Happy Birthday Vince

Vincent Kennedy McMahon
August 24, 1945

Happy Birthday Vaughn

Vaughn Levesque
August 24, 2010

Nick Khan Comments On Recent Releases

“There’s a collective of us, keep in mind at WWE their is one boss, that’s Vince as we all know. Between Bruce Prichard who oversees the entire creative process, Kevin Dunn, who oversees all of our production, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque are all involved in these decisions, with ultimately Vince making the final decision on everything”

“I don’t know if there is one explanation for it, ultimately what’s looked at, ‘Is this person for us going move to the needle now or in the imminent future’. ‘We signed a dozen new talent, we’re always looking for what’s next. We live in the present, we live in the future, 7 don’t live in the past”

WWE'S Nick Khan Promises Imminent NXT Revamp

WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan says that a "revamp" of NXT is underway and that changes to the product will be seen within a couple of weeks. 

In an interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport, Khan said that Triple H is leading the changes. 

"We're doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, Paul Levesque, who is really one of the architects of the original NXT," said Khan. 

"In terms of an NXT rebrand, look for it in the next couple of weeks. It's gonna have a whole new look, it's gonna have a whole new feel."

Khan also indicated a change in philosophy when it comes to recruiting talent for NXT. 

"What we believe, because of lot of the 'indie wrestlers' if you will have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and Raw now, we don't want to just keep doing that same thing," said Khan.  "We want to look elsewhere for great young talent."

Khan also spoke of a more direct kind of developmental system, comparing it to high school and college football talent recruiting. 

"So what we found, it's part of why we did the tryout [Las Vegas tryout on Friday], what we want to make sure is it's easy for folks who want to be WWE superstars figuring out how to be WWE superstars," said Khan. 

"If you think of the life of an elevated athlete throughout their career, the opportunity to go play somewhere has always been easy, being able to play somewhere is not... If you're an amazing high school football player, colleges come after you, you get recruited, you go into their system, and either you make it or you don't make it. All that it takes to get there? Difficult. The system? Not difficult," said Khan. 

"We want our system to be an easy system where people who want to be superstars know how to get to us and we can get to them."

Nick Khan On WWE Sale Rumors, 'We’re Not Trying To Sell It'

During a recent interview with the Recode Media podcast, the WWE President Nick Khan said WWE is "open for business on anything and everything" when he was asked if WWE is looking to put itself up for sale.

His comments during that interview had people speculating that the company would be prepared to sell, especially given the amount of WWE in the last year which some say is so the company can maximize its selling potential.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani promoting SummerSlam weekend, Khan clarified his comments noting the company isn't in talks about a potential sale.

"When I say we’re ‘open for business’ that means if someone credible calls on anything—NFT, trading cards, international rates—we take the call. We’re inherently sales people, meaning we’re not like, ‘We don’t want to talk to this company because we think they’re…’ If you call and you want to pitch us something and you’re credible, we’re going to hear the pitch. We’re an entrepreneurial company that Vince and others built over the last 35 years or so, and we always want to stay fresh and entrepreneurial. 

"In our minds, when I say open for business, if somebody calls, credible, asking ‘are you for sale?’ it’s ‘what’s your offer, what are you thinking?’ We’re not trying to sell it, that’s not our intent. There are no internal meetings about selling this company. The internal meetings are about growing it and the ability that we think we collectively have to tremendously grow what the value of the company is now."

WWE Issues Announcement On SummerSlam Attendance

WWE announced a sold out crowd of 51,326 fans in attendance at Allegiant Stadium for tonight’s SummerSlam pay-per-view from Las Vegas, Nevada.

WWE noted that this is the indoor attendance record for SummerSlam, and their biggest event of 2021.

To compete, WWE announced a total of 51,350 fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa earlier this year for WrestleMania 37, which broke down to 25,675 fans each night. That event had a limited capacity due to COVID-19.

WWE issued the following press release to us tonight:

WWE BREAKS SUMMERSLAM INDOOR ATTENDANCE RECORD

WWE SummerSlam at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas set an indoor attendance record for the event, as a sold-out crowd of 51,326 fan attended WWE’s biggest event of 2021.

