Powerslam Top 50

Powerslam Magazine is from the UK and has been producing a "Top 50" wrestlers list for a decade. Their period of observation is between Dec 1 and Nov 30.

2006
1. Edge
2. Bryan Danielson
3. KENTA
4. Samoa Joe
5. Naomichi Marufuji
6. AJ Styles
7. Takeshi Morishima
8. Christopher Daniels
9. Yugi Nagata
10. Rey Mysterio
11. CIMA
12. Low Ki
13. Homicide
14. Shiji Kondo
15. Kurt Angle
16. Takarshi Sagiura
17. Satoshi Kojima
18. Hiroshi Tanahashi
19. Chris Benoit
20. Randy Orton
21. Austin Aries
22. Rob Van Dam
23. Shawn Michaels
24. Nigel McGuinness
25. Finlay
26. Katsuhiko Nakajima
27. Kenta Kobashi
28. Koji Kanemoto
29. Kensuke Sasaki
30. Roderick Strong
31. Jun Akiyama
32. Davey Richards
33. Jay Briscoe
34. Chris Sabin
35. Mark Briscoe
36. Triple H
37. Booker T
38. Petey Williams
39. Abyss
40. Rhino
41. Brian Kendrick
42. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
43. Paul London
44. CM Punk
45. The Undertaker
46. Matt Sydal
47. Matt Hardy
48. Johnny Nitro
49. Gregory Helms
50. Pac

2005
1. AJ Styles
2. Shawn Michaels
3. Samoa Joe
4. Kenta Kobashi
5. Kurt Angle
6. Kenta
7. Christopher Daniels
8. Naomichi Marufuji
9. Eddie Guerrero
10.Kensuke Sasaki
11.Chris Benoit
12. Rey Mysterio
13.Satoshi Kojima
14. Edge
15. Jamie Knoble
16. Triple H
17. Toshiaki Kawada
18. Austin Aries
19. Chris Jericho
20. Jun Akiyama
21. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
22. Koji Kanemoto
23. CM Punk
24. Chris Harris
25. Suwa
26. Bryan Danielson
27.Hiroshi Tananashi
28. James Storm
29. Roderick Strong
30. Chris Sabin
31 Shelton Benjamin
32. Doug Williams
33. Alex Shelly
34. Christian
35. Low Ki
36. Petey Williams
37. Hiroyshi Tenzan
38. Milano Collection A.T
39. Takashi Suguira
40.Randy Orton
41. Eric Young
42. Jay Lethal
43. Matt Hardy
44. Homicide
45. Nigel Mcguiness
46. Jeff Jarret
47. Abyss
48. Booker T
49. Batista
50. Sabu

2004
1. Chris Benoit
2. Kenta Kobashi
3. AJ Styles
4. Samoa Joe
5. Shawn Michaels
6. Randy Orton
7. KENTA
8. Jushin Liger
9. Kensuke Sasaki
10. Eddie Guererro
11. Hiroshi Tanahashi
12. Low Ki
13. Naomichi Marufuji
14. CM Punk
15. Triple H
16. Rey Mysterio
17. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
18. Kurt Angle
19. Chris Daniels
20. Doug Williams
21. Yuji Nagata
22. Bryan Danielson
23. Yoshihiro Takayama
24. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
25. Shinsuke Nakamura
26. Toshiaki Kawada
27. Mitsuharu Misawa
28. Koji Kanemoto
29. Christian
30. Jun Akiyama
31. Homicide
32. Mick Foley
33. Edge
34. Shelton Benjamin
35. Minoru Tanaka
36. Chris Jericho
37. Susuma Yokosuka
38. Chris Sabin
39. Chavo Guerrero
40. Paul London
41. Chris Hero
42. Alex Shane
43. Petey Williams
44. James Tighe
45. Tajiri
46. Jonny Storm
47. Jeff Jarrett.
48. Undertaker
49. Colt Cabana
50. Paul Burchill

2003

1. Kenta Kobashi
2. Kurt Angle
3. Eddie Guerrero
4. Yugi Nagata
5. Brock Lesnar
6. KENTA
7. AJ Styles
8. Jun Akiyama
9. Chris Benoit
10. Naomichi Marufuji
11. Paul London
12. Koji Kanemoto
13. Shawn Michaels
14. Rey Mysterio Jr.
15. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
16. Christopher Daniels
17. Shinjiro Ohtani
18. Jushin Liger
19. Low Ki
20. Yoshihiro Tajiri
21. Yoshihiro Takayama
22. Rob Van Dam
23. Juventud Guerrera
24. Samoa Joe
25. Chris Jericho
26. Christian
27. Toshiaki Kawada
28. Shelton Benjamin
29. Doug Williams
30. Satoshi Kojima
31. Charlie Haas
32. The Undertaker
33. Jerry Lynn
34. Booker T
35. CIMA
36. Bryan Danielson
37. Raven
38. Chris Sabin
39. Randy Orton
40. Chris Harris
41. Johnny Storm
42. Yossino
43. CM Punk
44. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
45. Jeff Jarrett
46. Matt Hardy
47. Jay Briscoe
48. John Cena
49. Bill Goldberg
50. James Tighe

2002
1: Kurt Angle
2: Yuji Nagata
3: Low Ki
4: Eddie Guerrero
5: Satoshi Kojima
6: Jerry Lynn
7: Keiji Muto
8: RVD
9: Edge
10: Genichiro Tenryu
11: A.J. Styles
12: Jun Akiyama
13: The Rock
14: Chris Benoit
15: American Dragon
16: Yoshinobu Kanemaru
17: Christopher Daniels
18: Koji Kanemoto
19: Rey Mysterio Jr.
20: HHH
21: Doug Williams
22: Hiroyoshi Tenzan
23: Chris Jericho
24: Shinjiro Ohtani
25: Minoru Tanaka
26: Yoshihiro Takayama
27: Bokker T
28: Manabu Nakanishi
29: Jushin Lyger
30: Jamie Noble
31: Mat Hardy
32: Mitsharu Misawa
33: Jodie Fleisch
34: Jeff Hardy
35: Steve Austin
36: Chavo Guerrero
37: Brock Lesnar
38: Jonny Storm
39: Christian
40: Masahiro Chono
41: Spanky
42: Masato Tanaka
43: Tajiri
44: Kenta Kobashi
45: Magnum Tokyo
46: Undertaker
47: Trent Acid
48: Dragon Kid
49: Red
50: Lance Storm

2001
1. Steve Austin
2. Keiji Muto
3. Kurt Angle
4. Rob Van Dam
5. Yugi Nagata
6. The Rock
7. Minour Tanaka
8. Jun Akiyama
9. Triple H
10. Chris Jericho
11. Satoshi Kojima
12. Booker T
13. Chris Benoit
14. Jeff Hardy
15. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
16. Edge
17. Toshiaki Kawada
18. Genichiro Tenryu
19. Buh Buh Ray Dudley
20. Rhyno
21. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
22. Matt Hardy
23. Christian
24. D-Von Dudley
25. Yoshihiro Tajiri
26. Shinjiro Ohtani
27. Kensuke Sasaki
28. Jushin Liger
29. Shinya Hashimoto
30. Mitsuharu Misawa
31. Test
32. Taiyo Kea
33. Kanyon
34. El Samurai
35. Shane Helms
36. Doug Williams
37. Christopher Daniels
38. Bryan Danielson
39. Scott Steiner
40. William Regal
41. Johnny Storm
42. Vader
43. Alex Shane
44. Lance Storm
45. EZ Money
46. Kaz Hayashi
47. Billy Kidman
48. Low Ki
49. Kane
50. Sean Waltman

2000
1 HHH
2 Chris Beniot
3 The Rock
4 Yoshihiro Tajiri
5 Kenta Kobashi
6 Chris Jericho
7 Jeff Hardy
8 Shinjiro Ohtani
9 Rob Van Dam
10 Jun Akiyama
11 Kid Kash
12 Minoru Tanaka
13 Kurt Angle
14 Justin Credible
15 Toshiaki Kawada
16 Edge
17 Mike Awesome
18 Guido Maritato
19 Tatsuhito Takaiwa
20 Scott Steiner
21 Matt Hardy
22 Mitsuharu Misawa
23 Jeff Jarrett
24 Christian
25 Jerry Lynn
26 Lance Storm
27 X-Pac
28 Booker T
29 Kensuke Sasaki
30 Buh Buh Ray Dudley
31 Vader
32 DDP
33 Super Crazy
34 Koji Kanemoto
35 Dean Malenko
36 Rhino
37 Eddie Guerrero
38 Masato Tanaka
39 Jushin Liger
40 Genichiro Tenryu
41 Scotty Too Hotty
42 D-Von Dudley
43 Mick Foley
44 Keiji Muto
45 Kanyon
46 Grandmaster Sexay
47 Terry Funk
48 Val Venis
49 Steve Corino
50 Crash Holly

1999
1. Chris Benoit
2. Keiji Muto
3. Kenta Kobashi
4. The Rock
5. Steve Austin
6. Jerry lynn
7. Yugi Nagata
8. Shinjiro Ohtani
9. Rey Mysterio Jr.
10. Koji Kanemoto
11. Billy Kidman
12. Mitsuharu Misawa
13. Triple H
14. Diamond Dallas Page
15. Justin Credible
16. Jushin Liger
17. Juventud Guerrera
18. Jun Akiyama
19. Super Crazy
20. Mick Foley
21. Yoshihiro Tajiri
22. Jeff Hardy
23. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
24. Sabu
25. Satoshi Kojima
26. Vader
27. Christian
28. Toshiaki Kawada
29. Dean Malenko
30. Raven
31. Yoshinari Ogawa
32. Edge
33. Lance Storm
34. The Great Sasuke
35. Rob Van Dam
36. Bill Goldberg
37. Matt Hardy
38. Bam Bam Bigelow
39. Masato Tanaka
40. Jeff Jarrett
41. Sean Waltman
42. D-Lo Brown
43. Tazz
44. Perry Saturn
45. Bret Hart
46. Shane McMahon
47. Mike Awesome
48. Eddie Guerrero
49. Test
50. Hardcore Holly

1998
1. Steve Austin
2. Koji Kanemoto
3. Mick Foley
4. Chris Benoit
5. Jun Akiyama
6. Shinjiro Ohtani
7. Chris Jericho
8. Ken Shamrock
9. Jushin Liger
10. Billy Kidman
11. Kenta Kobashi
12. Jerry Lynn
13. The Rock
14. Diamond Dallas Page
15. Raven
16. Mitsuharu Misawa
17. Shinya Hashimoto
18. Satoshi Kojima
19. Juventud Guerrera
20. Masato Tanaka
21. El Samurai
22. Bam Bam Bigelow
23. Owen Hart
24. Booker T
25. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
26. Triple H
27. Dean Malenko
28. Toshiaki Kawada
29. Sean Waltman
30. Rob Van Dam
31. Ultimo Dragon
32. Eddie Guerrero
33. Justin Credible
34. Bret Hart
35. Lance Storm
36. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
37. Genichiro Tenryu
38. Terry Funk
39. Rey Mysterio Jr.
40. The Undertaker
41. Disco Inferno
42. D-Lo Brown
43. Sting
44. Chris Candido
45. Billy Gunn
46. Saturn
47. The Great Sasuke
48. Kanyon
49. The Road Dogg
50. Sabu


