WWE Q4 2011 results and analysis

WWE finally released its business for the last 3 months of 2011, and I can see why they waited so long. I'll go into all of it after the break.
To try to prevent this from becoming too much of a wall of text, I'll post the link to the results and give a running analysis on it instead of taking it step-by-step: http://ir.corporate.wwe.com/file.aspx?IID=4121687&FID=12752661

Those numbers aren't pretty. If you're looking for a CliffsNotes version, it's "the brand is notably weaker than it was the year before".

It shouldn't be any surprise that that the Films division continues to be a problem area of the company. This is looking more and more like a potential bust. The core WWE audience isn't connecting to these movies well enough despite a lot of advertising, and they probably aren't really able to reach non-WWE fans. It will take time for the new strategies they implemented previously to take effect with new movies. They're in quite the quandary: do they stick around and take more losses in the hopes that the non-WWE focused films will work out for them, or do they leave their current offerings on the vine and cut losses for the time being?

Not having NXT and Superstars on the air in the States is another hit to business. They're taking a HUGE gamble on the WWE Network, and the potential to move the shows there. If that flops, they'll be out a pretty sizable amount of money. It's concerning that they're really backing off on the Network idea after pushing so strongly for it and putting a lot of time, money, and effort towards its creation. I really hope they know what they're doing, because things aren't pretty in the early stages.

PPV business is, not shockingly, down from last year outside of The Rock's involvement. It's important to note that TLC was a week ahead of Christmas, and didn't feature John Cena. Here's a look at the performers on each card for the last 3 months of 2010 and 2011:
Hell in a Cell 2010: Daniel Bryan, John Morrison, and The Miz compete for the U.S. Title.  All thee of them have/had (in Morrison's case) gotten more over and higher up on the card since then, so no real beefs there other than Morrison being released.
Randy Orton vs. Sheamus for the WWE Title. Both of these men are still mostly strong, so I can't really complain.
Edge beat Jack Swagger. Edge is now retired, and Swagger is in midcard Purgatory compared to his previous pushes. Not a good match for the company long-term.
Wade Barrett beat John Cena, and Cena had to join Nexus. This was a pretty hot angle that ended  with Cena standing tall (again). A fair number of Nexus/New Nexus members are either directionless or released now. 
Natalya retained the Divas' Title over Michelle McCool. Natalya's now pretty much the go-to "jobber" of the division getting others over, and McCool's retired. Not good for them or the company long-term.
Kane beat The Undertaker in the World Title main event. After being pushed as two of THE top guys in 2010, Taker's only appeared a couple of times since, and Kane probably doesn't have a huge amount of time left in his career either. This was a great story and HIAC fit for once, but another somewhat short-sighted use of older names.
In contrast to HIAC 2011, which wasn't as successful:
Sheamus defeated Christian. Not much to say here. It takes a good deal of time to build draws people want to see. Christian was a non-main-event guy for so long, it wasn't easy changing things around.
Sin Cara (Azul) beat Sin Cara (Negro). Two newer stars who weren't with the company the years previous. Injury derailed this one. Sin Cara has the potential to be pretty big in the company if they play their cards right.
Air Boom beat Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler. Three of these men used to be main eventers. They're all still fairly early in their careers, so there's a chance they'll all grow into draws (if Bourne doesn't get released).
Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton for the World Title. The Hall of Pain angle was a boon to ratings, so I doubt it's to blame for the decline.
Cody Rhodes defeated John Morrison for the IC Title. Rhodes is moving up in the world, but Morrison's gone for at least the time being. Mixed bag here.
Beth Phoenix beat Kelly Kelly. Another angle people were really into that's fizzled.
Alberto Del Rio beat C.M. Punk and John Cena to win the WWE Title. Del Rio and Punk are new to the main event scene compared to Cena.