WWE Announces History-Making Return To Saudi Arabia

WWE has confirmed that they will return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel 2021 in October.

WWE aired a promo for Crown Jewel during tonight’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, confirming their return to Saudi Arabia for October. You can see the promo below, which features male and female Superstars.

WWE noted that they are “set to make history in its legendary return to Saudi Arabia” this October. It’s believed that the event will be held in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

No actual date was given past the month of October, but it was previously reported that the event will take place on Thursday, October 21. WWE has not confirmed that date as of this writing.

It was also reported before that WWE will hold the King of the Ring tournament finals at Crown Jewel, along with the finals of the first-ever Queen of the Ring all-women’s tournament. WWE has not officially announced those tournaments as of this writing. It’s believed that the tournaments will begin on the October 8 SmackDown and the October 11 RAW, but those dates have also not been confirmed.

WWE has not ran the Kingdom since the Super ShowDown 2020 event was held in February 2020 at the Mohammed Abdu Arena in Riyadh. WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority announced in 2018 that they were entering into a 10-year strategic multi-platform partnership to support the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative, which is the Kingdom’s social and economic reform program. The deal called for two events to be held per year, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced delays in 2020 and 2021. WWE visited Saudi Arabia for Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel in 2018, Super ShowDown and Crown Jewel in 2019, and Super ShowDown in 2020.

Triple H On If WWE Has Changed Their Philosophy On NXT

 At the end of WWE’s open tryouts yesterday in Las Vegas, WWE’s own Triple H held a media call. Wrestling Inc.’s own Nick Hausman was invited and asked Triple H if WWE had changed their policy in recruiting following rumors of WWE overhauling NXT and their developmental system. According to Triple H, there isn’t a shift because things have never shifted to begin with.

“It’s a funny thing, people talk about the shifting if what it is. It never really shifted,” Triple H said. “So if you go back and look at the hiring process, not the hiring process of a television show, the hiring process of who we’re looking to train and make WWE Superstars. Long term. If you go back and look at it, it hasn’t shifted. It’s been the same process. I don’t negate anybody. From a standpoint of ‘I wrestled some independent stuff. ”Well all right, you’re out!’ That’s not a factor to me, but it’s also not the factor that makes me go ‘okay, you’re in.’ When they get in here today, if somebody goes in and hits the ropes perfectly every time, has every roll perfect, does all the stuff, (makes) it look easy because they’ve been training, that’s not really showing me anything. You should be able to, if you’ve been training, if you’ve been working indies you should be able to do all of that.

“To me, what is the potential long-term? What is that potential? And are they willing to do the work to live up to that potential. Vince used to always say ‘we’re a variety show. We are. In some manner, you need a little bit of everything. That’s the key to all of this. But people hear one statement and then make one (assumption). ‘Now it’s that. No, now it’s this.’ It always has been.”

Later Triple H was asked how many talents WWE signed at this tryout? While he didn’t have an exact number, he was able to give a pretty decent estimate.

“I didn’t count,” Triple H joked. “We had thirty eight talent here today, we had one drop out from yesterday to today. We had an injury and then we had another, not dropout, but we cut training short today. And I’d say somewhere, in the ballpark, of thirteen and sixteen I’d say. There’s a lot passion here in the last couple of days and a lot of drive. And clearly we’re looking for something different. You’ll hear Vince say it a lot. It’ll sound wrong to a lot of people, but it’s right. We’re not looking for professional wrestlers, we’re looking for superstars. We’re looking for somebody that can break through that. The rest of it takes care of itself.

“You’re looking for the diamond in the rough, you’re looking for the one in a million, you’re looking for those things. That’s the difficult part. The rest of it takes care of itself and it happens. And you go about that process. So to me, right now it’s about giving opportunities. And there was a lot of people here that have the tools to break through, that stood out when they walked through the room. You’re like ‘alright, who’s that?’ They had that some type of it factor, and then proved it to us here how much they wanted it. And I think, in this moment in time, to be able to go a little bit beyond and bring in these people give them that shot. Are they going to make it? No. It’s a long hard journey. But if everybody made it it wouldn’t be that special when you got there, right?”

