WWE Body Slams Wall Street's Forecasts

WWE reported first-quarter revenue of $263.5 million, down 9% from the year-ago quarter but ahead of Wall Street estimates as the company starts to wriggle out of Covid-19’s headlock.

Earnings per share also more than doubled the consensus expectation from analysts, reaching 51 cents compared with 31 cents a year ago.

The company’s signature live events have been all but eliminated during the pandemic, but they are slowly returning to the schedule as virus trends improve. A major influx of revenue also came in during the quarter as the stand-alone WWE Network was absorbed into NBCUniversal streaming service, Peacock.

The March 18 launch of WWE Network programming on Peacock was followed by the shift of NXT to Tuesday nights this month on longtime network partner USA.

Wrestlemania 37, the annual pay-per-view extravaganza held this month at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, was the most-viewed live event in the history of Peacock, WWE said. While they didn’t offer any specific numbers, the No. 1 ranking is noteworthy given that the year-old streaming outlet carries Premier League soccer as well as a range of other sports in the U.S.

Company founder and CEO Vince McMahon said his company’s emergence from the dark days of Covid — which doomed his effort to revive the XFL on top of the steep losses for the WWE — has been gradual. “At first we were in survival mode, but then we found a way,” he said during a conference call with analysts.

Nick Khan, the former co-head of television at CAA who joined the WWE several months ago as president and chief revenue officer, said trends in sports media are helpful for the company. The NFL’s long-term rights deal with Amazon, for example, points to streaming as a lucrative trend. Khan said the WWE is shopping the same package that migrated to Peacock to international streaming outlets.

source: deadline.com

WWE Developing Anime Series For Crunchyroll

During today’s WWE Q1 2021 earnings, WWE President Nick Khan announced that WWE is developing an anime series for Crunchyroll.

Crunchyroll offers the largest anime streaming service in the world and is one of the top 10 streaming companies in the United States.

“As we continue to expand WWE’s brand beyond the ring, we remain focused on developing a slate of original programming from our WWE Studios,” Khan said. “We sold a multiepisode anime series to Crunchyroll, which as all of you know is now owned by Sony.”

Triple H, Stephanie McMahon Publicly Apologize To Mickie James, Fire The Person Who Sent Her ‘Care Package’

Following Mickie James being sent a “care package” of her belongings in a garbage bag, multiple WWE executives have now stated that the person responsible for the disrespectful mishap has been fired.

Mickie James was released by WWE on Thursday, April 15, 2021. At the time, she stated that she was looking forward to going out and doing the things that “they said she couldn’t.”

One week later she took to social media to share that her belongings have been sent back to her in a trash bag with a sticky note attached, sharing her name. She later tweeted about this directly to Vince McMahon’s account and several WWE Executives including Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have apologized and stated that the individual has been fired. John Laurinaitis, head of Talent Relations, also posted an apology.

In Stephanie’s tweet, she’d directly address Mickie, saying that she felt embarrassed that something like that would ever happen on behalf of WWE.

Wrestling Inc. is reporting that WWE has fired Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano.

Triple H Calls NXT vs. AEW An Imaginary War

The competition between NXT and AEW Dynamite, dubbed the "Wednesday Night Wars," officially ended earlier this month when NXT moved to Tuesday. Both shows have benefited since then, with NXT's audience breaking 800,000 for the past two weeks while Dynamite brought in its second-biggest audience in the show's history by surpassing 1.2 million. Triple H was a guest on the Cheap Heat Podcast this week and discussed NXT's move to Tuesday, referring to their ratings battle with All Elite Wrestling as an "imaginary war."

"The promotional opportunity for us is much better on a Tuesday and also then not having to have a narrative where it's just constantly about an imaginary war or this imaginary battle," Triple H said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). "People can say what they want, but the truth of the matter is you compete against everything. If you are creating a television product or content and that is the world we live in is content not television, not internet. It's everything. You're constantly competing for eyeballs and time against everything under the sun, including sleep and time to do other things, and video games, and Tik Tok and everything else that's out there.

"So having your own space where you don't have to then have an added imaginary battle stacked up against it, it's kind of nice. The bigger fact is having a lead in from a Tuesday into a Wednesday. When we first started, NXT was on Wednesday's for viewers of The Network. The transition to USA and wanting to keep that consistency for those that were watching on The Network so they would know where to find it and not have confusion of SmackDown leaving Tuesday's and people joining in and finding something else. Time has gone by now, and this is a great opportunity for us to have that lead in for Monday Night Raw, get that promotional window for Monday Night RAW, get to Tuesday's and continue to deliver the product."

