The Hamilton Ave Journal 09.17.09: Volume 2 – Issue 104

Posted by JP Prag on 09.17.2009

Can the WWE survive Linda McMahon and Carl De Marco leaving the company? Will Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff be able start a wrestling promotion? Why did Jim Cornette really get fired from TNA? Will Miami be the home for WrestleMania 27 or 28? Has Jeff Hardy fallen off the Top Ten? How did wrestlers view TNA’s “tryouts” in Australia? All this and more is answered in this week’s edition of the Hamilton Ave Journal!

THE HAMILTON AVE JOURNAL
By JP Prag

Volume 2 – Issue 104

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

The Hamilton Ave Journal is the only wrestling news report focused solely on the business of wrestling. Here in the Journal we not only look at the stories that are important to the investor and business-minded person, but also delve deeper into stories that most fans of wrestling would overlook. That is because the Journal is about getting the heart of the matters that affect the companies and outlooks of the wrestling world.

And where is Hamilton Ave? That is the location of the WWE Production Studio in Stamford, CT, and thus the most powerful place in the wrestling world. Besides, The East Main Street Journal just does not have the right ring to it.

Who am I? I am JP Prag: consultant, entrepreneur, businessman, journalist, and wrestling fan.

Now, ring the bell because the market is open.






The Journal's front page area known as What's News isn't just about telling you what has happened. The stories in this section are about what will have an effect on the wrestling industry, individual federations, and the wallets of the fans.

LEAD STORY: Changing Heads

This week has been a major shift at the top of the WWE as two major forces in the company's history.

First up, President of WWE Canada Carl De Marco announced a sudden departure after fourteen years with the WWE and five ears as Bret Hart's manager. As recently as December 2008, Mr. De Marco spoke with SLAM! Sports about the opportunities in Canada and how he was looking forward to shows returning to the country. And the WWE finally did begin those tours this year, completing their second one this year just two days ago.

However, it appears this has not been enough for Mr. De Marco. This may have had more to do with pressures in the recent change to international markets. As covered in the Journal in Issue #72, the WWE shut down their Canadian offices as part of their cost cutting measures. Most of the staff kept their jobs as they were selling advertising, but Mr. De Marco no longer had a place to work and may not have enjoyed making his home his office.

Not only was Mr. De Marco in charge of Canada, but since 2007 he has held responsibility for two of the WWE's fastest growing markets: Latin America and China. With so much work to do in these markets, including the impending return to Mexico, it would seem that Mr. De Marco had plenty to do. His departure will leave a large hole in the company that will not be quickly filled.

But not to be outdone, this news was overshadowed when WWE CEO Linda McMahon announced her resignation. From the press release:

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Linda McMahon has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer after announcing her candidacy for the United States Senate, representing the state of Connecticut. Vince McMahon assumes the duties of Chief Executive Officer in addition to his current position as WWEฎ Chairman. McMahon will be supported by the seasoned executive management team already in place and led by Chief Operating Officer and board member, Donna Goldsmith.

As had been rumored several months back, Mrs. McMahon is seeking a seat in the Senate for the state of Connecticut. Originally the WWE stated that Mrs. McMahon would step down if she decided to run, and that is exactly what happened.

The street was relatively unmoved as the WWE closed almost flat at $14.26. On the dollar note, though, Mrs. McMahon claims that she will not accept funding from special interest groups nor individual contributions over $100.

Most likely this is not a major change for the WWE as Mr. McMahon has truly be in charge of the company since its inception and Donna Goldsmith has been running operations for quite a while. There will be a shift in how the office operates, but overall business will go on as usual in the WWE. Should Mrs. McMahon not win her seat, expect her to return to her old position for the foreseeable future.


More Competition

After years of planning, it appears that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff are finally set to launch their own wrestling promotion. "Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin" will launch on Saturday November 21, 2009 with a tour of Australia. The promotion appears to be a limited international touring company that will go on several sweeps overseas. From the press release:

For the first time ever, Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan will tour Australia. His new event HULKAMANIA - Let the Battle Begin, will be playing arenas in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, November 2009.

For over two decades the name Hulk Hogan has been synonymous with sports entertainment and professional wrestling. Having set live attendance records all over the world including a live gate of more that 96,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome, Hulk Hogan has set his sites on Australia as his next frontier.

"I have been blessed with the opportunity to perform in front of fans around the world," said Hogan. "I have always wanted to perform in Australia as I have heard Aussies are some of the greatest wrestling fans ever. I am grateful for this opportunity, and hope that this is just the beginning of a great thing!"