1997
1) Bret Hart
2) Jushin Liger
3) Shawn Michaels
4) Shijiro Ohtani
5) Eddie Guerrero
6) Ultimo Dragon
7) The Undertaker
8) Steve Austin
9) Mitsuharu Misawa
10) Diamond Dallas Page
11) El Samurai
12) Dean Malenko
13) Rey Misterio Jr.
14) Kenta Kobashi
15) Toshiaki Kawada
16) Shinya Hashimoto
17) Randy Savage
18) Chris Benoit
19) Koji Kanemoto
20) Sabu
21) Ken Shamrock
22) Mankind
23) Akira Taue
24) Davey Boy Smith
25) Curt Hennig
26) Owen Hart
27) Jun Akiyama
28) Kensuke Sasaki
29) Vader
30) Shane Douglas
31) Hiroyoshi Tenzan
32) Jeff Jarrett
33) Syxx
34) Taka Michinoku
35) Keiji Muto
36) The Great Sasuke
37) Taz
38) Booker T
39) Scott Steiner
40) Bam Bam Bigelow
41) Chris Candido
42) Masa Chono
43) Hunter Hearst-Helmsley
44) Marcus Bagwell
45) Chris Jericho
46) Rocky Maivia
47) Rob Van Dam
48) Brian Christopher
49) D-Von Dudley
50) Scott Hall

1996
1. Shawn Michaels
2. Kenta Kobashi
3. Dean Malenko
4. Sabu
5. Mick Foley
6. Rey Mysterio Jr.
7. The Great Sasuke
8. Mitsuharu Misawa
9. Steve Austin
10. Jushin Liger
11. Akira Taue
12. Shinya Hashimoto
13. Steve Williams
14. Chris Benoit
15. Bret Hart
16. Ultimo Dragon
17. Nobuhiko Takada
18. Toshiaki Kawada
19. Too Cold Scorpio
20. Shinjiro Ohtani
21. Davey Boy Smith
22. Perry Saturn
23. Shane Douglas
24. Jun Akiyama
25. Chris Jericho
26. Eddie Guerrero
27. Keiji Muto
28. Marc Mero/Johnny B. Badd
29. Owen Hart
30. Mikey Whipwreck
31. Johnny Ace
32. Triple H
33. Steven Regal
34. Psicosis
35. Pit Bull Two
36. Diamond Dallas Page
37. Kevin Nash
38. Shiro Koshinaka
39. John Kronus
40. Rob Van Dam
41. Raven
42. Dustin Rhodes
43. Tazz
44. Stevie Richards
45. Scott Hall
46. Riki Choshu
47. Booker T
48. Vader
49. Ric Flair
50. The Sandman

1995
1. Mitsuharu Misawa
2. Chris Benoit
3. Shawn Michaels
4. Eddie Guerrero
5. Toshiaki Kawada
6. Bret Hart
7. Sabu
8. Kenta Kobashi
9. Keiji Muto
10. Ken Shamrock
11. Jushin Liger
12. Koji Kanemoto
13. Too Cold Scorpio
14. Dean Malenko
15. Ginsei Shinzaki
16. Nobuhiko Takada
17. Rey Mysterio Jr.
18. Akira Taue
19. Marty Jannetty
20. Mick Foley
21. Johnny Ace
22. Vader
23. Sean Waltman
24. Mikey Whipwreck
25. Alex Wright
26. Davey Boy Smith
27. Psicosis
28. Brian Pillman
29. Owen Hart
30. Rocko Rock
31. Al Snow
32. The Great Sasuke
33. Raven
34. Terry Funk
35. Triple H
36. Ultimo Dragon
37. Scott Hall
38. Johnny B. Badd
39. Arn Anderson
40. Steve Austin
41. Ric Flair
42. Chris Candido
43. Bam Bam Bigelow
44. Hayabusa
45. Scott Steiner
46. The Sandman
47. The Head Hunter(s)
48. Kevin Nash
49. Shane Douglas
50. La Parka

1994
1. Shawn Michaels
2. Chris Benoit
3. Toshiaki Kawada
4. Mitsuharu Misawa
5. Jushin Liger
6. Bret Hart
7. Steve Williams
8. Sabu
9. Nobuhiko Takada
10. Vader
11. Steve Austin
12. Kenta Kobashi
13. Too Cold Scorpio
14. Art Barr
15. Hiroshi Hase
16. Sean Waltman
17. Shane Douglas
18. Terry Funk
19. The Great Sasuke
20. Keiji Muto
21. Eddie Guerrero
22. Owen Hart
23. Mick Foley
24. Stan Hansen
25. Brian Pillman
26. Jimmy Del Ray
27. Tracey Smothers
28. Dan Kroffat
29. Ultimo Dragon
30. Sting
31. Rey Mysterio Jr.
32. Tom Prichard
33. Ginsei Shinzaki
34. Psicosis
35. Bam Bam Bigelow
36. Ricky Steamboat
37. Scott Steiner
38. Kevin Nash
39. Chris Candido
40. Arn Anderson
41. Super Delfin
42. Heavy Metal
43. The Patriot
44. Billy Gunn
45. Dustin Rhodes
46. Scott Hall
47. Rocko Rock
48. Mike Awesome
49. Hulk Hogan
50. Steven Regal

Thanks to Crippler for his help collecting this data!

Adaptation in Wrestling

Q: Explain how species adapt to changing environments to enhance
survival and reproductive success, including changes in structure,
behavior, or physiology and give examples.

By Zip Whittle

Throughout history organisms have adapted to their changing
environments in order to enhance their survival and reproductive
success. Successful transformations have involved bringing sexual
partners closer to a creature's natural habitat, finding adaptive
advantages within ecological limitations and developing the use
colorful marks in order to confuse and disorient your enemies. These
behavioral and structural alterations have been implemented both
through biological evolution and organic realization.

For most of the 20th Century, the halls of smoky-filled arenas were
filled with professional wrestlers each limited in their ability to
seek appropriate mating partners. Often, wrestlers would be forced to
take turns with rats and stunt grannies in order to fulfill their
carnal urges. However, in the 1980s an adaptation displayed by
promoters uncovered a new way to satisfy the wrestler's insatiable
sexual cravings. Instead of traveling town to town searching for
lustful encounters, the promoters would simply bring along a female
valet. For instance, World Class Championship Wrestling hired Missy
Hyatt in 1985 for the purposes of satisfying the wrestler's wanton
carnal hankerings when confused young ring boys simply would not do.
Some scientists speculated that this adaptation could not be further
improved. However, nature continues to amaze and prevail. In 2004,
the world was stunned to learn that within the nesting environment of
Vincacious McMahonicus a new species, DIVASEARCH DIMWITICUS, had been
discovered! Research into this whole new genus had already led to
breakthroughs in many fields including luggage/fecal matter cleaning
innovations as well as explaining the rise of back injuries among
blonds in Kentucky (the so-called Billard-Rogers conundrum).

Millions of years ago, many giant dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Yet,
after the Xenu coordinated the asteroid strike on the planet, it was
the smaller, more agile creatures which survived to the next age.
While the towering Tyrannosaurus Rex struggled to find enough food to
eat and eventually became extinct, fossil records demonstrate that the
smaller, cleverer Velociraptor survived much longer. While brain size
(especially in ratio to body mass) could have played a role in the
positive adaptations which benefited the Raptors, there were other
behavioral differences which benefited the one species of terrible
thunder lizard far greater than the other. While both faced with the
same changing planetscape and similar predators, the Velociraptor was
better adapted to the new environment. Similarly, the modern saga of
the "Big Man" in professional wrestling has always pitted natural
enemies: Behemoths vs. Gravity. Compare "Psycho" Sid Euly to Nathan
"Wacky Spinkick" Jones. Neither rain nor snow nor squeegees nor
softball season nor prison could fully stop either lumbering beast.
However, the powerful ability of being "absolutely batshit crazy" has
preserved Jones in relative good health while Euly career ended
following a horrific bone breakage from lack of sufficient calcium in
his weekly steroids. Again, we see that within creatures of the same
size, mental capacity will play an important role.

In nature, the use of color has always had an interesting correlation
to both speed and craziness. In the beginning there was the Destroyer
(DESTROYER EXECO), and it was good. While the speed was slow, the
sanity was normal. But lo, as time rolled on, the mask evolved.
Masks added colors, horns, levers and eventually when combined Paso
devaluation these entire species evolved. This new class was quicker
but far more insane with notable examples such as such Nicho Psicosis
(WATERPISTOLIO INSANACO). This remarkable evolution has come so far
that in some remote locations, like Australia, the creatures are known
to remove all their clothes (including the distinctive masks) and
operate in the broad daylight (see Juvi Guerrera -NAKEDONE INSANACO).

A parasite is a life form that has evolutionally adapted the
phylogenetically ability to feed off another living organism's
resources in a non-symbiotic fashion. A prime example would be the
Brock Lesnar (species: CARNIVORA SOUTHDAKOTIUS) and Rena "Sable" Mero
(MILFANIOUS HAGGARDFACIOUS). With each successive ridiculous chest
tattoo, the female indvidiaul borrows further into the checkbook of
the male. After a series of several years and several pounds of drug
medication, the creatures become completely inseparable. This
adaptation can also be seen in other places in the animal kingdom such
as K-Fed/Brittany and Helter Skelter/Indy Wrestling.

As you can clearly see, species adapt to changing environments to
enhance survival and reproductive success.

WWE QTRLY FINANCIALS (report by Zip Whittle)

Highlights of the WWE fiscal quarter lasting 7/29/06 until 10/27/06 (released 12/5/06)

Pay-Per-View REVENUE
2Q 2006 = $18.6m in PPV revenue vs 2Q 2005 = $18.8m in PPV revenue.

“International buys comprised approx. 36% of total buys this quarter vs 40% total buys prior year quarter.”
Remember: PPVs cost $5 more domestically in 2006 vs 2005.

Summerslam 06 – 528k buys (Hogan/Orton, Edge/Cena, DX vs McMahons, Flair/Foley, Batista/Booker)
Summerslam 05 – 534k buys (Hogan/HBK, Batista/JBL, Cena/Jericho, Orton/UT, Rey/Eddy Ladder)
SS06 = $13.5m (338k buys domestic) / SS05 = $11.2m (320k buys domestic) +$2.3m/17.5k buys.

Unforgiven 06 – 290k buys (Cena/Edge TLC, Trish/Lita Retirement, DX/McMahons/BS HIAC)
Unforgiven 05 – 225k buys (Cena/Angle, HBK/Masters, Hardy/Edge Cage, Flair/Carlito)
UF06 = $7.4m (186k buys domestic) / UF05 = $4.7m (135k buys domestic) +$2.7m/50k buys.

No Mercy 06 – 195k buys (Booker/Lashley/Batista/Finlay, Benoit/Regal, Rey/Chavo FallsCountAnywhere, MVP debut, Kennedy/UT, Hardy/Helms)
No Mercy 05 – 219k buys (Batista/Eddy, Ortons/UT Casket, JBL/Rey, Benoit/Christian/OJ/Booker)
NM06 = $5.0m (125k buys domestic) / NM05 = $4.6m (131k buys domestic) +$0.4m/-6.6k buys.

ECW is tanking the attendance average.
NA attendance average: 4000 (w/ ECW), 5200 (w/o ECW). ECW averages 1200 ($25 ticket).
Last year NA attendance: 4300.

ECW TV is generating about $1.4m in TV rights this quarter. The live events generated about $800k.

Venue Merchandise totaled $4.2m (vs last year’s $3m). Per head, that’s $11.20/fan at live event.

Hulk Hogan 3-disc DVD sold about 200k units. VKM, History of WWE Championship #s not quoted.

Magazine revenue is slightly up ($3.4m vs $3.1m) – recognizes the new WWE magazine which replaced RAW/Smackdown magazines.