Bragging Rights 2010 vs. Vengeance 2011. This was only a couple of weeks after Hell in a Cell, and did a pretty terrible number. That's saying something, since 2010 did a bad number in its own right.
BR 2010:
Daniel Bryan beat Dolph Ziggler. I wouldn't consider either man as big draws then. Both are gaining momentum now.
David Otunga and John Cena beat Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. Otunga's just now gaining back steam after being fairly directionless for a while after Nexus. McIntyre's pretty much AWOL a lot of times.
Ted DiBiase beat Goldust. DiBiase's on the comeback trail after his push was dropped. As much effort as they put into him as a heel before now and it didn't work out. Goldust is at least semi-retired. Marys (released) and Aksana were at ringside.
Layla beat Natalya. I've covered Natalya. Layla's injured now. Can't really blame anyone for that.
Kane beat Undertaker with Nexus' help. While it could be argued that Kane's still doing pretty well, the others involved have either disappeared, been depushed, or are part-timers.
Big Show/Mysterio/Swagger/Del Rio/Edge/Tyler Reks/Kingston beat Miz/Truth/Santino/Sheamus/Punk/Ezekiel. Show's still doing well, but Mysterio's injured. Swagger's kind of directionless, Del Rio's doing fair enough but not great. Edge retired from years of bumps. Reks (who beat NXT Season 2 winner Kaval to get to that spot) is fighting for TV time. Kingston's push finally looks to be on again. Miz is a main eventer now thank goodness, as is R-Truth. Morrison's out, Santino's not doing badly, but Zeke and Alex Riley (who was in Miz's corner) are lower now than they used to be.
Wade Barrett beat Randy Orton by DQ in the WWE Title match. He's just now gaining the momentum he lost when Nexus collapsed. I can't stress enough how the people in that group have fallen since being in such a huge angle.

Vengeance 2011:
Rematch with Air Boom, Swagger, and Ziggler.
Ziggler beat Zack Ryder, who is still relatively untested as a draw.
Beth beat Eve. Fairly hot angle.
Rematch with Sheamus and Christian.
Miz and R-Truth beat Triple H and C.M. Punk. It's telling that HHH being in the ring didn't increase buys. This was a hot angle, but not as hot as when Punk was THE GUY in wrestling opposing the company and HHH. HHH and Nash derailed potential breakout stars.
Randy Orton beat Cody Rhodes. Rhodes is recovering.
Henry and Show had the big ring collapse angle. They drew ratings, so it's disappointing that PPV rates were down.
Del Rio beat Cena in a Last Man Standing match. This also should have drawn better. Maybe some felt it was inevitable that Cena would get the title again? Del Rio's fairly new in the main event scene, so that could be it to some degree too.

Survivor Series 2010:
Bryan beat DiBiase. At least Bryan's doing better now.
Morrison beat Sheamus. One man's being positioned as a Mania headliner now, and one man's out of the company.
Ziggler beat Kaval, who might as well have been a flash-in-the-pan as far as his WWE career is concerned. He won NXT Season 2 and it didn't work out for him.
Mysterio/Kingston/Masters/Big Show/MVP beat Del Rio/Reks/McIntyre/Swagger/Rhodes. Masters and MVP were released despite getting over. Lost potential there. The others have been addressed.
Natalya beat Lay-Cool in a handicap match to retain the Divas Title. Look where they all are in 2012.
Kane fought Edge to a draw for the World Title. No new stars built.
Gabriel and Slater beat Santino and Kozlov for the tag titles. While the other 3 are catching on now, Kozlov's gone.
Orton beat Barrett with Cena as referee to start the Cena "firing" angle. Great start to an angle that ended with us pretty much where we started (no Nexus, Cena a top guy).

Survivor Series 2011 (did better. Built around Rock's return.):
Ziggler beat Morrison for the U.S. Title. Morrison was on his way out. Fans were BEGGING for Ryder to be in this match instead. He did get a post-match run-in. They need to do better with building for the future when using people who aren't going to be around long.
Beth beat Eve. Angle has since fizzled.
Barrett/Rhodes/Swagger/Hunico/Ziggler beat Orton/Sheamus/Mason Ryan/Kofi/Sin Cara. They're still trying to get Mason over. I guess he's 2011's Tyler Reks. Maybe Hunico will catch on his current role.
Big Show beat Mark Henry by DQ in the World Title match. Hot angle, but with two wrestlers who've been in the company for quite some time and getting towards the ends of their careers.
Punk beat Del Rio to end a fairly brief Del Rio title reign. Thankfully Punk's kept the title since.
Rock was made out to be a lot bigger than Cena, Miz, and Truth. Truth would be suspended not too long after this (which they knew was going to happen going into the match). Note who's on the road now and who isn't.

