WCW Saturday Night has officially been added to the WWE Network.
WWE.com posted an article today highlighting that Saturday Night is the latest addition to the Network. Over 50 hours of content have been uploaded, starting with the April 4, 1992 episode, where the flagship World Championship Wrestling program was rebranded as WCW Saturday Night, and runs through January 2, 1993. Names highlighted in the content include Stunning Steve Austin, Dustin Rhodes, Rick Rude, Sting and Ricky Steamboat.
World Championship Wrestling on TBS started to air in the early 1970s as a show for Georgia Championship Wrestling. It would eventually become the top program for Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling promotion until 1995, when WCW Nitro became the company’s top priority. With the addition of WCW Thunder in 1998, Saturday Night became a C-show with little name value.
The show’s format was changed to a recap show in 2000. After a switch to daytime and its runtime cut to an hour, the show ended on August 19, 2000.
More of WCW’s long running Saturday night program is coming to the WWE Network next week, a new report indicates.
Episodes from 1992 through 1994 will be uploaded to the Network starting on April 2, WWE Network News reports. It will be seperate from the World Championship Wrestling shows that have already been uploaded, which has episodes from 1985 through 1989. World Championship Wrestling was rebranded into WCW Saturday Night on April 4, 1992, so that may be the starting point. WWE Network News estimates that up to 100 hours of content will be uploaded.
Saturday Night was WCW’s flagship show until 1995 when WCW Nitro was introduced and changed the wrestling world forever with a live program that rivaled WWE Raw for years. With the addition of WCW Thunder three years later, Saturday Night eventually became a meaningless “C-show” program that largely featured WCW’s midcard and Power Plant trainees. The show continued to run until 2000, when it was turned into a recap show and ultimately cancelled altogether on August 19, 2000.
Episodes of WCW Thunder were added to the WWE Network this morning.
So far, WWE has uploaded most episodes of WCW’s secondary show from the start of the program on January 8, 1998 through September 1999. Some episodes during this time period are still not up as of this writing, but more may be added by the end of the day.
WWE Network News originally reported that episodes of WCW Thunder would be added on March 19. It was theorized that the reason why it had taken so long for the show to appear on the network was due to the lawsuit against WWE by Buff Bagwell and Raven over royalty fees associated with the WWE Network. That lawsuit was dropped back in December.
WCW Thunder ran for a little over three years, ending its run on March 21, 2001. It was the final wrestling program on TBS, which had broadcasted professional wrestling for 29 years before a regime change cancelled all professional wrestling on Turner networks.
WCW’s Thursday night show is reportedly heading to the WWE Network next week.
WWE Network News is reporting that WCW Thunder will be coming to the WWE Network on March 19. It currently isn’t known which episodes are going up first, or how many would be added. One would assume it would start at the beginning.
Earlier reports indicated that the show would be uploaded to the WWE Network back in September, but they were never uploaded. There had been speculation that the recent Raven and Buff Bagwell lawsuit may have impeded the release. That suit was dismissed back in December.
WCW Thunder was a two hour show on TBS that started in early 1998. It was originally meant to be the home base for the WCW brand, with the nWo taking over the Nitro slot on TNT. When ratings for a test run of nWo Nitro flopped, the plan was abandoned and Thunder became a secondary show, with most of the top talent not appearing on the program.
When the final episode of the show aired on March 21, 2001, it marked the end of almost 30 years of professional wrestling on TBS.
The subject of Ronda Rousey’s contract was probably the biggest news outside of the financial figures covered at the WWE investors call this morning, along with strong hints regarding multiple suitors for the television deal that expires in the United States in September 2019.
Paul Levesque said that they are finalizing the Rousey contract right now and that it was a multi-year deal. WWE will be her priority and will be the first option on her schedule. He said that Rousey wants to be part of the DNA of the WWE.