WWE CONFERENCE CALL Q&A HIGHLIGHTS
There was the usual babble about nitpicking this margin or that, some questions about their new Genius distribution deal and clarification of "other income". Here were the short highlights:

• International buys PPV this quarter was about 36% compared to 40% last year over this same time frame. They explained it as "cooling in the international market, particularly Italy where previously the product had been very hot." (Again, they never frame it as domestic buyrates falling, only international segment growing!).
• Did they think NA attendance could continue to grow? In short, yes. It's gone up 7 consecutive quarters and is now averaging 5200/live event (excluding ECW). Linda noted their peak was something like 9500, so they believed they could continue to grow. (If you leave ECW's attendance average in, then there is actually a drop this quarter compared to last year's time. So, this is probably another reason they want to not include the ECW empty venues.)
• They are shipping over a million units of "See No Evil" and expect to sell around a million copies.
• The "sell-through rate" (I presume this is sent-to-store:people-actually-buying it) dropped a bit this quarter compared to last year at the same time. In particular, last year's Undertaker DVD was very successful with a sell-through rate of about 80%.

The two most interesting topics covered were: (1) brand management, (2) thoughts on IFL going public

Bob Jenkins – Schafer Capital Management

QUESTION: Brand Management: Why not have them as three separate & distinct brands, ran by three different people, set up their own budgets and keep them independent; no mingling of wrestlers except in special occasions? Because right now it seems like all three brands seems homogenized into just one entity – no difference between the three and gives the viewer no reason to check out any other brand over one?

Linda McMahon: Clearly, our entire goal was have these three brands to have them as stand-alone brands. However, the decision we made when we first separated the RAW & Smackdown brands was to provide us with opportunity to reach different audiences on Cable and on Broadcast. Also, to give us and different touring teams so we could increase our international live events. All of which we have done.

We've spent the last four to five years in the brand separation. And now We've found that you can still create more rivalaries sometimes by crossing over the brands, no different than if you have a different
league competing with another. So, part of the cross-over effect has been the increasing of that competitive factor.

We also look as ECW is a developmental brand. It also gives us an opportunity to launch newer talent through there. I think we're accomplishing the goals that we set out when we first started:
* Give us the opportunity to create more stars by having the two brands and now adding ECW.
* Providing the opportunity for greater international growth
* More licensing products off the two brands, and now the three brands with ECW. And ECW is growing slowly.

Your question really is "why not make them even more distinct?" I think we have created even more distinct brands and since they are now created distinctly we have the opportunity to cross-promote and have some of the talent migrate back and forth across the different brands. So that we can increase the storylines and continue to grow all the brands in our total business.

Thoughts on IFL going public. (Jefferies & Company, Inc. - Robert Routh)
Linda McMahon: IFL and UFC are "good competitors in the marketplace for sporting programs. Good demo reach for them. And clearly a growing sport. We're taking a look at too and even announced last week that we had the folks from Pride in to meet with us. We having an opportunity to look at the developmental of that particular business as well." (WWE likes to pretend Pride is #1 in the World as a way of slighting UFC. They actually had an offer to buy UFC back in the SEG days with Shane McMahon interested in running it but obviously that wasn’t persued.)

The last interesting thing was in response to a question by James Clement from Sidotti & Company, LLC. He asked about whether the decrease in "prior event buys" in the PPV category meant that they were getting closer estimates from the providers. WWE responded that while "international business means that reporting timeline is slower. On balance going forward, don't expect big adjustments that we've seen in the past. Initial forecasts are better than previously reported."

IWW notes 12/3/06

Roddy Piper –
Lymphoma Cancer
Age 52
Left the UK Tour from great pain & mass in his back
Drank seven red bulls at a Fan Fest shortly before his recent surgery

Jim Ross –
Contract Expired 10/29
Signed One-Year Contract Extension

Dave Taylor – Returning to TV despite a torn meniscus

Wrestlemania in Detroit (rumors) – Batista vs Undertaker (TITLE VS STREAK)

Hardy Boyz –
Unknown how long they’ll stay together
They were very hot on RAW & ECW
Helped draw RAW 3.8 (3.6 / 3.9)
Helped draw ECW 1.8 (up from 1.6 avg)

ECW PPV (THIS SUNDAY) –
Hardyz vs MNM
Bob Holly vs Sandman
RVD vs Big Show vs Sabu vs CM Punk vs Test vs Lashley
(EXTREME ELIMINATION CHAMBER)
Candace – Broke her nose while wrestling Victoria on RAW. Same town where Victoria broke Beth Phoenix’s jaw! Also where Charlie Haas knocked Lillian Garcia off the apron.

Ric Flair –
He might have some time off to deal with his divorce with Beth but overall isn’t expected to be leaving the company anytime soon. Who knows what he’s going do? Some speculate that 2007 will be his last year, but honestly they’ve been saying that for almost two decades.

Rey Mysterio –
Contract with WWE until Spring 2007
Unlikely to jump to TNA
Rumored to have a low downside guarantee like <$100k

Chris Benoit – Just resigned a long-term contract and unlikely to go anywhere

Monty Brown – Signed with WWE

Trish Stratus –
Shooting new reality show with Erik Estrada, Latoya Jackson, Wee Man (Jackass), and Jack Osbourne (Ozzy’s Son) working the streets of Muncie, IN as “legit police officers”.

WWE is going after E-Feds

Indy Wrestler Nick Berk (maybe from OVW?) was the guy pretending to be Kramer on the CT skit.

“We Want Angle” chants in Philly at RAW on Monday Night.

UFC is either in the final stages of purchasing or has already purchased the Lemoore, CA-based World Extreme Cagefighting promotion. Why?

Tim Sylvia wanted to fight Fedor when he heard that Chuck might fight Liddell a few months ago. In other news, Luke Cuomo is challenging the Sun to a no-holds barred match.

TNA on Thanksgiving Quarter hour ratings were 0.87, 0.85, 0.85 and 0.88. Could be a lot worse!

See No Evil DVD has been released. Again, why was this not ready in time for Halloween?
The Marine (10/13 release) DVD/UMD is rumored to be released in 1/30/07. There will be both PG-13 and UNRATED versions. If there is any nudity on the unrated version, the person will probably still be on fire. IMDB has the movie grossing $18.3m thus far versus the $15-$20m budget including advertising.

TNA’s Houseshow in Mexico at Monterray drew about 4200 fans (in a 18k building). They said they’d return in May 2007 for a “Champions Cup”. All wrestlers were TNA though some AAA appeared:
* AMW beat Naturals in a match with a Powder finish.
* Ron Killings beat Robert Rude.
Jeff Jarrett & Konnan (with AAA’s Cibernetico, Javier Gonzalez, Joaquin Roldan) did promos.
* AJ Styles beat Eric Young & Petey Williams in a three-way.
* LAX (Konnan & Senshi) beat Kip James & BG James.
* Christian beat Rhino in a Monster’s Ball match that involved crowd brawling.
* Angle beating Abyss. Abyss was said to look so bad that he made Angle look bad.
No TNA merchandise was available for purchasing and Fans were not happy about that.

TNA Conference Call: don’t expect Warrior or Goldberg anytime soon. Called the Dupp Cup the worst thing TNA ever did. (That’s worse than midgets in garbage cans doing unmentionable things?)

Meltzer suggested that TNA Genesis was looking at their best buyrate ever, probably 50-60k based on feedback. It’s always difficult to predict purely on internet feedback but I’d expect this is true because:
a) Joe/Angle was a big deal match that people hadn’t seen before. This was Kurt Angle’s first appearance on TNA PPV. This was a match that appealed to new/casual fans. Even Biff Chedderhead (Biff from Tampa) made the effort to attend the PPV which he’s never bothered to do anytime in the past.
b) TNA’s audience is very much on the internet, much more than WWE’s audience. This means that internet feedback is a much better representation of who was buying the PPVs. In WWE, the “internet” audience represents a smaller percentage and therefore their feedback levels aren’t necessarily as indiciative of the audience as a whole.
c) We’re dealing with a much smaller buyrate numbers. Consider this - A weak WWE PPV will do over a 150,000 buys. When WWE presented the first ECW: ONS, there was an enormous outpouring of feedback to wrestling sites leading many people to speculate that this PPV would do BIG FOUR (RR, SS, SurvSeries, WM) #s. In the end, it posted remarkable but not incredible numbers. However, the estimating process for a WWE PPV involves a much bigger multiplier.

“Samoa Joe beat Forrest Griffin of UFC last week. Seriously. It was in a charity video game tournament, though. Joe earned $6,000 for the Autism Society of America and Forrest won $4,000 for the USO.”

Director’s Cut of “Heroes of World Class” will be released next month at rightherepictures.com

WSX (MTV promotion) is scheduled to debut at the end of January 2007.

Michelle McCool was hospitalized for about a week over Thanksgiving due to an enlarged kidney and electrolyte imbalance.

IFL announced today that they are now a publicly traded company.

IWW covers latest WWE Conference Call Q&A (12/5/06)

, I just listened to this quarter's Q&A for the WWE Conference Call.
There was the usual babble about nitpicking this margin or that, some
questions about their new Genius distribution deal and clarification
of "other income". Here were the short highlights:

• International buys PPV this quarter was about 36% compared to 40%
last year over this same time frame. They explained it as "cooling in
the international market, particularly Italy where previously the
product had been very hot." (Again, they never frame it as domestic
buyrates falling, only international segment growing!).

• Did they think NA attendance could continue to grow? In short, yes.
It's gone up 7 consecutive quarters and is now averaging 5200/live
event (excluding ECW). Linda noted their peak was something like 9500,
so they believed they could continue to grow. (If you leave ECW's
attendance average in, then there is actually a drop this quarter
compared to last year's time. So, this is probably another reason they
want to not include the ECW empty venues.)

• They are shipping over a million units of "See No Evil" and expect
to sell around a million copies.

• The "sell-through rate" (I presume this is
sent-to-store:people-actually-buying it) dropped a bit this quarter
compared to last year at the same time. In particular, last year's
Undertaker DVD was very successful with a sell-through rate of about
80%.

The two most interesting topics covered were:
(1) whether the three separate brands should be managed independently
and (2) IFL going public. I tried to write down Linda's answers as
closely as possible.

Bob Jenkins – Schafer Capital Management

QUESTION: Brand Management:
Why not have them as three separate & distinct brands, ran by three
different people, set up their own budgets and keep them independent;
no mingling of wrestlers except in special occasions?
Because right now it seems like all three brands seems homogenized
into just one entity – no difference between the three and gives the
viewer no reason to check out any other brand over one?

Linda McMahon: Clearly, our entire goal was have these three brands to
have them as stand-alone brands. However, the decision we made when we
first separated the RAW & Smackdown brands was to provide us with
opportunity to reach different audiences on Cable and on Broadcast.
Also, to give us and different touring teams so we could increase our
international live events. All of which we have done.

We've spent the last four to five years in the brand separation. And
now We've found that you can still create more rivalaries sometimes by
crossing over the brands, no different than if you have a different
league competing with another. So, part of the cross-over effect has
been the increasing of that competitive factor.

We also look as ECW is a developmental brand. It also gives us an
opportunity to launch newer talent through there. I think we're
accomplishing the goals that we set out when we first started:
* Give us the opportunity to create more stars by having the two
brands and now adding ECW.
* Providing the opportunity for greater international growth
* More licensing products off the two brands, and now the three brands
with ECW. And ECW is growing slowly.

Your question really is "why not make them even more distinct?" I
think we have created even more distinct brands and since they are now
created distinctly we have the opportunity to cross-promote and have
some of the talent migrate back and forth across the different brands.
So that we can increase the storylines and continue to grow all the
brands in our total business.

(endquote)

Thoughts on IFL going public. (Jefferies & Company, Inc. - Robert Routh)
Linda McMahon: IFL and UFC are "good competitors in the marketplace
for sporting programs. Good demo reach for them. And clearly a growing
sport. We're taking a look at too and even announced last week that we
had the folks from Pride in to meet with us. We having an opportunity
to look at the developmental of that particular business as well."