"Again, I'm thrilled with it, and I think the opportunity is the same as it was before, which is for talent to get out there live and show everything that they can do, and I'm a big believer that talent will shine through, and they'll get that opportunity and you'll make bigger and bigger stars as time goes by. It's about making stars and them having that opportunity not just the number every single week."

Rob Van Dam On What Vince McMahon And Triple H Told Him At The WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony

“One thing I want to mention that was the highest honor during the ceremony was when I talked to Vince and Triple H when we were getting our photos taken. They both told me that I changed the style of wrestling. That’s huge to hear that from them. I jokingly said, ‘For better or worse?’ They both said for better and the people trying to emulate me now are dangerous. I’ll always remember that. I would like to think I was impactful on the style.”

Stephanie McMahon Issues Statement On WrestleMania 37

Stephanie McMahon issued the following open letter:

Good morning,

On Saturday night, I stood on stage at Raymond James Stadium, surrounded by WWE Superstars, in front of a 103 ft long pirate ship, and looked out into a sea of fans. My father, WWE Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, addressed the crowd and said: “Throughout this past year our WWE Superstars performed tirelessly for all of you. Week after week, month after month but we all knew there was something missing, something very important, THE most important, and that would be all of you, our fans, the WWE Universe. And as we emerge from this dreadful pandemic on behalf of our entire WWE family, we would simply like to say thank you and welcome you to, WRESTLEMANIA!”

The 25K in attendance erupted and the rest of us had tears in our eyes; reinforcing the meaning behind our new company signature that started the show, “Then. Now. Forever. Together.”

WrestleMania streamed exclusively from its new home on Peacock in the U.S., and WWE Network around the world, taking place over two nights and making history.

Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair became the first Black female Superstars to main event WrestleMania. We had live musical performances from Bebe Rexha, Wale, Ash Costello and Ashland Craft, and Grammy award-winning artist Bad Bunny and YouTube influencer Logan Paul found themselves getting in on the action inside the ring. Bad Bunny’s performance receiving praise from ESPN touting it as “…one of, if not the, most impressive showings by a celebrity in the ring.”

WWE also secured a record 14 new and returning blue chip partners for WrestleMania including Snickers as the Presenting Partner for the sixth consecutive year and Presenting Partner of the Main Event, NBCUniversal, Papa John’s, Cricket Wireless, P&G’s Old Spice, DraftKings, 2K, Nissin, and Credit One Bank.

Across YouTube, WWE.com and WWE social media content during WrestleMania Week, video views hit 1.1 billion, 31 million hours of content was consumed, and WWE-related content saw 115 million engagements. WrestleMania was also the world’s most-social program both nights of the weekend, delivering 71 Twitter trends in the U.S. alone.

For the first time we launched a series of NFTs featuring The Undertaker, had record breaking WrestleMania weekend e-commerce sales and record merchandise per capita sales in stadium.

WWE Superstars and executives participated in more than 300 interviews to promote our WrestleMania celebration including appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, TODAY Show, ESPN Get Up, FOX & Friends, E! and Access Hollywood. And because we always want to leave our host city better off than when we arrived, we held more than 10 community activations throughout the week, from our community caravan where we recognized 11 local community leaders; to teaming with FOX Sports and Good Sports to donate sports equipment to Special Olympics Florida; and working with Feeding Tampa Bay, University of FL IFAS program, the Healthy Living Coalition, Nestle Waters and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission to dedicate the first of five sustainable community gardens throughout the Tampa Bay area to combat food insecurity.

It takes the effort of so many different people to make WrestleMania happen, especially during a global pandemic. Thank you to our friends, partners, employees, and of course, our Superstars for making it possible.

I hope to see everyone in person soon,

Steph

AEW Dynamite Draws Largest Audience Since Debut

Wednesday’s edition of AEW Dynamite, featuring TNT Champion Darby Allin retaining over Matt Hardy in the main event, drew 1.219 million viewers on TNT, according to Nielsen via Showbuzz Daily.

It should be noted that this was the first Dynamite episode to air unopposed after WWE NXT made its move to Tuesday nights. 

This AEW viewership is up 77% from last week’s show, which drew 688,000 viewers.

WWE Releases Several Superstars

WWE announced 9 departures this afternoon – Samoa Joe, Mickie James, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Bo Dallas, Wesley Blake, Kalisto, Mojo Rawley, Tucker and Chelsea Green. They won’t be free to sign with other promotions until Wednesday, July 14, according to F4Wonline.com.