"In 2002 there were rumours of Hulk Hogan coming to Australia which sent wrestling fans into meltdown," said promoter Michael Condon. "This time it's real and confirmed and the Hulk is bringing some of the greats of wrestling with him."

HULKAMANIA will also i some of the top stars that compete all over the world, and will include state of the art production. The arenas will be plastered with large screens to show the audience what is happening back stage in between wrestling matches. The night will also contain audience participation, a huge pyro techniques display and more.

Those top stars are now confirmed to include Ken Anderson, Val Venis, Umaga, and Lacey Von Erich. Bill Goldberg was rumored, but he stated on his twitter page that he has no interest. Diamond Dallas Page and Jeff Hardy have also been contacted, but neither have committed yet.

Bigger news than all of that was the late breaking piece that Ric Flair has signed a 3-year deal with the organization. How an organization that does not fully exist yet could sign a 3-year deal remains to be seen, but the story looks to be that Mr. Flair will wrestle for the first time since WrestleMania 24. As of September 15, 2009, though, Mr. Bischoff had this to say on the contract status of Mr. Flair:

"That would be premature… If Terry (Hulk Hogan) and I get an opportunity to work with him we would love it, but it's not wrapped up yet."

Later than same night, Jason Powell reported after speaking with Eric Bischoff that Ric Flair had officially signed with the company. It would appear we will know for sure soon when the promotion starts to announce their cards. Tickets go on sale today, so the Journal will try to follow up on how those go in time for next week's article.


Newsbites

Some items of note in the rest of the wrestling business world:

The city of Miami in Florida is hoping to learn next week if they will host a WrestleMania in 2011 or 2012. Also on the waiting list of those who have made pitches are Indianapolis, Toronto, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Jacksonville. Cities have really taken to heart the idea of WrestleMania being a destination event that brings $50+ million to the area and are pitching hard to get the showcase of the immortals.

TNA has added two more releases to their list as long time friend of Jeff Jarrett BG James let go followed shortly by Jim Cornette. James had been acting as a backstage agent and was said to be well liked, but it appears that was not enough to protect him. Cornette is a long-time opponent of Vince Russo and has gone on record as stating that he could never work with him, but proved he could do so in TNA for years. It was first believed that Cornette was released because he was close to Jarrett, but the Sun UK released this article late Wednesday evening:

JIM CORNETTE was fired by TNA after throwing one temper tantrum too many, a senior industry source has told SunSport.

Cornette — who was previously sacked by WWE after going crazy and slapping Santino Marella — is said to have caused a major scene at the most recent TNA TV tapings, arguing with head writer Vince Russo.

It was previously thought the legendary wrestling manager was let go because of his friendship with the exiled Jeff Jarrett.

However our source revealed: "Everyone was in a production meeting with Russo running down the show, but Cornette went nuts screaming 'why are we pushing Eric Young?'

"Russo reacted calmly and said it wasn't a big deal, but Cornette wouldn't let it go and kept screaming about it, really causing a scene. He just wouldn't stop.

"Even after the meeting broke, Cornette was walking around complaining to everyone who would listen.

"When even production people went up to TNA bosses and said Cornette has been acting unprofessionally — and this was just his latest refusal to be a pro — they decided to terminate his contract.

"This wasn't politics or anything to do with Jeff. It was purely a decision prompted by the same behaviour that got Jim fired in WWE."

TNA was not the only one cleaning house as the WWE released several members of the development team in FCW including Kris Logan, Aiden Frost, Troy Jackman, Fletcher Chase, and Espiral. It would appear the WWE does not see growth in these men for now and instead will be looking for new talent to join their ranks.

After a slight modification two weeks back, the WWE has updated their corporate website again to a much sleeker look that is more in line with the rest of the brand image.

Vivendi Entertainment has acquired the rights to home video releases for the WWE in the United States. Vivendi bought the rights form Genius Products, along with a set of other notable brands. It remains to be seen if the WWE will renew their contract with Vivendi when it comes up again in a few years.

TNA has release a free "lite" version of their game for the iPhone in an effort to increase sales of the full version. The game plays more like an old RPG than a wrestling game which has made it an interesting sell.

In a recent interview with Indian Television, TNA President Dixie Carter stated that 15% of revenues now come from outside the United States and that TNA expects to have a 10% growth in revenue this year. She also had this to say on a second TNA video game:

We released our first video game in September 2008 with Midway Games which to-date has sold close to 1.5 million units. We are currently evaluating our options for our next video game partner due to the Warner acquisition of Midway and expect to make an announcement soon




In the Marketplace we look at the trends in television ratings. This section is less for critical analysis by the Journal but more for the reader to see what is really going on and to draw their own conclusions.