(endquote)

The last interesting thing was in response to a question by James
Clement from Sidotti & Company, LLC. He asked about whether the
decrease in "prior event buys" in the PPV category meant that they
were getting closer estimates from the providers. WWE responsed that
while "international business means that reporting timeline is slower.
On balance going forward, don't expect big adjustments that we've
seen in the past. Initial forecasts are better than previously
reported."

IWW returns with WRITER DAN BROWN~!

Yes, the far more famous than that other guy, Carmen Electra's NWWL creative Director & lead writer - DAN BROWN joins IWW to talk all about:

* how he got involved with NWWL
* what has changed show to show
* their model (and models) for growth
* possible tours
* injuries & training with the girls
* working with Jimmy Hart
* backstage and documentary footage
* possible media deals including 30-min shows on TV?
* how to get involved
* opportunities besides wrestling for new people
* the background on the project, who is funding it and when will new content be up!

much more!

It's a very interesting hour and sure to generate some vivid emails. Take a listen and write in with your thoughts to indeedwrestling@gmail.com

IWW interviews DAN BROWN

IWW: BOBBY SHIELDS~! (and the notes from last show)

Bobby Shields on IWW
Covering all the insanity that is HARLEY RACE'S WLW CAMP - NOAH & WWE reps in the house!

Find out more about BOBBY SHIELDS over at his website.

SOME NOTES FROM THE LAST NEWS & NOTES SHOW:

SMACKDOWN
* GREENFIELD LEAVES SMACKDOWN WRITING TEAM *

Head Writer Alex Greenfield left Smackdown. One of his movies got
green-lit in Hollywood and he needed/wanted to be out there working on
that project and couldn't continue to write for WWE.
July 2005: Joined WWE writing. (Hollywood experience)
June 2006: Head Smackdown Writer after Dave Lagana was moved to ECW.
"Midnight Movie" – produced by Jacques Thelemaque, who struck a deal
with production financing entity Bigfoot Partners to produce 2-4
independent films per year under $1 mil working with emerging
filmmakers under the banner, FA Productions.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117921378?categoryId=13&cs=1 (April 19, 2005)

Interesting, here is an article from a year ago in Variety which
mentions movies that Greenfield has worked on. (He had just left his
job as a "lit. manager".)

• scripting remake of "She Creature" for Lou Arkoff
• co-writing "Midnight Movie" with Sean Hood
• writing "Wilson" with co-producer Mike Eitelman

Sounds like he had a lot of projects in the works when he got involved
with WWE. Not too surprising that a year later he'd be leaving them
for Hollywood.

* MICHAEL HAYES BECOMES HEAD SMACKDOWN WRITER *

Michael Hayes returns to the helm of Smackdown. Years ago in the
Heyman Smackdown era, Hayes clashed with Paul and eventually was moved
to the RAW side of things. He has been working on creative for many
years dating back to before the Brand Split.

SURPRISE? Well, many thought Dusty Rhodes was destined to be the next
writer. It's unknown whether this is a permanent deal or just until
they find their next Hollywood-wannabe. What's also unknown is what
this means for Rhodes' future.
* HELMS AND HARDY SET SMACKDOWN RECORD *

Matt Hardy & Gregory Shane Helms, friends who started wrestling
together in OMEGA, will meet this Sunday on PPV. WWE has been pushing
Helms as "the longest reigning cruiserweight champion in history".
He'll soon have another title to add to his mantle: Lowest Rated
Smackdown Segment in History.

The 9/15 Smackdown match between Helms & Hardy has set the bar at 0.8
– about 1¼ million viewers. (Keep that figure in mind when we talk
about TNA Ratings). It should be noted that this is while Smackdown
was being extensively pre-empted by UPN and nearly 50% of the country
didn't see the show in it's normal timeslot on Friday night.

TNA on 9/14 had 817,000 viewers. They did an 0.88 last week for 1
million viewers.
ECW on 9/12 had 2.14 million viewers. ECW has dropped into the mid
1.7-1.8 range lately.

However, most recent episode with Cena appearing did a 2.5 on fast
nationals which meant it beat Fox for 4th place on Friday night.
LAYLA has been put on Smackdown. Dave's comment "should indicate what
they think of her winning."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? FORMER WWE PERSONALITIES…

"Trish Stratus claimed she was asked to pose by PB within six months
of her being in wrestling, and then at least once a year every year
after. She was asked now that her career looks to be over would she
pose, and she said she wouldn't. She was married this weekend."

Story about Stacy Carter, (The Kat, Jerry Lawler's wife): She held
talks about doing PB, but after she was fired PB didn't want to
endanger their relationship with WWF so they cancelled the talks. Not
to worry though, she not only received ownership of Jerry Lawler's FL
Condo, but an additional cash settlement due to Lawler's remarks in
his autobiography (which violated terms that prohibited him from
making "disparaging remarks".)

Speaking of PB, viewers of their prank series "Totally Busted" might
recognize one of the cast: "Matt 'Horshu' Weisz", better known as
Luther Reigns.

Ken Shamrock is about to draw the largest rating for a MMA fight in
North America with his cable-TV rematch with Ortiz on 10/10 on
SpikeTV. Ever wonder the connection between Frank & Ken Shamrock?

SHAMROCK CLAN
Frank Shamrock - Frank Jaurez
Ken Shamrock - Ken Wayne Kilpatrick
(You'll see him as Wayne Shamrock on early Pancrase & wrestling tapes).
They were both adopted by Bob Shamrock, who ran a home for troubled
youths in Northern California.

Dustin Runnels went AWOL a few weeks ago when he no-showed three
events in the Northeast. He basically missed his flights and becoming
increasingly difficult to contact. Not a good situation.

Likewise, Sean Waltman is rumored to be acting in a bad way after
leaving a wrestling show in NJ with "some known drug dealers". He
supposedly never even went to his hotel room that evening.

NEW IWW FEDERATION: RFBW (Recently Fired by WWE)

Kid Kash (Smackdown) – attitude problems; failed a test recently? In
TNA had a bad rep. His final match (teaming with Jamie Noble) aired
on Smackdown last week after he'd already been released.

Justin Credible (ECW) – he no-showed ECW and disappeared; they waited
two weeks to fire him and finally just did it via Fax. Wife is
pregnant.

Boogeyman (Smackdown/OVW) – lots of issues. Said to be difficult to
deal with and acting crazy. His return to OVW was not going well
despite him already being advertised for Smackdown (remember his
prominent role in the Summerslam commercial?)

KANYON? Latest is WWE has no interest in using him. "Then again,
they just hired Marty…"

Kevin Nash & Billy Kidman were both backstage at TNA Impact last week.
Kidman has been lobbying for a job pretty much since his WWE release
in July 2006; his last match was a dark match under a mask. (He's
only 32 so he'll have at least eight years until WWE is going to want
him back, I guess.)

Rochester NY's own Joanie "Chyna" Laurer resurfaced on Larry King Live
a few weeks back to discuss Anna-Nicole's son's death. They (the two
women) were in the movie "Illegal Aliens" together.
THE SKINNY ON DEVELOPMENTAL

Greg Gagne was fired back on 9/11 after about five months with WWE in
developmental.
He was "out of touch" and "behind the times". He pushed Cody Rennels
(Dusty's son) heavily using the same ideas that were done back when he
debuted as Verne Gagne's son in AWA in late 1972.
Story from Deep South: "it was taking them all week to undo one day of
Gagne's teaching."
Simon Dean (Mike Bucci) has taken over developmental and is working
out of Stamford.

Kenny Omega (OVW) went home to Winnipeg after asking to leave on 9/8.

Ryan Reeves is off suspension. He is said to be "even bigger"– like
Lashley/Batista huge.

Kevin Matthews and Danny Giamundo (Danny Inferno) have been released from OVW.
A SIX CHICKENS MEOW = MEXICO WHACKINESS~!

9/20 Palacio de los Deportes (18,301 fans) MEXICO CITY

AAA has been bringing in lots of TNA wrestlers
"They had talked over a spot where Abyss was going to throw Lider, who
fancies himself as being Mexico's Mick Foley, into tons of thumb
tacks. But being AAA, there is always one communication problem and
nobody bought the thumb thacks. They ended up with some fluorescent
light tubes and Abyss threw Lider through those."

TNA shot an angle on the Mexico tour where Konnan, Homicide and about
ten AAA guys (including JUVI and SUPER CALO) beat down AJ Styles.

RXLL: Vampiro's federation is already NO MORE~! He went to Japan and
the promoter (Pepe Villa) basically took the money and paid old debts
instead of paying the talent and the TV station. So much for
Vampiro's INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING AGREEMENTS with Italy Nu Wrestling
Evolution, All-Japan (he'd supposedly just struck a deal with Samurai
TV to air his show!) and unnamed Calgary promotion to come from the
ashes of Matrats. Vampiro is allegedly going to restart with some of
the original crew: Sean Waltman, Slash Venom, Ricky Banderas, Kaos,
Aaron Aguilera, Extreme Tiger (luchadore from Tijuana that has won two
hair matches and is being heavily hyped). I don't know Ron Killings'
status (or Teddy Hart's?) since Killings seemed to get in trouble with
AAA (and TNA) for working the last show and he basically promised to
not go back. Sounds like Raven, All Japan Talent (Nosawa, who has
worked in Mexico/US extensively was on his last main event) will be
coming in. Vampiro claims he'll be opening a school (which should be
interesting coming from a Canadian who openly admits he never learned
to take a flat back bump until he went to WCW and promptly got nearly
paralyzed from an Awesomebomb from that 70s guy Mike 'The Gladiator'
Awesome.)

REY MYSTERIO IN TIJUANA HALL OF FAME. That is all.





* RING OF HONOR – ROH *

ROH Tapes are popular with younger wrestlers in Mexico.
(AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Low Ki, Homicide)

"Deals were at the beginning of the year for KENTA to pick up win
after win against ROH stars using the Go 2 Sleep as his finish.
It was all booked to build for the spot where he'd use the move on
Danielson, but Danielson would kick out, and come back to win cleanly
with the cattle mutilation.
A monkey wrench was nearly thrown into those plans when Danielson's
shoulder and chest were tore up and he really shouldn't be wrestling,
but he did anyway."

In an interview, Danielson acknowledged a strong interest in joining
the Peace Corps and said he'd actually applied last year but was
rejected due to his lack of college education. He claimed he was
taking classes online to help him out and still wanted to pursue the
goal.

Sammartino's appearance in ROH drew a legitimate turnaway crowd of 1200.

Prince Nana (Nana Bandoh, who claims to be the nephew of King Otumfuo
Osei Tutu, Ashanti King) has quit working with ROH. He wanted to do
more wrestling since he lost weight and didn't see much more
opportunity for him in Ring of Honor. An angle with Nana interrupting
Sammartino was nixed at the last show; overall people thought was the
right decision but one imagines that Nana wasn't thrilled at losing
that chance.

They've already begun working towards the big angle of Morishima vs
Samoa Joe for next year's big show. The crowd doesn't know Morishima
much yet but he's a terrificly talented big man (like 300 lbs) who
NOAH is very high on. Morishima doesn't even have a working visa yet
for wrestling in the US.

The GHC title defense was another interesting situation. It appears
that ROH knew about the title defense in advance but obviously
couldn't advertise it until the switch occurred. In fact, it's very
possible NOAH was counting on the publicity from the GHC title change
(9/9) to promote Marufuji in New York (9/13). It appears that Jim
Cornette must have known because of a video update that ROH posted
using him but which was clearly taped prior (9/1) to the title change.
The working relationship between ROH and NOAH is strong. They've
definitely got more out of that than say New Japan/TNA!

The Dragon Gate wrestlers will return next year for Wrestlemania
Weekend. They have recently started on a deal with the dying New
Japan to work together (which some are against since DG workers are
much smaller than NJ guys). However, it seems like NOAH has no
problem with ROH using these DG guys despite the obviously feud
between New Japan and NOAH.