Triple H also discussed the so called ‘it’ factor, and if there was any difference in identifying it between men and women. Triple H answered the question by focusing on the women aspect.

“People use that term it factor, x factor, charisma. It’s hard to put your finger on what it is,” Triple H said. “Sometimes I feel like, for women, there’s this emphasis on ‘oh man she looked like a million bucks when she walked in here.’ They’re dressed a certain way, make up is a certain way, hair’s a certain way, doing all those things. It’s important. At the end of the day though, it’s more personality to me. I don’t care, if somebody doesn’t have the money and they don’t wear make up? I mean present yourself well, but you don’t have to have high dollar hair extensions and a bunch of make up on and do all these other things in high dollar clothes to come in here and go ‘oh yeah, they’ve got it.’ To me it almost has nothing to do with it.

“It’s personality, it’s how they engage with you, it’s how they connect with you. Do they make you feel something when you them when they’re working? What’s that connection point that you have with these people? Do you feel something from them? Do they engage you in some manner? Some people you don’t see that when they’re here. Sometimes the red light goes on and they got it ‘boom.’ I’m sure you’ve heard people say ‘the camera loves them.’ Yeah they take great pictures. I’ve seen that a lot too. When you get to a tryout you’re like ‘this person looks great.’ Then they get there and you’re like ‘when do they get in?’ It’s not the same person. In person it doesn’t resonate. On camera it does. There’s factors that but it’s not an image thing. That’ll fade. I feel like that’s part of the process of the two day journey or the three day journey or the four day journey, depending on the tryout style that we’re doing.”

Triple H continued, emphasizing again how appearances can only take someone so far. Ultimately he concluded that there’s differences for every individual talent involved, regardless of whether they are male or female.

“Yes somebody walks in the room, those things might catch your eye for a minute,” Triple H said. “And then very quickly, that persons not really doing anything else, and this person is. And they don’t have any makeup on, they don’t have their hair done. So it’s never those other things. You can look past those. What’s really in here, that’s what it factor, charisma, all those things. Part of that is a passion and a connection to the person, and if you feel that, that person has charisma, that person has an it factor. It’s funny because I look at these tryouts sometimes totally differently. I find myself, catching myself, looking back at the same person in the first half of the first day.

“I find myself constantly looking back at that same person for some reason, or the same ten, fifteen whatever people. Like constantly find myself, catching myself interested in what they’re doing. And if I mentally see that, I put a check there. I check that person out ten times, I keep seeing that person do this. They might be terrible. But I keep going back to it. There’s a reason, they’re drawing my eye for whatever reason. I don’t have to figure that out, I don’t have to tell you what that reason is, I just have to know that it’s there. So I don’t know, I just look at it a little differently. But that’s a factor. Is it different for men and women? It’s different for every single person. It doesn’t matter, man, woman, it doesn’t matter. It’s different for everybody. You just got to open to it.”

credit:  Wrestling Inc.

WWE Announces Multi-Year Merchandise Deal With MLB

WWE and Major League Baseball have announced a new multi-year partnership to release MLB-inspired WWE Title replica belts and accessories.

The belts and accessories will feature the logos of all 30 MLB teams from around North America. The line will launch in 2022.

WWE touted how this is the first official licensing agreement for WWE Title replica belts between the company and one of the major United States sports leagues.

The new deal will see WWE and MLB collaborate to design and manufacture team-branded replica titles, and replica titles that celebrate some of MLB’s Jewel Events such as the World Series, the All-Star Game, and the Home Run Derby. There will also be custom side plates and unique Lucha Libre masks.

“At MLB we are constantly looking to serve our fans with the most unique products possible so that they can support their favorite Clubs and players in the ways they want,” said Denis Nolan, MLB Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Products. “We often see baseball fans and players bringing their MLB and WWE fandom together at games and online, so this is a natural development for us to work together and offer the highest quality, official co-branded items for fans around the world.”

