Rob Van Dam tweeted about his WWE status. Maybe WWE wants to save him for after WM30? I really expected him to pop up by now or be on his way to doing so.
Mark Henry was interviewed. I'm very glad he found weightlifting and didn't end up in a bad way. I also feel the retirement angle was amazing. As best as I can tell, Henry does intend to truly hang it up in 2016. I'm very glad he wants to keep giving to the business after he hangs up the boots. That's great of him.
WWE reported a whole bunch of financial data for 2013. Read on for my thoughts on it.
- WWE is STILL taking a hit from its earlier offerings though WWE Studios. Damn. Hopefully that's being corrected now (as evidenced by the increase in revenue this time). There were definitely times when people wanted WWE to pull the plug on the project. I wouldn't have blamed them!
- Good to see more money coming from international markets in the last three months of the year, but that's a notable drop in Latin America for the year total.
- Survivior Series took a BIG hit this year. While I felt the story of Big Show's firing was done well, I think WWE has to point some fingers to having Cena as champ again and Orton vs. Show headlining. I don't expect any of those names to go away, but maybe they look at things through a different lens as far as they go.
- WWE Magazine is still a thing, somewhat surprisingly. It does make money, so it's worth keeping around.
The conference call was recapped here and here.
- Interesting stuff from the standpoint of the PPV carriers. I really hope the older audience latches onto streaming devices for the WWE Network if they're left without being able to order them through their cable/satellite providers.
- I see WWE making a killing with their new TV deals no matter where they end up. They're obviously really popular.
- The Network is obviously a HUGE undertaking and a big gamble. It's not going to be an instantly massive success, though there are positive signs with it so far.
- The Network is going to need to be successful beyond the already-engaged social network audience in order to reach its true potential.
- Interesting comments in general at the end of the call. Obviously they can't say too much in a rigid corporate environment.
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