ROH DVDs to Check Out
• 1st ROH Card: American Dragon vs LowKi vs Christopher Daniels (TC &
ZW live at the show!)
• CM Punk vs Samoa Joe Series
• CZW vs ROH: Cage of Death
• Supercard of Honor (Dragon Gate 6-man)


PPV
* SUMMERSLAM BUYRATE DOES WELL *

8/20 Boston - Summerslam – earned 538,000 buys.
Coming off last year's Hogan v. Michaels supermatch it obviously was
going to be lower, so this was considered a extremely good news. Big
draws were Edge/Cena, DX vs McMahons and especially Hogan/Orton and
Flair/Foley. Domestically, the numbers were poor (as always) around
320k buys. WWE is definitely being kept afloat with strong
international interest.

SUMMERSLAM BUY HISTORY
1998: Austin/UT = 700k buys
1999: Austin/HHH/Foley (Ventura ref) = 600k
2000: Rock/HHH/Angle = 550k
2001: Rock/Booker T, Austin/Angle = 565k
2002: Brock/Rock, HHH/Michaels = 520k
2003: Elimination Chamber (Goldberg, Jericho, Orton, Nash, Michaels),
Angle/Lesnar = 465k
2004: Benoit/Orton, JBL/UT, HHH/Eugene = 415k (328k domestic)
2005: Michaels/Hogan = 636k (407k domestic final)
2006: Summerslam 2006 = 538k (320k buys domestic)

2006 probably earned around $18.3 million gross. Summerslam 1998
earned over $21million.

Those tracking UFC: Liddell vs Babalu had around 500k buys (almost all
North America)


ECW PPV
--ECW's December to Dismember PPV on 12/3 in Augusta, GA at the
Richmond County Civic Center has tickets going on sale on 10/21. At
this point tickets are only listed at $20, which is incredibly
inexpensive. I can't believe they won't have higher prices for
ringside. (thanks to Michael Carpenter)

Speaking of ECW on the Sci-Fi channel, they've renewed Eureka, "which
beats out ECW as the highest rated show on the network and serves as
its lead-in."


TNA NEWS
Booking shakeup means Mike Tenay, Scott D'Amore and Jeremy Borash were
taken off the committee. Now it's just Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantell
and VINCE RUSSO leading the charge. Terry Taylor was really pushing
for Russo's return.
Obviously, this caused some conflict with Jim Cornette, who abhors
Russo. The deal allegedly is that Cornette won't let him be in the
same room as him, speak with him and especially not take direction
from him. For the time being that's the situation, but one has to
imagine there is going to be another powderkeg.
Vince Russo's departure last time was preceded by TNA negotiating with
Hulk Hogan (who was most likely just creating leverage with WWE).
Hogan had a precondition that he would not work with Russo.

The fallout: Scott D'Amore is getting a new TV production role. Mike
Tenay is still announcing. Jeremy Borash is still playing the
interview/announcer geek deal.
Both Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell started appearing on TNA TV. Unknown if
they are here to stay.
Samoa Joe did an interview with IGN speaking about how a TNA videogame
was vital. (Perhaps, but ECW definitely didn't save itself with their
releases in the late 90s. However, alternatively, more copies of Raw
vs Smackdown version whatever were sold last year than all of the Home
Video releases COMBINED. Now, keep in mind WWE only earns a fraction
of the sales – like between 2 and 5 percent on licensing, so it's not
like that would turn TNA from being in the red to shooting money out
their eyeballs.)

TNA Bound for Glory - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - Detroit, MI
1. NWA World Title vs. Career - special ringside enforcer Kurt Angle:
Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting
2. NWA Tag Team Titles - Six Sides Of Steel: LAX (Homicide y
Hernandez) vs. Christopher Daniels & AJ Styles
3. X Division Title: Senshi vs. Chris Sabin
4. Detroit "8 Mile Street fight": Rhino vs. Christian Cage
5. Monsters Ball: Samoa Joe vs. Abyss vs. Raven vs. Brother Runt
Also: The return of Team 3D (as noted on Borash's update)

Scott Steiner was not cool with TNA's system of handling outside
bookings (they pay the wrestlers a quarterly fee) and is in dispute
with them over that.

KURT ANGLE

Kurt Angle signed with TNA and debuted on their last PPV in the form
of a pre-taped segment.
His contract does allow him to compete in MMA though most think it's a
bad idea to try and do both at the same time even with TNA's reduced
schedule.

If Kurt Angle's no-compete had lasted until Feb, he'd have been owed
about $500k from WWE. However, it's unclear whether with his release
he was given a more unconvential one. He rumored to be at around
$650k/yr with TNA plus whatever else he decides to do on top (indy
shows, etc.)

He has been advertised as WRESTLING at TNA's show in Mexico, though
that seems to be more the local promoter (working on what he was told)
versus what can really be expected at the show.

Bill Behrens' fed in Modesto, CA advertised they had Kurt Angle coming
in for 10/13 show for a short period of time. That has since be
removed and he won't make an appearance – maybe at a later show.
Behrens' lost a lot of favor with TNA after the New Japan deal went to
hell.

Angle was brought to Nashville (9/20) and they filmed a secret
vignette for the PPV debut in a local warehouse. They even went as
far as bringing in a different TV crew, hiring indy workers to set up
the ring (but not knowing who used it) and filming at MIDNIGHT. Angle
was not in Orlando for the PPV for fear that someone would see him!

OTHER CONTRACT NEWS
BoDog (the Costa Rica fighting organization by Calvin Ayre) airs on
the "Men's Channel" (seems like one guy in Nebraska gets this!).
They've been trying to get a deal with Don Frye, Kurt Angle and Brock
Lesnar.

Rick Bassman (UPW owner: Victoria, Cena, Heidenreich, the Miz, Melina,
Ryan Sakoda, Chris Masters; an unofficial developmental territory for
WWE) is trying to put together a TANK ABBOT vs BUTTERBEAN PPV. Send
him money now folks~!

Frank Shamrock has claimed to sign a multimillion dollar contract with
THE WORLD FIGHTER CHAMPIONSHIPS. Cesar Gracie ist he group's booker.

Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros have been reunited on IFL TV as announcers.

Apparently all WWE announcers sign their contracts at the same time!
Tazz's contract up at the end of the year. He's playing hardball and
citing radio opportunities in an attempt to get more money. He wants
a raise; hard to say if they'd give it to him.

Also, Jim Ross' contact is up soon. It's unknown if he'll resign.
It's tough to say as there are plenty of arguments for and against his
continued involvement. He's strictly doing announcing now – no talent
relations or creative. Longterm it's unknown what the plan is, though
I suspect he'll be on a week-to-week deal soon.

Similarly, JBL nearly left Smackdown this month as he has started a
new job with an Investment bank. He basically agreed to come back and
work a week-to-week d

RECENT HIRES TO WWE
Charles Skaggs (2 Cold Scorpio, 41) – three-year deal, friends with Booker T.
Mark Canterbury (Henry Godwinn, 42) – hired as favor to HHH &
Undertaker; been though (he lost his son). He's expected to be on
Smackdown.
Brad James (Brad Armstrong, 45) – hired to teach young guys; will work
on ECW house shows.
Frederick Martin Oakes (Marty Jannetty , 47) – VKM decision. He's
believed to hold the record for most firings from the WWE.
Mike Rotunda (IRS, 48) – recently hired as road agent.
Five guys over forty!

Rodney Begnaud (Rodney Mack, 33) – few month tryout; he'll be on ECW.
(no long term deal yet) – wife Jazz appeared on 6/7/06 "WWE vs ECW"
show. Since unseen!
--Rodney Mack and Eric Perez debuted for ECW last night in Loveland, CO.

WWE INJURIES
KNEE SURGERY: Michaels, Mysterio, Khali. Also bad knees? BIG SHOW~!
(He got the weekend off. I believe he's also having back issues.)

Damaja (aka Danny Hollie/Danny Basham) tore his biceps at house show.
Currently, the other security guard under the mask (with Doug Basham)
is Derrick Neikirk. His story is that his tag partner (Ryan O'Reilly)
were doing ECW houseshows until O'Reilly failed a drug test and got
himself suspended. Hollie won't be able to return until April!

Mickie James hurt her neck after her RAW match and the 'rana to the skull.

Your Eyes may have almost melted when "Big Dick Johnson" appeared on
your screen at RAW this past week. Who is that? Writer Chris
DeJoseph; the fat male stripper.
Hardcore Holly got 24 stitches in his back from the brutal table slice
in the RVD match from ECW last week. Seeing him tough it out (recall
when he broke his arm during a match on Smackdown a few years ago?)
seems to set the stage to turn him babyface.

I heard both Vince and Shane McMahon did stay overnight in the
hospital following the Hell in the Cell match with DX.

WWE MONEY FIGURES

WWE spent $1.53m between May and July buying new tape libraries. Some
think it's World Class & Stampede tapes.

"See No Evil" cost $10.9m to produce. They should end up with profit
after DVD sales but not after it's initial release. Still don't
understand why they aren't releasing the DVD until NOVEMBER since once
expects HALLOWEEN is prime time for Horror movies.

The Marine, aka WWE MARINE PRESENTS MONDAY MARINE NIGHT MARINE RAW
MARINE cost $23m to produce so they need a ton of money to make a hit
on this one ($30m range). It will be interesting to watch; the
premiere was held on Tuesday (10/3) at a Marine base in California.

Average house show was $58k in merchandise sales. Costs about $145k
to run a show and they earned about $185.5k per show (including PPVs).

Who spends more on production WWE or UFC? WWE spends about $1.65
million per PPV which appears to be more than UFC. However, UFC will
often offer main eventers a significant portion of the gross which
means compared to WWE's 15% spent on payroll, UFC is actually probably
paying guys a lot more – or at least a few guys a lot more. The
breakeven point for PPVs is 109,000 buys domestically. That means
they won't be going under anytime too soon!

ECW taping is cheaper to produce: (about $200k vs $500k for RAW/Smackdown)
ECW got about $233k/show to produce ECW but also an additional $133k
for the show internationally. So, that's about $66k profit + live
gate.

Big Show + Angle + RVD was $43k/week. Rest of ECW earn between $500 to $1500.

WWE will settle the damages they owe the World Wildlife Foundation on 12/5.


HERE AND THERE:

MENG IS GREAT.

Dean Malenko had a brief cameo on 9/15 Smackdown TV with Dominick.

There has been a push to have Steve Austin & Hulk Hogan appear on the
three-hour "Family Reunion", USA SEASON PREMIERE show on Monday.
Hogan is far more likely than Austin.

Speaking of Hogan, he's teasing that WM XXIII in Detroit would be a
final match ever. I doubt that. Likely matchup are either
Hogan/Austin (unlikely) and Hogan/Big Show (with BS playing Andre's
role since it's been twenty years since WM3).

Dallas Hart (Bret Hart's son) will be starting at Lance Storm's
training school in January.

--Ted Petty Invitational from (9/30) in Midlothian, IL: (thanks to
Dominick Valenti and Keith Lipinski)

El Generico b M Dogg 20,
Low Ki b Davey Richards,
Low Ki b Generico,

Claudio Castagnoli b Mike Quackenbush,
Arik Cannon b Hallowickid,
Cannon b Castagnoli,

Chris Hero b Trik Davis,
Roderick Strong b Delirious,
Strong b Hero,

Low Ki won three-way over Cannon and Strong in 35:00 to win the Ted
Petty Invitational

American Kickboxer & Tarek the Great NC Iron Saints,
Eddie Kingston & Joker & Ricochet b Iron Saints,
North Star Express won six-way gauntlet match,
Josh Abercromie b Tyler Black in a loser leaves town match,
Chuck Taylor b Toby Klein to win IWA Mid South title,



Lucha Masks & more!! http://www.nuclearjackalope.com/

SURVIVOR SERIES PPV

Event Description: It's three times the action as teams from RAW,
SmackDown and ECW compete against each other for the first time ever
in WWE Survivor Series. Don't miss the excitement as John Cena, Shawn
Michaels, Triple H, King Booker, Batista, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam,
Sabu and Big Show form a legion of WWE Superstars at Survivor Series,
Sunday, November 26th at 8pm ET/5pm PT, live and only on Pay-Per-View.
A World Wrestling Entertainment Production. Go to wwe.com for more
details.