The other major news was that George Barrios and Michelle Wilson have been promoted to Co-Presidents of the company. Vince McMahon will remain as CEO. McMahon insisted once again that with the start-up of the XFL, that his duties in WWE will remain unchanged and that the league would be run by football people.
As far as the numbers went, WWE produced more revenue in the fourth quarter, at $211.6 million, than ever before, but overall profits were down. WWE profits for the quarter were $4.8 million, although that was largely due to $18.9 million in income taxes in the quarter. In 2016, the quarter generated $194.9 million in revenue and $8.0 million in profits, but the tax was $4.8 million.
For the year, WWE produced a record $801 million in revenue and generated $32.6 million in profits. In 2016 they generated $729.2 million in revenue and $33.8 million in profits.
The stock at this writing is up 70 cents per share to $34.69.
The decline in profits was due to a one-time charge of $11.3 million from the enactment of a new tax law, $10.9 million of which was a non-cash charge due to the remeasurement of deferred tax assets and $400,000 regarding foreign earnings.
However, Donald Trump’s new tax law change will greatly benefit the company in 2018 and lead to a significant increase in profits. It is a virtual lock that profits will finally break past the pre-Network numbers in 2018.
So while profits were slightly down this year, normalized they would have been up, although still below pre-Network years.
For the year, profitability was up in most segments, with the key being television, which will grow in revenue in 2018 due to escalators in the television contracts, and is expected to grow greatly in 2020 when new contracts are in effect.
WWE was hinting of multiple suitors to drive the television deals up that are currently in negotiation. As reported in the new Observer, negotiations going on with UFC for a new television deal have seen money offers significantly increase even with greatly declining ratings. WWE’s ratings currently are steady from the past year.
For the year, only home entertainment, arena merchandise, and the movie division showed decreased profits.
In the fourth quarter, there were declines in profits of arena events, largely due to running two fewer shows and mostly due to a significantly less successful European tour. Also down were profits in arena merchandise and a slight decline in WWE Shop profits even though revenue in that sector was up.
On December 31st, the WWE Network had 1,065,000 U.S. subscribers, 406,000 subscribers outside the U.S., and 76,000 people getting it for free, for a total of 1,547,000. One year earlier, the Network had 1,033,000 U.S. subscribers, 370,000 subscribers outside the U.S., and 70,000 people getting it for free, for a total of 1,473,000. The outside growth was due to it being available in more places.
As far as paid numbers, they were almost identical with our predictions of 1,068,000 in the U.S.
During the fourth quarter, there were 413,000 people who dropped the Network and 377,000 who added, for an overall decline of 36,000. Last year’s fourth quarter saw a decline of 41,000.
I was out walking the dog a few minutes before ‘Nature Boy’ debuted on ESPN Tuesday night and was thinking about some of the chatter I had heard from those who had previewed the doc, nearly all of which were wrestling media.
I thought about how difficult it was to please those within our bubble because there’s never enough information, never enough stories about the old days, and, at times, never enough content. We always want more when it comes to the classics, be it to scratch the itch of nostalgia or to provide an escape hatch away from the current pro wrestling product.
As I sat down to watch the much-promoted Ric Flair ESPN 30 For 30 documentary, a idea came to mind on how to build a bigger hatch, but I’ll share more on that after a few paragraphs about what we saw with the documentary, much of which was covered by the most recent Wrestling Observer Radio.
Going in, we knew it was going to be difficult to cover an iconic career that spanned decades in just under 90 minutes. But filmmaker Rory Karpf and company did about as good a job as you could expect putting together a story that was geared toward the mainstream sports audience, not just wrestling fans.
What would you expect to see is in here: the backstory of his upbringing, how he got into wrestling, his desire to be out on the town rather than at home and what that did to several marriages and his relationships with his kids, the classic feuds, the lifestyle, the death of his son, his WWE run, and even his sad TNA run. These are all the stories we have heard before, just from a different storyteller and different perspective.
