind of motivating for a guy like Big Show to be stuck in OVW working those small crowds because it wasn't up to his standard but if you're in WWE and get dropped back to NXT you're still wrestling in front of thousands and working top level talent. I'm with you. I still watch OVW till this day. TNA well TNAed it up working with them. I feel that building up talent from the ground up for whatever promotion makes me want to be more involved with not just the character but the overall product. OVW was one of the few places that when they were tied with WWE, they would send some of their talent down there to help with some of the talent and even putting them over at some of the shows. I had been a collector of their VHS tapes when they were selling the monthly shows and was more excited about then the actuall WWE product, maybe it's cause I knew some of the guys were going to do well if they ever got the call up IE Leviathan aka Batista and Prototype aka Cena aswell as some of the obvious ones but I guess it's almost like the people that watch only college basketball or football but do not care for the bigger product. Also what I felt was about the ground up thing was what separated the early days of ROH and TNA, not the weekly PPVs but when they hit cable and for a time even they would exchange talent with ROH but cut that out over time but regardless if it wasn't for these companies they probably wouldn't be where they are today but you still have those that are strictly committed to the original product. It's what made me root for guys like The Fallen Angel or the Phenomenal One or even the Samoan Submission Machine. It was the hard work they were doing to make that product great along with the other talents. It's to bad the direction TNA has went in cause to me they were the number 2 promotion in the US for a time or atleast until Hogan and Co arrived just based on the talent and performances they had, the innovation of the X division and the Ultimate X matches which has all become a shell of it's self but I cannot tell anyone how many arguments I've had elsewhere trying to defend them back when I was first going on boards but as time went on I kinda just learned to stay neutral with the different promotions in general and not really argue for whatever reason, even though I have been fading out of the bigger or rather the biggest North American company for sometime. In the end though if it's entertaining then I'll watch it cause being entertained is all I can really ask for. |
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