(Fatal Four-Way Match)
World Heavyweight Champion King Booker vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Batista vs. Finlay

(United States Champion) Mr. Kennedy vs. Undertaker
[I expect a DQ – feud to continue until next PPV.]

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (Falls Count Anywhere Match)

MVP makes his debut

Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms vs. Matt Hardy ??? no idea ???)

WWE Tag Team Champions London & Kendrick vs. KC James & Idol Stevens
?? no idea ???)

Dark Match:
*Kendrick/London d. The Gymini
ECW, Oct. 10, 2006:
*No backstage segments were shown. If Diva Strip Poker happened, it
was backstage, and it wasn't shown to the live crowd.
1 - CM Punk d. Rene Dupree (clean)
2 - Tommy Dreamer d. Kevin Thorne w/ Ariel (clean)
3 - Sabu, RVD & The Sandman d. The Big Show, Test & Matt Striker -
RVD, Sabu & Sandman

IWW: RETURNS~!!!

It's twelve pages of news crammed into under fifty minutes. We cover:

* what former WWE star is on the playboy channel!
* what happens when you forget to get a good babysitter for your mexico indy fed (VAMPIRO/RXXL fiasco!)
* what's going on this sunday at the PPV
* what is ROH's next big angle and who did they bring to the US that didn't even have a WORKING VISA?
* why three announcers: one of EACH WWE BRAND might/almost left this year
* TNA news with lots of Kurt Angle coverage (including the story of the vignette, money and fighting)
* discussion of TNA's first PPV outside of Orlando in a long time
* what MMA fed should sponser IWW
* what is the best video on youtube
* what is the coolest lucha mask site on the internet
* how are the shamrock "brothers" (frank/ken) related
and much, much, much more!!

45 min (mp3) with Zip Whittle

Justin's recap of ROH 9/16

From Justin on Myspace - one of the best wrestling reporters around!!

here's is one fan's thoughts of the 9/16 ROH debut at the Manhattan center

the crowd was very hot for the show. I'm bad at guessing crowd size but i would say they easily had over 1,000 people there. they had 4 sections around the ring that went 7 rows deep that were packed, a general admission section that had around 100 seats in it that were filled and balcony seating that went 4 rows deep that was also jammed.

before the show started there was a brief altercation involving the green lantern fan. i can't say for certain what happened but he was getting yelled at by a lady, security got involved and everyone in the arena chanted "fuck green lantern" for a minute. good times.

the show started with Davey Richards against Jack Evans. solid opening match. Evans hit his usual crazy high spots, Davey was hard hitting winning with a submission(i believe the move is called "stretch muffler")

next up the ring was surrounded by NOAH and ROH wrestlers as they honored Bruno Sammartino. the crowd was very appreciative of Bruno chanting "thank you Bruno", and "welcome back" making a reference to him having his best matches in new york at Madison Square Garden. the crowd was very silent when he spoke. he said that he does not approve of wrestling today(no shock there) however he was very impressed with Ring Of Honor and feels they are bringing wrestling back. ROH has Bruno's stamp of approval(note: this is a big deal considering Bruno's son doesn't have it).

as the wrestlers were walking back stage Samoa Joe and NOAH's Morishima started fighting and had to be broken up. with Kobashi out it looks like they're setting up a future Joe vs Morishima match (duh)

the second match was Delirious vs Adam Pearce. Pearce wins with help from Shane Hagadorn. the best spot of the match was delirious hitting 50 lariats in the corner on Pearce, taking 3 seconds to catch his breath, then hitting 10 more. chant of the night was for delirious during the match with the crowd chanting "bah bah bah bah clap clap clapclapclap".

next was a tree way between Jimmy Jacobs w/Lacey against Christopher Daniels and Colt Cabana. the back story of the match was Jimmy discovered Colt and Lacey having sex and was very distraught since he loves Lacey. however Lacey ordered Jimmy to team with Colt during the match and take out Daniels. a few comedy spots with Colt looking up Lacey's skirt and "stumbling" and grabbing Lacey's chest to keep himself up. the finish of the jabobs/cabana/daniles 3 way was a low blow from jacobs to cabana for the pin. after the match Lacey was furious with Jimmy for disobeying her and he left the ring dejected.

Jim Cornette came to the ring with the Briscoe brothers and cut an anti- new york promo. he felt that he was a minority in new york being a white middle aged man. he also said that homicide would get an ROH world title shot at the next show in Manhattan if him and Joe win the match.

next up was homicide and Samoa Joe vs the Briscoe brothers. the crowd went crazy for homicide and was firmly behind the "hometown hero" solid match, plenty of stiff shots from Joe and the Briscoes. match ended with homicide hitting jay Briscoe with the "cop killa" for the victory. Cornette returned to ring side saying that he's gonna make homicide's life a "living hell" the rest of the year.

intermission time. the line to meet Bruno Sammartino was huge also NOAH was selling shirts at the show with the proceeds going to Kobashi as he recovers from kidney cancer. a big seller at the merch table was the "hero's of world class/von erich documentary" dvd. when i went to purchase it, it was sold out. another big seller was shows featuring C.M. Punk.

the second half featured only title matches.

the first was the kings of wrestling(Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) against champs Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. the kings came out to "we are the champions" and made their way through the crowd. the match was very good featuring great tandem moves from both teams. it looked like Aries was going to hit his 450 splash when Castagnoli hit Aries in the ribs with his briefcase( I.R.S anyone?). Aries tried making a "superman comeback" but the kings hit the KRS-1 on Aries for the victory becoming (in the Howard Finkle voice) NEW ROH world tag team champions. the crowd was very hot for the match. the fans had a "battle chant going" with one side chanting "kings of wrestling" and the other side chanting "shut the fuck up". this lasted after the match and went on for awhile. also this means that Chris Hero is now a part of the ROH roster.

Chris hero tangent: this guy has incredible heat. the fans that don't like him absolutely hate him. the fans that like him will chant till their red in the face for him. personally i think this is a cool move. behind homicide no one else got a bigger reaction at the show and if your paying your (to borrow a Jim Ross quote) hard earned money to boo the man how can it not be a great idea on ROH's part to bring him in.


the second title match was GHC Heavyweight Champion Marufuji against Nigel McGuinnes. this was a big deal because this is the first time the GHC title has been defended in the united states. this was the surprise match of the night. Marufuji hit some insane spots including a shiranui on McGuinnes to the floor. halfway through the match the fans chanted "this is awesome". McGuinnes hit his spots including "tower of london" but Marufuji won the match after going corner 2 corner(a van terminator without the chair) followed with a super shiranui from the top rope. the match was excellent and after it the fans again chanted "that was awesome".

for what it's worth Nigel Mcguinnes has been the best independent wrestler this past year. he's had classics with Bryana Danielson and had a great run with the ROH pure title. he reminds me of cowboy Bob Orton(i may be the only guy) in that he makes really complicated moves and holds look so easy to execute(which has been said of Orton).

the main event of the evening was KENTA against ROH world champion Bryan Danielson. the crowd was behind Danielson strongly because he was wrestling the match with a separated shoulder. the match had a very "big fight" atmosphere to it. while i was waiting to get in the arena i was asking people who they thought was going to win and it was 50-50. people were sure KENTA was going to win or were sure Danielson was. tons of submissions from both KENTA and Danielson and plenty of near falls. Kenta hit "go to sleep" and the crowd erupted when Danielson put his foot on the rope at 2. Danileson won the match with cattle mutilation and is still your ROH world heavyweight champion.

the show went from 8:00 to about 11:30/11:40. the show felt just right time wise, the intermission helped. also stacking the second half with three title matches didn't hurt either. the best match of the night in my opinion was Marufuji and McGuinnes however Kenta and Danielson was also excellent. the only reason I'm picking Marafugi and McGuinnes was because it really surprised me and everyone in the building with how great it was. as for worst match there really wasn't a bad match on the card. if i have to say it would probably be Delirious and Pearce however it served it purpose and I would have no problem watching it again. .

the two biggest reactions went to homicide and the kings of wrestling.

overall i thought this was an excellent show. ROH hyped it to be their biggest show ever and they didn't disappoint. the Manhattan center made for a great venue and the crowd was very hot from start to finish. the only bad note was the security at the Manhattan center was gawd-awful. they were real ass-bags and from what i hear were taking away streamers from the fans. despite that the show was excellent and i recommend the purchase when it comes out on DVD.

Justin

Lots of NEW IWW content.. (enjoy our new theme music!!)

9/14/06: TC WATTS & ZIP WHITTLE return.....
to discuss:
* the fallout from greg gagne being fired
* the future of smackdown
* who needs knee surgeries (answer: EVERYONE)
* wrestlethons
* turduckens
* viewer mail
* WWE & TNA PPV cards
HODGE PODGE of GOODNESS (52 minutes)

OUR INCREDIBLE IWW VIDEO PROMO BY MR. QUEST!!
(mp4 format!)

9/8/06: We head to LA to cover Pro Wrestling Guerilla's giant indy tournament last week, we visit CT to listen to Linda McMahon review WWE 's fiscal state and we turn to YOU the listeners of planet Earth to try and decipher Great Khali's promo antics! And the show starts off with an apology from ZIP!
IWW: PWG & WWE Conference Call, Khali explained! (39 minutes)

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MR QUEST (WWE PRODUCTIONS INSIDER)
Over ONE hour of great stories - a must listen

KURT IS FIRED! SNAKES ON A PLANE! UFC IS HOTTT~!

Zip Whittle does an hour of news & notes

* What Japanese superstar is in America and visited Smackdown?
* What TNA superstars are fed up and want out?>
* Why did Kurt Angle get fired?
* Who is Mike Tyson working for?
* How did Pride get one up on UFC?
* What happened to WWE buyrates?
* What's the plan for Unforgiven?
* VIEWER MAIL
* GREAT KHALI PROMOS!

ALSO- -- TC WATTS & SNAKES MCGEE TALK SUMMERSLAM & UFC.

New IWW: SUMMERSLAM~!

Ray Rhodes & Zip Whittle discuss all the Summerslam you can point a stick at!

So many people returning....
Chris Masters, Boogeyman, Matt Hardy, Kid Kash, Jamie Noble and.... THE MIZ?!~

Not to mention every time we answer a question about a wrestler they show up again - JEFF HARDY & VICTORIA?~

Listen to the show - great 52 minutes of your life we'll steal.

BUMPER STICKERS ARE COMING!!

email: indeedwrestling@gmail.com for more information about how you can get one!!

IWW: Tapings Galore!!

New episode of INDEED WRESTLING WEEKLY posted: IWW Tapings Galore!! - over an hour where Zip Whittle speaks with PJ (of AJ&PJ Just Uncredible Wrestling podcast) about his recent adventure seeing the RAW/SMACKDOWN supershow taping and then going to the ECW tapings the next night! Also, Zip briefly discuss ELEVATED LIVER ENZYMES (including an opening skit), read listener mail that we received in response to Biff from Tampa, and have fun with a collection of goofy soundbytes to close the show (last ten seconds). Hope you enjoy!

