The General Wrestling Thread

[Guest]

Which to me is a good thing. RVD was sniffing around last week, too. And The Rock (who is never leaving again, remember?) will stay away for sure.

And really its a blessing in disguise if these guys stay away. It will force them to push new faces.

I do agree on that. I could see Jericho still attempting it once or twice- I don't think money is as big a concern for him as others- but it certainly means that Rock won't be coming back on a part-time basis any more.

That's why, for as much crap as people are giving Batista for coming back, I can respect it. At least he signed on for two years, and is appearing at house shows.

[FedEx227]

Oh but big money is a big deal for Jericho. He doesn't come back to run the SummerSlam circuit.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The major problem the talent is going to have...the WWE is the only game in town. If Vince doesn't want to offer them money to compensate for the lost cuts from DVD sales and PPV bonuses...its basically "kick rocks"...I mean, they are the only game in town that pay...and if the WWE isn't paying anymore, its not like anyone else is either.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Oh but big money is a big deal for Jericho. He doesn't come back to run the SummerSlam circuit.

The ONLY reason these guys come back is for the nice big pay day based on buys and to get kick backs on the DVD royalties (WrestleMania DVDs are a top 10 seller annually in the "sports genre")...

If these guys aren't getting a nice cut for 4 months of work, they are not coming back with any regularity. Maybe they get bored or something and come back...but there is no chance they are coming back to work 'Mania unless they are getting a significant chunk of change.

Now, whether or not Vince drops big money on them to come back with a straight fee...that is another story.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Now, whether or not Vince drops big money on them to come back with a straight fee...that is another story.

Boom.

That's the rub now. The game has completely changed in a million ways with the network.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Boom.

That's the rub now. The game has completely changed in a million ways with the network.

And the wrestlers don't have much of a choice. You can go home like Punk, take it, or go elsewhere...all of which will have you a little lighter in the wallet.

[SuperKevin]

http://fansided.com/2014/02/21/tmz-confirms-hulk-hogans-return-wwe/

Hogan is back with the WWE

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Watching the last Impact.

SERIAL KILLER SAMUEL SHAW.

The SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH as he choked out the geek had me in stitches.

[Warner2BruceTD]

And the wrestlers don't have much of a choice. You can go home like Punk, take it, or go elsewhere...all of which will have you a little lighter in the wallet.

People really need to hope the rest of Japan gets hot like the 70's & 80's. New Japan offers a good lifestyle & very good money, but one company = limited spots. NOAH, AJPW, W-1, Dragon Gate....they aren't hiring.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Watching the last Impact.

SERIAL KILLER SAMUEL SHAW.

The SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH as he choked out the geek had me in stitches.

And Bad Bones isn't much of a gentleman. Stood there and watched a woman get KO'd and kidnapped.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm going to keep tweeting at Sam Shaw until I get a "What is your location?" reply from him. This is my new life goal.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

His Twitter is great.

Between asking for everyone's location, his really awful photoshops with Christy Hemme, and hocking k-cups...Samuel Shaw is a MUST FOLLOW.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Amasis worked the ROH Anniversary show preshow tonight. Said to be a good match vs Caprice Coleman.

[s@ppisgod]

It will be an adjustment period is all. I'm assuming that money will be made up someway whether downsides go up, or wrestlers get a flat cut of the TV rights deal or something. I doubt these guys will simply be making $100k less and have to just suck it up and like it.

I'm not so sure. The new set-up should make for a smaller piece of a smaller pie. They can't possibly hope to supplement both PPV buys (very up and down) AND DVD sales (usually VERY good) at $10 a pop. So they pass the squeeze onto the talent. The wrestlers are going to take a paycut, regardless. Whether it is a somewhat relatively smaller paycut or the E puts the screws to them remains to be seen. They could do like the UFC and really squeeze the talent because they know they're all but a monopoly. That's what I'd do anyway.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm not so sure. The new set-up should make for a smaller piece of a smaller pie. They can't possibly hope to supplement both PPV buys (very up and down) AND DVD sales (usually VERY good) at $10 a pop. So they pass the squeeze onto the talent. The wrestlers are going to take a paycut, regardless. Whether it is a somewhat relatively smaller paycut or the E puts the screws to them remains to be seen. They could do like the UFC and really squeeze the talent because they know they're all but a monopoly. That's what I'd do anyway.

Another new revelation is that it's not even $9.99 a pop. 30% goes to the carriers (50% in the case of Apple TV) in the event people signup using their devices as opposed to singing up through WWE.com.

1,000,000 subscribers(what we thought was the old break even) was not going to be easy when you consider that 4M watch RAW. That's 4M people, not households. The real break even due to the split is now higher than 1M. They don't even do a million domestic buys for Mania. They need every person that buys Mania (should be a given, although there will be people who don't trust streaming or don't have access to it), plus several hundred thousand more. And that's just to break even, and not even make a dollar. So you can see why royalties are out the window.

I'm leaning strongly at this point towards the network being a financial loser.