http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshben...-have-strong-summer-after-slow-first-quarter/
WWE had its Money in the Bank pay-per-view last night, and while the event featured some fantastic matches, the overall results were underwhelming.
Yet another sign that the organization needs to step up its game this summer. Though Wrestlemania 31 proved to be excellent, WWE’s product as a whole is looking stale and could use something of a makeover.
The numbers from WWE’s First Quarter Report offer a small glimpse into what’s going on. 467,000 people bought the Royal Rumble last year, and that number dropped to 145,000 in 2015. After 183,000 bought Elimination Chamber in February last year, a mere 46,000 ponied up the cash for this year’s Fastlane pay-per-view. The most telling number, however, comes from the last two Wrestlemania events. This year, as the event was performed outdoors and mostly in broad daylight at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area, 259,000 people bought the event to watch at home. But when looking at last year’s 30th anniversary Wrestlemania that was held at the Superdome, an eye-popping 690,000 people ended up buying that. These gaps could easily be attributed to the emergence of the WWE Network, the company’s online streaming service that lets fans watch all pay-per-views past and present as well as original programming for just $9.99 a month, that service can only claim 1.3 million subscribers after over a year in existence. Moreover, though Wrestlemania 30 was technically in the company’s second quarter, the gap between it and 31 is still substantial enough considering how both were available on the Network.
Granted, such a gap doesn’t mean that WWE is completely losing its touch or doing an absolutely terrible job of promoting things, but it should also be noted that WWE’s stock is currently sitting at $15.60 per share on the NYSE, down from $16.52 per share right before Wrestlemania. And that number is down from just a couple of weeks before Wrestlemania 30, when the company’s stock reached a five-year high of just under $31 per share. Some would say that’s starting to look just a little bit like a trend.
Though the second quarter numbers haven’t come out yet, today’s stock price is a significant rise from the $13.60 value back on April 1st. Despite the gap, the company has indeed done enough to improve its overall value and keep fans engaged over a two and a half month span.
But while WWE is ultimately responsible for the product it puts out to show the fans, there are of course other factors beyond the company’s control:
After missing eight months following neck surgery and ultimately winning the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match at Wrestlemania 31, fan favorite and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan is once again injured and out for an indefinite period. Yes, the company has plenty of other stars it can put over in Bryan’s absence, but expecting them to carry the same momentum as Bryan’s famed Yes Movement is an overly high expectation, thus keeping fans’ collective attention becomes harder.
Which brings us to this year’s Money in the Bank, which proved to be an entertaining show but without majorly satisfying results. The long-running feud between WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose ended with Rollins retaining his title in a ladder match, and the rivalry between company legend and current United States Champion John Cena and NXT (WWE’s developmental territory) Champion Kevin Owens continued to grow. Both were great matches on an otherwise underwhelming card, with the only real twist being the mysterious Bray Wyatt suddenly appearing during the Money in the Bank contract ladder match and ambushing Reigns as he climbed up to reach for the briefcase. Sheamus ultimately won that match.
The long and short of it is that while WWE does have the potential to have a great summer, particularly with former champion Brock Lesnar’s looming return, the numbers from the first quarter report, though still impressive at a lower number considering how the Network is now a factor as well as showing a $9.8 million net income compared to a loss of $8 million in the first quarter last year, show that something needs to change, particularly since this year’s Royal Rumble was called a “fiasco” and “the latest in a long line of setbacks for the WWE” by Dave Stout of Time. After that pay-per-view, “#CancelWWENetwork” trended worldwide on Twitter.
The second quarter report likely won’t be out for another few weeks but if the four pay-per-views since Wrestlemania are any indication, there likely won’t be much of a change in terms of buy rates, though the rise in stock price over the past eight weeks is an encouraging sign. The company is not in dire financial straits by any means and continues to sell out arenas as well as draw in large television audiences, but a strong summer and beyond are highly necessary if fans are going to be kept engaged in the product, even if the company did make money in the first quarter as opposed to losing it.