IWW: Our Fans Hate Us

http://dl01.blastpodcast.com/indeedwrestling/15285_1153372649.mp3

1 hour 8 minutes

Zip Whittle and TC Watts spend the entire show confusing each other by constantly changing the subject. We discuss Ortiz/Shamrock, Worked Bull Riding Competitions, RVD's movie plans, Mitch's injury, Worst excuse for quitting Tough Enough, Judgment Day PPV preview (with reveal of Batista's MYSTERY opponent), Discussion of Missouri's Pregnancy Policy, Tommy Dreamer's Caps Lock Key, Mark Henry's Kentucky Derby Dreams and Our Desire for MORE CHUCK PALUMBO~!

WWE Annual Report notes

WWE: Annual Report (FORM 10-K)
Filed 6/29/2006 for period ending 4/30/2006

Talk about establishing ECW as the third brand. Plans to “produce and market a full line of ECW products including television programs, live event tours, pay-per-view events and licensed consumer goods.”

USA: 248 live events – 1.2m fans = $37.34/ticket.
INTL: 52 live events – 475k fans = $69.18/ticket. (+86% more)
25% of that attendance was on Smackdown’s April 2006 Europe tour.

Venue Merchandise (sale at live events of WWE products): up 15% to $14.7m.

Three TV shows they produce: “Monday Night Raw”, “Friday Night Smackdown” and “A.M. Raw.”

RAW + AM RAW = $0.6 million per week in rights fees.
Smackdown = $0.3 million per week in rights fees.
ECW TV is “on a twelve week trial basis.”

Advertising: They don’t sell them in the US. They do sell them in Canada.
Result? -48% in Advertising net revenues (down to $22.6 million)

PPV: 16 PPVs in fiscal 2006 (vs. 14 PPVs in fiscal 2005).
WM22 = 925k buys @ $49.95 (domestic)
RR/Summerslam/Survivor Series = “avg. nearly 340,000 buys”

PPV revenues: $94.8 million = approximately ¼ of total net revenue in FY2006.

WWE LIBRARY: 75,000 hours of content = 25,000+ hours of “previously aired or released as finished product”. Specifically mentions WCW, ECW and AWA.

August 2006: WWE 24/7 On Demand will launch with Comcast.
As of 4/30/06, number of subscribers in North America was approximately 13k.
WWE 24/7 net revenues were $1.1 million in FY2006 (vs. <$0.1m in FY2005).

Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 video game (for PSP and PS2) sold about 2.9m units.

WWE book deal (with Simon and Schuster) = “Journey Into Darkness”, “Heartbreak and Triumph”, “Cheating Death, Stealing Life” and “Tangled Ropes”. Mentions Eddie Guerrero and Shawn Michael’s books being on the New York Times Best-Seller List.

Licensing net revenues, including music, were $32.2 million for FY2006.

WWE released 26 new home video titles = shipped approx. 3.0 million units.
WrestleMania: The Complete Anthology accounted for about $7.2m in gross domestic revenue in this category. Total Home Video net revenues were $42.6 million (up over 50% from FY2005 and FY2004).

Raw & Smackdown magazines each published 13 issues annual. They have been ceased for “one new flagship publication named WWE Magazine”. Magazine publishing net revenues were $11.1 million in FY2006.

WWE.com claims 11.6 million monthly unique users worldwide and average of 343 million page views per month in FY2006. WWE.com net revenues were $9.7m.

WWEShop net revenues were $12.1 million in FY 2006 (over 2.5x FY2005).

See No Evil – released May 19, 2006 (past the end of FY2006 so no revenue mentioned)
The Marine (w/ John Cena) = October 2006 – distributed by FOX
The Condemned (w/ Austin) = will be filming and spending $20m in the next 8 months.

Revenues outside of USA: $97.7 million in FY2006. This now accounts for ¼ of total revenues generated in Fiscal Year 2006.

“We have exclusive contracts with approximately 165 superstars, ranging from developmental contracts to multi-year guaranteed contracts with established Superstars…. Popular Superstars include Triple H, John Cena, Batista, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, Big Show and Kane…. We continually seek to identify, recruit and develop additional talent for our business. In this regard, we have arrangements with two wrestling developmental camps, Ohio Valley Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling, to allow newly identified talent the opportunity to perform for crowds and refine their skills.”

COMPETITION: “we face competition from professional and college sports as well as from other forms of live, film and televised entrainment and other leisure activities.”

Headcount as of April 2006 = 460 employees “excludes out Superstars, who are independent contractors.”

RISK FACTORS:
• failure to main/renew key agreements (“we are finalizing a new agreement with UPN and its successor, the CW Network, which has announced that Smackdown will continue on Friday Nights”)
• failure to continue to develop creative/entertaining programs leading to a popularity decline
• failure to retain or continue to recruit key performers could lead to a decline in appeal of our storylines (“our success depends, in large part, upon our ability to recruit, train and retain athletic performers who have the physical presence, acting ability and charisma to portray character in on live events and televised programming.”)
• the loss of creative services of VINCENT K MCMAHON
• a decline in general economic conditions (“the demand for entertainment and leisure activities tends to be highly sensitive to the level of consumers’ disposable income”)
• a decline in popularity of our brand of sports entertainment – including as a result of changes in social/political climate (“our programming is created to evoke a passionate response from our fans.”)
• changes in the regulatory atmosphere and related private-sector initiatives (basically if people crack down on what you do on TV)
• inability to adjust to “rapidly changing and increasingly fragmented marketplace”
• uncertainties with international markets (“obtaining visas for our performers, political insatiability, risks involved in foreign travel, local regulation, currency risk”)
• being prohibited from promoting and conducting our live events if we do not comply with applicable regulations (athletic commissions, foreign jurisdictions, licensing for pomroters0
• failure to protect intellectual property rights
• pending material litigation is resolved unfavorable (against World Wildlife Fund – “we strongly dispute that the Fund has suffered any loss or damage, and do not believe they are entitled to restitutionary damages.”) – application is likely to be heard in July 2006.
• inadequate insurance to cover liabilities resulting from accidents of injuries that occur during our physical demanding events (“our performers, as independent contractors, are responsible for marinating their own health, disability and life insurance, we self-insure health coverage for our performers in the event they are injured while performing.”)
• risks if expand into new/complimentary businesses
• conflicts of interest between VKM and other holders of Class A common stock
• if VKM ever sold his shares, it could lower the stock price
• the class A common shares have a relatively small public “Float”

Avg revenue per PPV buy: $14.96.
“Live events revenue decreased primarily due to a lower average ticket price in the current year (down from $74.53 to $69.18) specifically in internationally markets. This decline in revenues was offset, in part, by an increase in average attendance.”

Net Magazine publishing units sold: 4,096,700 units / 26 issues = 157.5k sold/issue.
“Magazine publishing revenues decreased preliminary due to a decline in the newsstand copies sold in fiscal 2006 as compared to the prior year.”

Home video revenues increased due to the “48% increase in gross units sold combined with an approximate $3.70 increase in the per unit sales price of DVDs.”

Average WWEShop revenue per order $53.42 (up from $47.78)

“As of April 30, 2006 – we have approximately $36.1 million in capitalized film production assets.”

Film Libraries: “the cost of film libraries acquired during fiscal 2006 was approximately $881,000.” (this would include Graham’s FL and AWA?)

Vince and Linda McMahon have agreed that starting July 1, 2006 – they will begin “paying for the use of the corporate jet so the company incurs no incremental costs as a result of such use that occurs on or after that date.”

IWW: Let's play Ketchup.. er, catch up!

Judgment Day PPV: Finlay vs Benoit - w/ Ray Rhodes (via phone)

ECW vs WWE: Head to Head: Cena/Sabu surprisingly solid - w/ Zip Whittle

ECW: ONE NIGHT STAND 2006: Funk is a mad man - w/ Ray Rhodes (in studio)

IWW: Jumps the Shark: NWWL recap! - w/ Biff Cheddarhead

Excellent shows, all of them.

SEE NO EVIL REVIEW

IWW reviews SEE NO EVIL with ..... TC WATTS!

Yes, the elusive cohost of Indeed Wrestling Weekly has been found alive and well. He's back to tell us all about Kane's feature film while Zip Whittle covers the latest news on ECW along with UFC predictions. A great show that runs about 50 minutes! Don't miss it! WELCOME NEW FANS FROM EGYPT & TURKEY!

IWW 5-11-06 posted

Over an hour of WWE and TNA discussion focusing on new faces, ages, midgets (with thoughts from Snakes McGee), booking, belts, backstage brawls, swallowing things such as your pride, wearing your kneepads on your shins, planning a 64-man tournament that has never been tried, latest on ECW and much, much, much more! Zip Whittle and special guest host (and returning under a new name) RAY RHODES~! Enjoy.

http://dl01.blastpodcast.com/indeedwrestling/15285_1147404255.mp3

IWW News & Notes 5-2-06 posted

IWW 5-2-06 news & notes (20 minutes)

Zip Whittle covers WWE & TNA developments including why Johnny Ace is hiring swimsuit models, where is Brock Lesnar going?, the next WWE world champion and why, where Tomko will be next, what happened to Palmer Cannon, how much Stacy earned for dancing, Chuck Palumbo's next gig?!, who won on PPV and didn't get booked for TV the next night, who made millions for a company and might not have seen .2% and MORE~!

ECW - Why now?

ECW: Why Now?
By Zip Whittle of indeedwrestling.com (indeedwrestling@gmail.com)

Surprising news broke on Sunday, April 23 2006 that the ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) brand is being resurrected as a fulltime product as part of the Vince McMahon wrestling empire. There has been plenty of talk in the past, but this development was much more than just idle chatter. Stories have been circulating that as early as last week, some former ECW stars were offered a one-year deal (with options for two more one-year extensions) for this new brand. Most importantly, head honcho and evil genius Paul Heyman had signed on to the project as head of ECW Creative. He is expected to head a team along with Tommy Dreamer and Ed Koskey (current RAW writer and former ECW fan).

Dave Meltzer, Bryan Alverez and websites such as Pro Wrestling Insider have been reporting that the ECW brand name would return for “merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows.” The latest news suggests that WWE will be sitting down with USA Network this week to pitch the show for a timeslot. It’s believed they are aiming for a weekend timeslot. One imagines that it would preferably be late at night. If they are unable to get another timeslot for a new show (WWE have been decreasing programming since leaving Spike having lost both Heat & Velocity in the past two years and only has a few syndicated shows mostly playing in international markets), they could replace a show like “AM RAW” (which plays 9 am and 2 am on Saturdays). As a last resort, the brand could be relegated to internet-only “television” though that would seriously impact the brand’s ability to create a real resurgence. Allegedly, the talent would be a mix of “former ECW wrestlers and new WWE development wrestlers”. As it currently stands, one of the most controversial ideas is to simply hold ECW television tapings prior Smackdown or RAW events instead of adding a third day of television. Some have likened this to the WWF “Los Superastros” television show that was shown on Spanish Language stations such as Univision in the late 90s.

This is the information that is currently available. A host of questions have been raised including:

• What happens with WWE developmental? Currently, there are two groups: OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, KY) and DSW (Deep South Wrestling in Atlanta, GA).
DSW: Deep South Wrestling has a bad reputation. It’s owned by the former director of the WCW Power Plant, Jody Hamilton and run under the auspices of lead trainer Bill “General Hugh E. Rection/Hugh Morrus” DeMott. The group has been described numerous times as “a mess” though it continues to run shows. The first show was held on September 1, 2005. They continue to hold weekly shows on Thursday nights in McDonough, GA. Many aspiring developmental talents opt to get moved to OVW if possible. It’s expected that if the ECW brand is resurrected, DSW will probably be on the chopping block with talent being reshuffled between the remaining company resources or simply cut.
OVW: Paul Heyman is currently in charge of OVW. After Jim Cornette was removed by the WWE in July 2005 (following a number of incidents including a confrontation with Kevin Fertig and Johnny Geo Basco), Al Snow & Tommy Dreamer had short runs in charge of the federation. If Paul Heyman truly takes on the ECW brand fulltime (as he would be expected to do), he’s expected to leave OVW. The federation could be shut down as a WWE affiliated developmental. (That doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the federation. Danny Davis and partners still own it.) If the federation continues, who would take over in creative? Al Snow might return to power. Lance Storm, the former trainer in OVW, would have been a strong choice but he left the group after his WWE contract ended on July 7, 2005. If DSW does shut down, it’s possible that someone like one of the trainers such as Bill DeMott would move to OVW. Alternately, someone like Jim Cornette might make a triumphant return as booker, though this is an unlikely or at least hugely speculative scenario.