Finding their way between the major story rocks was a lot of interesting sand. The interviews with Flair were good and the supporting cast helping tell the story was a wrestling who’s who from nearly every stage of his career. I found the interviews with his ex-wives very interesting as they helped paint a clearer picture of the guy that we didn’t see off camera. That contrasted with the footage of him with son Reid which gave us a look at a doting father, setting us up for the devastation that happened to Ric following Reid’s death.
My biggest takeaway from ‘Nature Boy’ was how much Flair was, and is, uncomfortable with being Richard Fliehr. How his parents responded to his rise in fame and success was jarring as were the stories of how from “1972 through 1999, I was never home.” Along the way, Ric Flair swallowed Richard Fliehr whole, a common thread throughout the history of the entertainment industry. It’s when we get to see the wreckage left behind by that takeover that we realize that fame truly comes with a price.
‘Nature Boy’ is well worth the watch, but here’s where that idea, and really a question, comes in: Why didn’t WWE Network do this first?
Considering the amount of interest this garnered and their desire for the Network to be a must-have service for wrestling fans, a no-brainer of an idea is to keep the story going and do their own Flair documentary but over the course of several hours. Essentially, WWE should create a Netflix/HBO style limited documentary series that fills in all the blanks for a different audience: us.
I understand their desire to keep the audience’s focus on the current day and future and how the past should remain where it is, but not doing longer documentary series on some of the game’s biggest legends is a lost opportunity. I wouldn’t keep my Network sub going for Ride Along, but I definitely would for great storytelling and true event television like this.
With the HBO Andre The Giant documentary likely to garner the same positive pop culture buzz, I wish they would further build out a group with the intent of becoming great documentary storytellers, taking advantage of all of the footage and access they have at their fingertips.
If ‘Nature Boy’ told us anything, much like the wrestling business consumed Ric Flair, there’s an audience ready to consume the stories about how that happens.
WWE reported this morning revenues of $186.4 million and profits of $21.8 million for the third quarter of this year, numbers that beat Wall Street estimates of $172 million and $15 million.
That would make this the first quarter in recent memory where the profits beat the dividend payout, which was $9.42 million.
The strong numbers led to a stock price increase of $2.27 per share to $23.82 at the time of this writing.
The keys were increases in profitability in most categories, with only WWE Studios and home entertainment falling below last year’s numbers.
WWE Network profitability increased from $15.7 million during the third quarter last year to $24.3 million, due to a combination of more revenue and lower spending due to producing fewer original shows.
However, the 1,507,000 subscribers for the Network, while up four percent from one year ago, was a decline from the last quarter. There were 392,000 new sign-ups and 453,000 cancellations during the quarter. During the third quarter last year, there were 388,000 new sign-ups and 455,000 cancellations, so the trend was very close to identical.
This shows that the strength of the pay-per-views, as the main events were stronger this year, only has a very minor effect on subscription numbers. The other take is that the Mae Young Classic, with all the hype, really meant nothing for subscriber numbers.
They also predicted another drop in Network subscriptions, as much as 50,000, in the fourth quarter.
The pattern is for the big growth for the Network to come in the first quarter and early second quarter.
WWE also increased profitability of house shows, although it was by running more total events as the average attendance dropped from 5,300 to 4,900 per show.
Licensing profits went from $4.6 million to $6.7 million due to an increase in mobile game sales.
During the conference call, WWE pushed the idea of localized television, like they have in the Middle East and India, and have secured 20 new advertisers for television. They pushed the worldwide aspect of the product by noting that of the athletes training at the Performance Center, 40 percent come from outside the United States.
The company pushed the new television negotiations. The deal with NBC Universal expires on September 30th, 2019, while deals in the United Kingdom and India, the other two largest revenue television deals, expire on December 31st, 2019.
They are targeting a new U.S. deal and announcement sometime between May and September of 2018.
WWE sent out a survey today to gauge interest on some new ideas for the Network, with them focusing on options that would incentivize people to subscribe to a premium-priced tier.