WWE had its Money in the Bank pay-per-view last night, and while the event featured some fantastic matches, the overall results were underwhelming.
Yet another sign that the organization needs to step up its game this summer. Though Wrestlemania 31 proved to be excellent, WWE’s product as a whole is looking stale and could use something of a makeover.
The numbers from WWE’s First Quarter Report offer a small glimpse into what’s going on. 467,000 people bought the Royal Rumble last year, and that number dropped to 145,000 in 2015. After 183,000 bought Elimination Chamber in February last year, a mere 46,000 ponied up the cash for this year’s Fastlane pay-per-view. The most telling number, however, comes from the last two Wrestlemania events. This year, as the event was performed outdoors and mostly in broad daylight at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area, 259,000 people bought the event to watch at home. But when looking at last year’s 30th anniversary Wrestlemania that was held at the Superdome, an eye-popping 690,000 people ended up buying that. These gaps could easily be attributed to the emergence of the WWE Network, the company’s online streaming service that lets fans watch all pay-per-views past and present as well as original programming for just $9.99 a month, that service can only claim 1.3 million subscribers after over a year in existence. Moreover, though Wrestlemania 30 was technically in the company’s second quarter, the gap between it and 31 is still substantial enough considering how both were available on the Network.
Granted, such a gap doesn’t mean that WWE is completely losing its touch or doing an absolutely terrible job of promoting things, but it should also be noted that WWE’s stock is currently sitting at $15.60 per share on the NYSE, down from $16.52 per share right before Wrestlemania. And that number is down from just a couple of weeks before Wrestlemania 30, when the company’s stock reached a five-year high of just under $31 per share. Some would say that’s starting to look just a little bit like a trend.
Though the second quarter numbers haven’t come out yet, today’s stock price is a significant rise from the $13.60 value back on April 1st. Despite the gap, the company has indeed done enough to improve its overall value and keep fans engaged over a two and a half month span.
But while WWE is ultimately responsible for the product it puts out to show the fans, there are of course other factors beyond the company’s control:
After missing eight months following neck surgery and ultimately winning the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match at Wrestlemania 31, fan favorite and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan is once again injured and out for an indefinite period. Yes, the company has plenty of other stars it can put over in Bryan’s absence, but expecting them to carry the same momentum as Bryan’s famed Yes Movement is an overly high expectation, thus keeping fans’ collective attention becomes harder.
Which brings us to this year’s Money in the Bank, which proved to be an entertaining show but without majorly satisfying results. The long-running feud between WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose ended with Rollins retaining his title in a ladder match, and the rivalry between company legend and current United States Champion John Cena and NXT (WWE’s developmental territory) Champion Kevin Owens continued to grow. Both were great matches on an otherwise underwhelming card, with the only real twist being the mysterious Bray Wyatt suddenly appearing during the Money in the Bank contract ladder match and ambushing Reigns as he climbed up to reach for the briefcase. Sheamus ultimately won that match.
The long and short of it is that while WWE does have the potential to have a great summer, particularly with former champion Brock Lesnar’s looming return, the numbers from the first quarter report, though still impressive at a lower number considering how the Network is now a factor as well as showing a $9.8 million net income compared to a loss of $8 million in the first quarter last year, show that something needs to change, particularly since this year’s Royal Rumble was called a “fiasco” and “the latest in a long line of setbacks for the WWE” by Dave Stout of Time. After that pay-per-view, “#CancelWWENetwork” trended worldwide on Twitter.
The second quarter report likely won’t be out for another few weeks but if the four pay-per-views since Wrestlemania are any indication, there likely won’t be much of a change in terms of buy rates, though the rise in stock price over the past eight weeks is an encouraging sign. The company is not in dire financial straits by any means and continues to sell out arenas as well as draw in large television audiences, but a strong summer and beyond are highly necessary if fans are going to be kept engaged in the product, even if the company did make money in the first quarter as opposed to losing it.