As with stocks, here in the Journal we track the progress of television ratings. If ratings are the barometer by which we judge the product, then over the course of 52 weeks we should be able to see patterns, trends, and anomalies.

For the week ending Wednesday September 16, 2009, here are the current standings of our shows:





RAW
Close (This Week's Rating): 3.4
Open (Last Week's Rating): 3.8
Percentage Change: ▼ 10.5%
52-Week High: 4.5
52-Week Low: 2.9
All Time High: 8.1
All Time Low: 1.8

SmackDown*
Close (This Week's Rating): 1.8
Open (Last Week's Rating): UNAV
Percentage Change: N/A
52-Week High: 2.4
52-Week Low: 1.6
All Time High: 5.8
All Time Low: 1.0

* SmackDown! ratings may include fast overnight if final ratings are not posted. Also, SmackDown! ratings are for the prior week as overnights are not available before this article goes to print.

ECW
Close (This Week's Rating): 1.2
Open (Last Week's Rating): 1.0
Percentage Change: ▲ 20.0%
52-Week High: 1.4
52-Week Low: 0.7
All Time High: 2.3
All Time Low: 0.6

TNA iMPACT**
Close (This Week's Rating): 0.9
Open (Last Week's Rating): 1.0
Percentage Change: ▼ 5.3%
52-Week High: 1.3
52-Week Low: 0.9
All Time High: 1.3
All Time Low: 0.6

** TNA iMPACT's are for the prior week as ratings may not be available at the time of the Journal's posting

SuperStars***
Close (This Week's Rating): 0.8
Open (Last Week's Rating): 0.8
Percentage Change: UNCH
52-Week High: 1.0
52-Week Low: 0.7
All Time High: 1.0
All Time Low: 0.7

*** SuperStars ratings may include fast overnight if final ratings are not posted. Also, SuperStars ratings are for the prior week as overnights are not available before this article goes to print.

Analysis:

Football was no friend to wrestling this week. Both iMPACT and RAW took major hits coming against the NFL's opening games. iMPACT was by far worse off when they scored their lowest rating in over a year with a 0.9. The last time they have that rating was on August 14, 2008. Since a couple of weeks of record 1.3's in July, iMPACT has been on a straight line downward trend.

RAW's recent victories were reversed as well when the show scored a 3.4 rating, the lowest since June 1, 2009. With Monday Night Football back, RAW's ratings must be closely watched to see if even the big name guest hosts can continue to bring in ratings. At this time last year, RAW's ratings sunk from a 3.4 on August 4, 2008 to a 2.6 on September 15, 2008. The month of September 2008 actually has a 2.9 average rating. Will RAW sink down to those levels this year, or are they in a much better position to be competition to the NFL?




We all know that wrestling is a business, but we don't often pay attention to what sells and makes money. Money and Investing looks into the top selling items in the world of wrestling and any interesting figures that may have come out this week.

What are the top ten selling items for the WWE? From WWEShopZone.com:

1. D Generation X Worlds Biggest Member T-Shirt ($25)
2. Best of SmackDown 10th Anniversary DVD/T-Shirt Package ($54.95, on sale $25.99)
3. John Cena 2009 Halloween Package ($39.99)
4. Rey Mysterio 2009 YOUTH Halloween Package ($61.75, on sale $33.99)
5. John Cena Attitude Adjustment T-Shirt ($25)
6. Best of SmackDown 10th Anniversary DVD ($34.95, on sale $18.90)
7. WWE White Gift Bag ($3)
8. Hardys Purple Logo Skull Cap ($20, on sale $5.98)
9. The Rise and Fall of WCW DVD/NWO Retro T-Shirt Package ($54.95, on sale $26.99)
10. Randy Orton Root of Evil T-Shirt ($25)

This list is highly suspect as just two weeks after Jeff Hardy leaves his items completely drop out of the Top Ten except for a mix Hardy skull cap. This does not seem likely considering past trends of when Hardy was away (injuries and suspensions), so it would seem that WWE.com is manipulating their top selling list due to current events. Meanwhile, that has allowed other items to move and make appearances, including two spots for SmackDown's 10th Anniversary DVD. WWE.com heavily marketed the Halloween items, but those will be covered in the Editorials section below.