WrestleMania 37 Scores Big Numbers for WWE as Company Welcomes Fans for First Time in Over a Year

WrestleMania 37 marked the first WWE event with fans in attendance since last March, and by many measures, it was a homerun.

The sports entertainment company’s flagship event, which was held over two nights this past Saturday and Sunday, took place at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL. Capacity was capped, though both nights still sold out, with 25,675 fans each night (51,350 total). Fans were seated in socially distanced pods, with mask requirements, mobile ticketing, cashless concessions, and enhanced sanitization throughout the venue.

According to WWE, the event also saw a record 1.1 billion video views across their various video and social media channels, marking a 14% increase year-over-year. WWE content also saw a record 115 million engagement on social media during the week of WrestleMania, a 102% increase, and boasted 71 Twitter trends alone between Saturday and Sunday night. In addition, on-site merchandise sales were said to be the highest per capita in WWE history.

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WWE NXT Viewership For First Tuesday Night Episode With Takeover Fallout

Tuesday’s live post-Takeover edition of WWE NXT on the USA Network drew 805,000 viewers on the USA Network, according to Nielsen via Showbuzz Daily.

It should be noted that this was the first NXT episode to air on Tuesday nights, with no head-to-head competition from AEW Dynamite. This show featured fallout from last week’s two-night “Takeover: Stand and Deliver” event.

This viewership is up 4.82% from last week’s show, which drew 768,000 viewers for the Takeover Night One episode that also aired on Peacock/WWE Network with no commercials, and up against AEW Dynamite.

NXT tied for #8 on the Cable Top 150 this week with a 0.22 rating in the 18-49 key demographic. This is in line with last week’s final Wednesday show, which ranked #11 with a 0.22 rating in the key demo.

This week’s NXT show ranked #60 in viewership, tying with Assembly Required and the 9am airing of CNN Newsroom. This is down from last week’s #59 ranking.

This is NXT’s biggest audience since October 28, which was the Halloween Havoc show that drew 876,000 viewers with a 0.25 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This week’s show tied with last week’s show for NXT’s biggest key demo rating since Halloween Havoc.

This week’s NXT viewership was up 16% from the same week in 2020, while this week’s key demo rating was up 29.4% from the same week in 2020.

WrestleMania 37 Boasts 51,000+ Fans Over Two Nights

WrestleMania 37 had quite the turnout this weekend in Tampa.

Following the announcement that they’d sold out night one of WrestleMania, WWE is now touting a second consecutive sell-out with 25,675 fans in attendance. With the two sell outs, a combined 51,350 fans attended both nights of WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium.

WrestleMania 38 will take place on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The full press release is below:

SUNDAY WRESTLEMANIA® SOLD OUT

TAMPA BAY, FL., April 11, 2021 – For the second consecutive night, a sell-out of 25,675 fans attended WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, FL with millions more watching at home on Peacock in the U.S. and on WWE Network around the world.

Two sell outs with a combined 51,350 fans attended both nights of WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium.

Adhering to local health guidelines, a limited number of tickets were sold for both nights of WrestleMania, with all in attendance seated in socially-distanced pods. Additional safety measures included health screenings and temperature checks prior to entry into Raymond James Stadium, mask requirements, social distancing, mobile ticketing, cashless concessions and enhanced sanitization throughout the venue.

Next year’s WrestleMania will take place on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington/Dallas. Ticket information will be announced later this year.

Triple H Disputes Report About WWE NXT Talent Meeting

The original report stated that AEW was mentioned and how AEW came in and tried to bully them. However, a follow-up report retracted that, noting that the word “bully” was not mentioned at all. Triple H gave some details of the team meeting with NXT talent.

“If I wanted everybody to know what was in the meeting, I would have put out a memo, and you guys could have just got it from one of your sources firsthand and printed it,” Triple H said. “It was a conversation with our talent. That was exactly that. It was informational to tell them where we’re going. Meetings that we have all the time. Given COVID restrictions, we had a lot less than we normally would.

“As far as the content of the meeting that was reported by a lot of people and elsewhere, completely inaccurate. Never said. Never brought up. Nobody else was ever brought up. Wasn’t about other people. Wasn’t about other brands, or companies or anything else. It was a factual meeting to tell people where we’re going, where we’re headed and to motivate them going into the future. Nothing more, nothing less.”