TLC 2010 vs. TLC 2011:
TLC 2010:
Ziggler beat Kofi and Swagger. I've already addressed these guys.
Natalya and Beth beat Lay-Cool in a tables match. This actually did work out long-term.
Santino and Kozlov beat Gabriel and Slater to retain the tag titles. The champs were over, but long-term Kozlov's not with WWE anymore.
Morrison beat Sheamus in a barn-burner. Pretty over stuff.
Miz defeated Orton for the WWE Title in a Tables match. The start of Miz as a main eventer. Thankfully they built long-term with that one.
Edge beat Kane, Mysterio, and Del Rio. Del Rio was still pretty new then, so it was good enough in my eyes that he was in the title picture. The other 3 are either retired or winding their careers down.
Cena beat Barrett in a Chairs match, pretty much killing the rest of the Nexus angle.

TLC 2011:
Ryder beat Ziggler to win the U.S. Title. Big moment. Ryder's still growing as someone to watch.
Air Boom beat Epico and Primo. The latter team's pretty new to things. I hope they have staying power.
Orton beat Barrett. Both are still pretty over.
Beth beat Kelly. The angle kind of fell apart shortly thereafter when they ran out of credible contenders for the time being.
Triple H beat Kevin Nash in a pretty big match. Neither guy is on the road full-time now. We went from everyone talking about what Punk would do next to people talking about how they couldn't wait for HHH/Nash to be over with. Did zilch for the company long-term other than end something fans were tired of.
Sheamus beat Swagger as Sheamus gets built towards the Rumble.
Big Show beat Mark Henry to win the World Title. Henry was hurt.
Bryan beat Show after cashing in MITB. Finally started to build him.
Rhodes beat Booker T for the IC Title in an angle that helped credibly build Rhodes.
Punk beat Miz and Del Rio in an awkward 3-way feud that felt out of place as a TLC match.

As you can see, it's kind of a mixed bag with PPVs. They continue to have their work cut out for them in building new draws and telling stories people want to see continued/concluded with matches.

As for the conference call:
The WWE Network is still planned for launch later this year. They're still in negotiations with cable companies about it. This needs to be big for them to justify everything going into it.

Update: later in the call, they referred to it as a "potential" Network. Not a good sign at all given how much money and time they've invested in it.

Update: Then it became that they'd launch it "in one form or another" this year. So, maybe not a Network in the traditional sense, but maybe something involving online ventures and apps and such. That's smarter I think, but the core issue is whether the content can draw eyeballs and dollars.

The "Legends House" idea might end up on cable. Another sign of them being really wishy-washy with their direction, since that was part of the draw for the Network. I get the feeling the Network idea isn't insanely well thought out and planned at the moment if this kind of thing's going on.

NXT and Superstars COULD end up back on TV in the States. They're pretty ballsy to hold that off for the Network given its shaky start. Those shows should be important for building the stars of the company, who are relied on for live events and sometimes spots on the bigger shows and PPVs.

International business continues to be good. That's going to be important in the years to come, but it doesn't excuse the shoddy job they're doing building business here.

Survivor Series cost them more money due to The Rock's fee. Concerning, and another reason to build up new stars.

WWE.com's traffic dropped 22%. If the product's good and people are talking about it, that will take care of itself I think.

They put over social media, which is another area that should be secondary. If the core business is strong, people will talk about it and they'll make money from there. They shouldn't focus on it nearly as much as the wrestlers and wrestling.

They're committed to the Films division for now, given the new approaches they're putting to it. They thought it would work out in the past. They might pull the plug down the line if things continue to do poorly. The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Lots of money going into the Films division's new direction. Big gamble.

They're very optimistic about WrestleMania this year and next year. That's great and all, but they need to build the whole calendar year.

That's it for an important batch of news. Since Smackdown's already been covered this week, I'll be back for another news post tonight. Thanks for reading!