TNA sometimes releases a list of top selling items on ShopTNA.com. According to the site the top selling items were:

1. Labor Day 12 Pack DVD Set ($240, on sale $39.99)
2. Labor Day 3 Shirt Pack ($60, on sale $24.99)
3. Labor Day 6 Pack DVD Set ($120, on sale $24.99)
4. Slammiversary 2009 DVD ($17.99, on sale $14.99)
5. Sacrifice 2009 DVD ($19.99, on sale $9.99)
6. Single Pack Of Five Impact Trading Cards 2009 Edition ($2.99)
7. Sting "Discharge" T-shirt ($19.99)
8. TNA Stars 8 X 10 Extravaganza ($29.99)
9. TAZ "FTW" Shirt ($19.99)
10. Lockdown – 2009 DVD ($19.99, on sale $11.99)

It looks like TNA took Labor Day a little too seriously and took off for an extra week.




Wrestling isn't just about watching and reading. The best way to be a wrestling fan is to experience it live. Where is wrestling coming to in the next 2 weeks? The Personal Journal answers that question.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
20 (Sep) SmackDown / ECW Live (Portland, ME)	21 RAW (Little Rock, AK) TNA iMPACT (Orlando, FL)	22 SmackDown / ECW (Tulsa, OK) TNA iMPACT (Orlando, FL)	23	24 RAW Live (Guatemala City, Guatemala) SmackDown / ECW Live (Madrid, Spain)	25 RAW Live (Leon, Mexico) SmackDown / ECW Live (Nice, France) TNA Live (Nuremberg, Germany) ROH Live (Boston, MA)	26 RAW Live (Guadalajara, Mexico) SmackDown / ECW Live (Paris, France) TNA Live (Chemnitz, Germany) ROH Live (New York City, NY)
27 SmackDown / ECW Live (Paris, France)	28 RAW (Albany, NY)	29 SmackDown / ECW (Boston, MA) TNA Live (Dortmund, Germany)	30 TNA Live (Hanover, Germany)	1 (Oct)	2 TNA Live (Zurich, Switzerland)	3 TNA Live (Dublin, Ireland)

Do you know a wrestling event coming up? Send one in to The Hamilton Ave Journal and we'll be sure to add it to the list.




The Editorials section is designed for you, the readers, to respond to the views presented in the Journal, send an important news item, or talk about another overlooked business related item in wrestling. Just beware: the Journal reserves the right to respond back.

From the commentary section last week, Smitty checks in from Australia:

Worth noting that TNA has received substantial mainstream publicity in Australia over the last week.

While Jarrett and Hemme featured on talk shows Rove and 9am, and radio station SEN, it the tryouts for Australians to feature on the tour that saw TNA feature on Sports Tonight and Today.

This is more media coverage than TNA has ever had in Australia, and it's all come in a few days. The idea of holding tryouts for Australians was a particularly good one, and set TNA apart from other wrestling tours.

Good to hear TNA's international presence continues to help their company and that they are getting some attention. The Journal has gotten reports from someone who was a part of the tryouts, and here is what this person had to say:

Well, it went as well as you could expect for a 3 minute match for a contest that's probably rigged in terms of they probably know who they wanted to win for a one night appearance that's really just to get attention and free publicity for the tour later on.

But Borash liked me, and I got on the telly, so there's that.

There you have it. Also on the TNA front, we explored the possibility of fewer PPVs a year. Fatty Hardy provides the follow-up:

"Well, if there are 12 PPVs that average 25,000 buys as stated above, that is roughly $9.0 million in gross revenue and $4.5 in net revenue. If TNA were to drop to 8 PPVs per year, buyrates would have to increase to 37,500 buys in order to maintain the same level of revenue, an increase of 50%. Is this feasible for TNA? Normally, a 50% increase would seem plausible, but given the low starting numbers that remains in reason."

True, but when you take into consideration operating expenses going down quite a bit by decreasing ppv's, and keeping in mind it's ALL ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE, then TNA's goal to be more profitable in the PPV department seems to be at least a little more within reach.

If they save 100k in expenses per ppv eliminated (again, could be much more when taking everything into consideration), they'd save almost half a million by reducing their schedule to 8 ppv's. Those savings would go a long way.

Guest#3011 agrees:

The numbers for cutting down the number of PPVs each year for TNA work out better than shown.

If they halve the number of PPVs, they do not need to double the number of buys. Each show only requires one satellite uplink - eliminating a cost of $50-$200K (from article). At $30/buy that is 1667-6667 less buys they need per show on average. That is a significant percentage drop in needed buys - 3%-13%. Plus, the wrestlers and staff only get paid for one PPV, an expense that would have been doubled for doing 12 shows. I don't know what that payout is, but that is still a large number of buys. So if they halve the number of shows, TNA might only need to raise the average number of buys per show from 25,000 to 40,000 to reach the same net profit.