• Does it work to tape ECW alongside RAW or Smackdown?
As is the honest answer to all of these questions: that remains to be seen.
However, in short, the idea does seem a poor fit. The ECW atmosphere – violent, bloody matches, original but unorthodox production values, minimal sets and maximum attitude – seems like it would clash with the elaborate pyro, giant stages and carefully scripted nature of RAW and Smackdown shows. When WWE revived ECW for their ONE NIGHT STAND PPV last year, they had the luxury of performing in a separate venue (Hammerstein Ballroom) re-using a small location that had been established back when ECW first lived. An important part of the ECW appeal lies in the intimate settings and interactions with the personal crowd. It doesn’t seem like the large arenas with the elaborate sets and staging for RAW & Smackdown would be a good fit. However, current plans call for exactly this. Thus, we should consider the advantages:
a/ Roster travels together, at least to television. Rivalries (and differences in locker room etiquette) between the RAW and Smackdown brand have grown up partially because the two brands rarely share a single space. They tend to tour separately and only see one another every few months during either a supershow (double taping) or combined major PPVs. Keeping everyone under one umbrella (TEAM WWE) is probably a good idea if they don’t want to have the ECW brand treated a second-rate or minor league.
b/ Developmental Talent would have the ability to mix with the established talent. Ideally, a wrestler gets their educated on the road, in front of live crowds and not only performing but watching others perform. Being at the main shows would be an excellent environment for new talent to learn the ropes and see many different facets of the wrestling environment.
c/ Preferably, writers and creative talent would be exposed to wrestlers as they improved. One major compliant about the current developmental system is that not only do inexperienced wrestlers often get called up solely on look (but not wrestling ability) but also they are given complete makeovers. One hopes that by keeping developmental closer to the creative teams means that both groups are able to give feedback to each other so the wrestlers can develop into the best possible attractions. However, this is quite an optimistic attitude considering just recently a person like Frankie Kazarian quit after realizing that writers had no clue who he was despite being on Velocity for several months.
d/ The demand for the ECW product (and former ECW stars) might be strong enough where taping at the large television venues creates an atmosphere where you have thousands of people at the television tapings and an intimate feeling at the smaller house shows. ECW might create a good reason to attend a houseshow. In many ways, that’s one area where RAW & Smackdown brands really fail – they don’t create a compelling reason to see the action live unless it’s a televised event.
e/ Merchandising – more people = more money. Being able to sell tons of ECW merchandise to a bigger crowd is always a good thing.

• Where does ECW fit into the house show/PPV business model?
Domestically, House Show business is up. While overall WWE PPV buyrates are holding strong, when you strictly consider North American buys, the bottom has really fallen out. International business is contributing growing percentages of PPV buys and strong touring houses (on the whole) to the WWE coffers. However, in the USA and Canada, the story is really MMA promotions (domestically categorized by UFC) that have been drawing phenomenal gates and stellar PPV buyrates.
While the television taping aspect remains to be worked out, the question rises whether ECW would work as a touring brand by itself. After the nostalgia PPVs held last year (Hardcore Homecoming and ECW ONS), there was lots of talks of hitting major ECW hotbeds with a crew of wrestlers. Those involved with the Hardcore Homecoming show did launch a short ill-fated “ECW Reunion Tour” (not officially called that but generally recognized as such) went on to hit some old ECW markets while other shows in places like New York were advertised but subsequently pulled. These tours did okay but not amazing business. However, in the end there was a lot of talk and very few shows. The resources for putting together tours like these aren’t easy. In this way, WWE would have a very strong advantage (with their deep pockets) over competitors trying similar ideas. In addition, WWE would be well-leveraged to consider international tours (Japan and Europe) where the gospel of ECW has grown much larger than even when it was an active promotion. The question is whether increasing international touring would ultimately weaken the uniqueness of professional wrestling as a draw overseas and hurt one of the last markets that have been so strongly supporting WWE. It’s expected that ECW would also have the luxury of PPVs (hopefully more like quarterly). Would these ECW PPVs cut into branded (RAW or Smackdown-only) PPV revenues? Would ECW be included in Wrestlemania? These questions remain to be seen.
The latest from Meltzer (4/26/06) reports: “WWE is looking at booking house shows in the buildings ECW use to run in Philadelphia (looking at 6/24 at the ECW Arena), Detroit, Chicago, Poughkeepsie, Buffalo, Cleveland, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Hammerstein Ballroom in New York for more events, Tampa, Long Island, throughout New Jersey and in Pittsburgh.”

• What are the disadvantages and advantages of this being under the WWE empire?
As previously mentioned, the media and financial resources of the WWE is an immense asset to ECW. WWE is going to the bat with USA for a television deal. ECW nearly had a USA deal in the past though when that fell through, they moved to TNN (the predecessor to SpikeTV). It’s also important to note that while remembered fondly, ECW never really made money. It wasn’t a rating hit and drew very few large houses that were honestly sold-out. However, that isn’t to say ECW had no impact on professional wrestling in the 1990s. Rather, it had an enormous impact and that legacy: part nostalgia and part influence is still felt strongly today. Paul Heyman is the position of creative genius without also having his fingers near the purse strings is a good thing. If he’s truly inspired to keep working in professional wrestling, this could be the opportunity he’s always dreamed of- creative power, major media exposure, deep money backer. However, Jim Cornette probably felt the same way about his OVW opportunity and eventually the rug was pulled out from underneath him.
If ECW talent is signing these three-year contracts, it’s likely they would also be part of the WWE “wellness” program. Can aging stars perform the violent and bloody style, while maintaining a healthy drug-free lifestyle? Would WWE just cast a blind eye on the group? One imagines that failure to address this question would further bring the entire policy into more question?
There is always the issue of politics in wrestling. In this case, it’s obvious that certain factions in WWE are very for the project while others are very much against it. It’s rumored that the McMahon(-Helmsley) family itself is split on the idea. No idea could be green lighted this far without the approval of Vincent K. McMahon. On the opposite side, I would postulate the people such as Steph McMahon and HHH are very much against the idea of bringing back the ECW brand.
There has been a large amount of media released in the past two years concerning ECW. There is at least three books (Scott Williams’ “The Extremely Unauthorized story of ECW” is already out, John Lister’s “Turning the Tables” and the upcoming WWE-endorsed work by Thom Loverro “Rise & Fall of ECW”), two major documentary DVDs (WWE’s “Rise & Fall of ECW” and “Forever Hardcore”) and two major shows (WWE’s “ECW: One Night Stand” and “Hardcore Homecoming”). With the upcoming PPV in June, perhaps immediately following this will be the best time to launch the ECW brand. Last year, WWE was roundly criticized for not only showing little faith in the ECW product by adding a WWE feud to the storyline but also failing to piggyback on momentum from the PPV the next night, virtually ignoring all the events on RAW that following day. However, it sounds like the timetable for a permanent and active ECW brand is accelerating. Meltzer reports that arenas are already being contacted for July 2006. Originally, things sounded more they would begin in the Fall following the August Summerslam PPV in Boston, MA.
One major advantage of being part of the WWE umbrella is the media division. WWE releases DVDs within one of major PPVs now. UFC and TNA take 3-6 months to complete the same task. Similarly, WWE has been expanding its magazine division to a possible third brand that could be devoted to ECW coverage. In addition, WWE has their 24/7 network, already owns the ECW Video Library, has distribution deals with cable networks around the world and an established brand name associated with professional wrestling.
In terms of major ECW talent, the roster is split between the indies, WWE and TNA. In WWE there are people such as Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley, Taz(z), Heyman, Stevie Richards, Tommy Dreamer and Nunzio (along with visitors such as Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Psychosis, Super Crazy, Vito and others). However, only RVD, Nunzio and Richards are really active wrestlers at this point. In TNA, there are the Dudleyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von under contract with Spike making appearances), Rhyno (also probably tied in TNA contract), Jerry Lynn (working backstage as an agent, interested in ECW), Sabu (who has finished his TNA engagements and signed with WWE). On the indies or partially retired include Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Tajiri (working in Japan though expected back for ECW ONS), Terry Funk (also expected for ONS), Steve Corino (working largely in Japan and World-1), and others like CW Anderson, Ball Mahoney (reported already signed), Sandman (reportedly signed), Francine (reportedly signed), Blue Meanie and Justin Credible (reportedly signed) floating around the indy scene. Of course, two major players in the ECW adventure are Paul Heyman and announcer Joey Styles – both part of the WWE family. One assumes (though it has not been officially announced) that Styles would be announcing this new incarnation.
One notion that has been brought up is that this new ECW would incorporate WWE developmental talent. Most notably, I would expect CM Punk, a Heyman pet project in OVW to make the transition into ECW. This is especially interesting because if WWE essentially puts developmental talent on television, it makes it much harder for them to ignore those storylines and characters when they call up talent to the “main” rosters. In the past, this has been an infuriating and mind-boggling process for OVW bookers as their top talent would get called up and immediately changed with virtually no warning.

• Will it work?
All, the $25,000 question. Actually, the failure or success of the WWE relaunch of ECW will cost a hell of a lot more than that! To get wrestlers to sign contracts with a one-year minimum on them, to create the marketing promotion behind the movement, to relocate talent, reallocate resources and most importantly – create a new television show and a successful tour – this will be an expensive endeavor. Consider TNA’s “success”: three years running, somewhere between $20 and $30 million spent.

Some people have suggested storylines like RVD winning the WWE title from John Cena at the ECW One Night Stand 2006 and throwing it down ala Shane Douglas/NWA/ECW 1994 incident. Others have joked about ECW becoming ENTERTAINMENT CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING. The real question remains: can you bring back this environment and this atmosphere? Some argue that ECW was a revolution or at least a passing fad. Wrestling has definitely evolved in the past decade – growing fat on the backs of the Monday Night wars, the Rock/Austin years, the sale of WCW, the crash after the Invasion angle, wrestling jumping networks, the rise and fall and rise again of MMA, the birth of a competitor in TNA, and this latest, and this most recent upswing in professional wrestling. In honesty, ECW cannot survive by simply living on the past. The original stars are retired (Taz), not likely to rejoin a WWE-version of ECW (Shane Douglas), otherwise employed (Dudleyz) and passed away (Chris Candido). Still, ECW was an attitude. It was about exposing people to new forms of wrestling (i.e. bringing in luchadores, adapting the Japanese garbage style of FMW) as well as being the grounds for fresh faces and people looking for a second chance to prove themselves. Perhaps we’ll see some of the stars of ROH who haven’t made a splash in TNA get a shot in this new, developmental league of ECW. Perhaps we’ll see the reintroduction of different body types, different hair lengths, and different wrestling styles into the WWE family. It’s a new world out there. WWE should recognize that it can’t continue to coast domestically using the same product that is losing fans and failing to connect to the new generation. Perhaps bringing back the ECW name with a mix of established and new talent will give the momentum required to reinvigorate it’s product. Then again, in a federation full of reprisals of successful angles (nWo, possibly DX) – could this just be the latest incarnation of the Horsemen - one that the public doesn’t actually plan on paying to see? Time will tell.