WWE Senior Vice President of Direct-To-Consumer Products Kevin Moore added, “We’ve been continually amazed by the reaction to custom WWE Championship title belts, and we’re excited this partnership will allow us to make them widely available to fans.”

WWE has had a tradition of sending custom title belts to top athletes and championship sports teams, but this marks the first time these items will be available for fans. WWE created a custom title for the Los Angeles Dodgers to celebrate their 2020 World Series win, and did the same for the Washington Nationals in 2019.

Nick Khan On WWE Possibly Being Sold, Vince McMahon Stepping Down

WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan was on the latest episode of the Recode Media podcast with Peter Kafka. The two discussed WWE’s big media rights deals despite declining TV viewership across all of TV. Khan discussed that topic and explained why he doesn’t see advertisers moving away from TV anytime soon.

“I think you’ve seen it in primetime scripted television,” Khan stated. “When you and I were kids, and Archie Bunker did a 15 rating and made significant amount of money at that time for Norman Lear, and the studio and everybody behind it. Now you’re seeing shows in primetime that do a one in the demo, where significant dollars are paid for that.

“So 1/15 and again, the 15 million was the overall audience but even less than 1/15 of what the audience was 30 years ago, still commanding top dollar.  I’m not sure that you’ve seen a mechanism come across for advertisers yet that is as effective as television, and put the streaming component in there on the ad supported tiers, it feels like it’s going to be around at a high level for a long time.”

On the Q2 earnings call, Vince McMahon created headlines when he said that he did not see AEW as competition. Khan spoke on WWE’s competition and talked about where his focus lies.

“We had an earnings call a couple of weeks ago, and I referenced the recent Reed Hastings line about sleep is our competition.” Khan noted. “That’s the challenge for us is how do you get people to tune into our product, instead of just sitting there in their bed and texting all night, or watching Tik Tok for free, or doing nothing, or listening to a podcast.

“It’s always tricky. In essence, I personally as, an agent, as an executive, I never look at anybody as competition. I just focus on what I’m doing, but in the totality of circumstance, you have to look at everything as your competition, without a specific focus on any one entity. So we hope the NFL continues to get great ratings. We hope the NBA continues to great ratings. What does it have to do with us? We just have to make sure our product is great.”

Kafka later asked Khan whether he would takeover McMahon as WWE CEO. Khan gave his opinion on the topic of McMahon stepping down from WWE.

“I don’t think Vince has any plans, nor in my opinion, should he have stepping aside,” Khan said. “He’s 75, will be 76 in a couple of weeks. He’s healthy. He’s strong so maybe he goes another 50 years and you’ll be asking me this question in 49 years.”

WWE have continued to make different types of business deals, most recently with The Ringer and Spotify. Khan discussed the topic of whether or not WWE will sell in the next year.

“We’re open for business on anything and everything, and even some of the business plans that we’ve announced recently, I think, are different or unique to what the company has traditionally done,” Khan pointed out. “So we’re open for business. If somebody calls, we’ll listen, but we’re not active. We’re not out in the marketplace trying to change that structure.”

WWE Settles Various Lawsuits With Shareholders

WWE has settled a lawsuit that alledged it wasted corporate assets and made false statements, among other charges, with its shareholders.

The company had been facing several lawsuits; other claims alledged that the company failed to disclose unfavorable facts related to its stock, mislead investors, and permittted senior executives to sell over $282 million worth of shares at inflated prices.

The filing is as follows:

On August 16, 2021, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”) reached an agreement in principle and signed a term sheet to settle the previously disclosed shareholder derivative actions titled (i) Merholz et al. v. McMahon et al., No. 3:20-cv-00557-VAB; (ii) Kooi v. McMahon et al., No. 3:20-cv-00743-VAB; (iii) Nordstrom v. McMahon et al., No. 3:20-cv-00904-VAB; (iv) Merholz/Jimenez v. McMahon et al., No. 3:21-cv-00789-VAB; (v) Rezendes v. McMahon et al., No. 3:21-cv-00793-VAB; and (vi) City of Pontiac Police and Fire Retirement System v. McMahon et al., No. 3:21-cv-00930-VAB, currently pending in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (collectively, the “Derivative Actions”), as well as related lawsuits filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware titled (i) Leavy v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., No. 2020-0907-KSJM; (ii) Dastgir v. McMahon et al., No. 2021-0513-LWW; and (iii) Lowinger v. McMahon et al., No. 2021-0656-LWW (together with the Derivative Actions, the “Actions”).