With more time to build and stronger writing combined with less availability (why buy the next PPV when there is another just a few weeks away?), this may be entirely reasonable.

The Journal completely agrees, though we were trying to maximize profit, not just get the same amount. But by those methods, there only needs to be slighter growth in buyrates in order to make more profit which—as you said—is the true goal. Too many companies focus on maximizing revenue, but revenue can be costly. There are $40 billion companies that are not profitable and $5 million companies that are almost pure profit. In the true cash sense, the latter one is actually successful while the former is a failure waiting to happen.

Leaving buyrates and going to ratings, Indianguy asks:

My question is TNA related. They say they started to focus on younger talent again and Wham their ratings slid...A minor hiccup or two is not bad but when your rating is 0.95 (rounded to 1) then it shows maybe the crowd pullers are the old guys...whether its good for them long term or not who knows but it is good for them short term...besides who knows for the mainstream fan shoving a Matt Morgan or British invasion (or whatever) makes no sense since they don't have enough credibility...Its like starting from the bottom right... Do you think MEM has equated rating/ merch etc??

Merchandise sales? Yes, the older talent is far outselling most of the home grown guys. Ratings? There are too many factors to count, not the least of which is competition both from going back to school time, football, and fall shows returning. Also, the MEM has given TNA focus which could have also helped other areas of their product. Despite the straight down trend noted above, it is still too early to say that younger talent is an issue. And even if it is, new talent is where TNA needs to go in the long term, so short term pain should be worth it.

Making the transition from TNA to WWE (literally) is Matt in Omaha:

Regarding Dixie and "booking" wrestling... don't forget that the term "booking" can be to arrange to have a show at a venue. Such as: "I booked Green Day to play at the City Auditorium" From what was said by the person who talked to her, and with her event background, I think she booked a show, but she didn't have The BOOK. That make sense?

Yes, but the term "booking" holds special connotation in the wrestling industry, and she was on the "Internet Wrestling Radio Show", a show that would use that term in that sense. Ms. Carter knew she was manipulating words while remaining "true to fact", a tactic that she often uses.

Otherwise, it seems like you left out the name of the WWE former counsel and there were a few other omissions in this article. Just in case you wanted to touch it up.

HTML error. The former counselor for the WWE was Edward L. Kaufman.

Now in the WWE, Northants Grecian cannot believe what is selling:

Are there really people out there who would buy an adult John Cena Halloween kit? Kids are allowed the "I'm too young to realise my mistake" excuse, but adults?

Yes, and RAW is a more watched show than SmackDown. The sensibilities of those who visit 411mania are not in line with much of the general wrestling public. Also consider that kids these days (especially in the USA) are much bigger than a couple of decades ago and therefore may have to wear adult sizes.

The RAW thought from above comes from Parxy:

How can RAW have such good ratings? As much as I love Smackdown! at the minute, I wouldn't blame WWE for thinking that RAW is working with the fans and that Smackdown! should take a page from RAW's book...

I know there's obviously other factors like Smackdown! is on Fridays, but it certainly looks like RAW is doing everything right just looking at the ratings...

The WWE is not necessarily the best at figuring out A + B = C, but it appears that they are looking to get unique brands again. A year after the beginning of the brand extension, only 30% of the audience watched both RAW and SmackDown, which means that most people were unique to each show. A decision was made to make the shows more alike because they wanted to merge the audiences. Instead, it had the opposite affect and ratings dropped for both shows. Since then, it appears the WWE has finally learned their lesson and decided to have unique audiences for their brands.

And finally this week, Devin has a formatting complaint:

Honestly, why put Joey Styles face in the preview for this week's edition of this column on the main page of 411 Wrestling and have the opening headlined asking what Styles thinks of WWE.com removing the industry news section, when within the article it briefly states there is no word on how he feels about this??!? Doesn't make any fucking sense and it's misleading. Isn't it basically irrelevant when there is not even any actual word on Styles thoughts regarding the decision?

The top story last week was on TNA's potentially dropping PPVs, but the Journal is not in charge of front page images. That job falls squarely on the editor of 411mania who happens to also be the man who approved your comment (so he has read it). In his defense, though, he was about to go under the knife for neck surgery, so who knows what type of pain killers he was on?


Plenty more was written, so be sure to take a look. And if you enjoy the Journal, why not bookmark 411mania.com and make it your home page? You can do that by clicking here.




This concludes Issue #104 (Volume 2) of THE HAMILTON AVE JOURNAL. Join us next week as we get ready to ring the bell again.

Till then!