Among other things, the plaintiffs in the Actions have alleged violations by certain current and former Company directors and officers related to disclosures concerning the Company’s business relationship in and with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that certain of these defendants engaged in improper stock trading.

The proposed settlement would include, among other things, a full release of all defendants in connection with all allegations made in the Actions, and it would not contain any admission of liability or admission as to the validity or truth of any or all allegations or claims by the Company or any of the other defendants. The proposed settlement also would provide that the Company will implement and maintain certain corporate governance measures. As part of the settlement, the plaintiffs have indicated an intent to seek payment of their attorneys’ fees, reimbursement of expenses, and case contribution awards, which the proposed settlement provides would be paid by the Company’s insurance carriers. The proposed settlement remains subject to shareholder notice, court approval and other customary conditions. In the event that the parties are not able to cause all of these conditions to be satisfied, the Company and the other defendants intend to continue to vigorously defend against the claims asserted in the Actions.

Although the Company and the other defendants have denied, and continue to deny, all claims asserted by the plaintiffs in the Actions, the Company believes that resolving the Actions in accordance with the terms of the proposed settlement is the proper business decision and that it is prudent to end the protracted and uncertain derivative litigation process on the terms of the proposed settlement.

One-of-One Vince McMahon T-Shirt And Signed Billion Dollar Bill Part Of New Auction Partnership Between WWE And Goldin

WWE and Goldin are giving fans the chance at bidding on some truly one-of-a-kind items, including a “Billion Dollar Bill” signed by Vince McMahon himself!

Goldin, the leading marketplace for trading cards, collectibles and memorabilia, and WWE have partnered for a new memorabilia auction that starts today. The auction includes a billion-dollar bill featuring and signed by Vince McMahon, a 1-of-1 “Billionaire Bucks” t-shirt, as well as seven unique SummerSlam memorabilia items, a chance to tour the WWE Warehouse with Triple H and a WrestleMania meet-and-greet with The Undertaker.

“We are honored to be working with WWE for our first-ever auction featuring fan experiences,” said Ross Hoffman, CEO of Goldin. “WWE has built a brand that is constantly innovating and providing the best to their fans, and we could not be more proud to help provide a new way to engage with their passionate fans. And what better way to do so than to offer experiences with storied WWE Legends Triple H and The Undertaker!”

“Goldin is a clear industry leader, and we believe this is an incredible opportunity to give fans a chance to own a unique piece of SummerSlam history,” said Scott Zanghellini, WWE Senior Vice President, Revenue Strategy & Development.

The autographed billion-dollar bill and “Billionaire Bucks” t-shirt were created specifically for this auction. An additional unsigned bill and “Billionaire Bucks” t-shirt will be available for auction in-venue at SummerSlam in Las Vegas this Saturday, August 21.

The seven WWE SummerSlam memorabilia items include:

The Barb Wire Baseball Bat Ric Flair used in his victory against Mick Foley in the “I Quit” match at SummerSlam 2006 (LOT 23)

The shears Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Hulk Hogan used in their 1989 match victory against “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Zeus (LOT 24)

The Night Stick Big Boss Man used in his match against Koko B. Ware at SummerSlam 1988 (LOT 25)

The Money in the Bank Briefcase Randy Orton cashed in on Daniel Bryan to become WWE Champion at SummerSlam 2013 (LOT 26)

The Arena Banner used at SummerSlam from 1992-1997 (LOT 27)

The Ring Skirt used at SummerSlam from 1989-1997 (LOT 28)

The Ring Skirt used at SummerSlam in 1998 (LOT 29)