The survey asked how interested respondents were in the following potential new programming ideas:
Ring of Honor (historic and new programing)
House shows (select shows airing live on the Network)
TNA/Impact/Global Force Wrestling (historic and new programing)
An audio channel that would feature listening-only content for pay-per-views, music playlists, sports radio type call-in shows, and podcasts
Original scripted comedies (examples cited were WWE Superstar Roasts, Southpaw Regional Wrestling, and WWE’s version of The Office)
New reality shows (a show focusing on life on the road for WWE wrestlers, a show looking at their training and workout regimens, WWE Superstar Cribs, a show like The Apprentice, and a second season of Legends House were examples)
A TV-14 in-ring show (a new weekly version of ECW or another “edgy” new promotion were brought up)
Tournaments (King/Queen of the Ring, a lucha tournament, a tag team tournament, and WWE vs. NXT)
WWE Director’s Cut (classic events and matches with narration by legends or current WWE wrestlers)
Original scripted dramas (a WWE version of Game of Thrones was mentioned)
Special live events (one-time only live events from around the world with “an unexpected main event”)
Other promotions like ICW, PROGRESS, and New Japan Pro Wrestling
WWE next brought up a list of special features that may be used for the tier. These included:
Download to go (the ability to watch content offline)
Personalization (custom playlists, the ability to change the look and feel of the interface)
Alternate viewing options (watch WWE in-ring shows with different camera angles)
A ratings/comment system
Social viewing (sets up a theater mode to watch with friends virtually, or participate in a live event on Facebook where you can chat with others)
Social sharing (the ability to share clips and playlists on social media)
Alternate audio (different commentary teams)
Virtual reality (using VR hardware, watch current or historic WWE content that makes it seem like you are sitting ringside)
Finally, the survey brought up “special benefits and perks” that could be offered with the tier. These included:
Sweepstakes entries (automatic entries to win WWE tickets, merchandise, etc.)
Breaking news first (being the first to get WWE’s breaking news before social media or WWE.com)
Loyalty program (rewards such as T-shirts, collectibles, and ticket upgrades using loyalty points earned from the time you first started subscribing to the Network)
Early access to new merchandise
Fan voting (opportunities to vote for match participants, Hall of Fame inductees, Slammy winners, etc.)
Preferred pricing (special offers for WWE VIP events, discount packages, and special offers on products from WWE sponsors)
Free shipping on WWE Shop orders
Early access to live event tickets
Monthly call inside WWE headquarters (the ability to listen in to a conference call with executives such as Triple H or Stephanie McMahon)
WWE has done similar surveys in the past and It isn’t known if any of these ideas will ever come to the Network. Impact Wrestling’s Ed Nordholm has said as recently as a couple of weeks ago that they have no interest in selling their tape library to WWE and that it doesn’t make sense to.
Rumors have also been swirling around for a while regarding promotions such as PROGRESS and ICW appearing on the Network, but that hasn’t come to fruition yet.
Before the Mae Young Classic finals take place on Tuesday, there will be a special recapping the tournament on the WWE Network tomorrow night.
The updated Network schedule for this week lists that the 30-minute recap show will be airing after Raw on Monday. It will feature Charly Caruso going over the tournament, plus a six-woman tag match will air with Santana Garrett, Sarah Logan & Marti Belle facing Jazzy Gabert, Kay Lee Ray & Tessa Blanchard.
That match was filmed on the second day of tapings in July. With it being shown, the only match from the tapings that hasn’t been released is Deonna Purrazzo & Jessica James vs. Nicole Matthews & Barbi Hayden (who were alternates in the tournament and opened the show on night two).
The WWE Network schedule also confirms what Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter were the tentative plans for Tuesday night. The Mae Young Classic finals, with Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler, will stream on the Network for about 30 minutes after SmackDown before a full episode of 205 Live airs.
WWE announced today that the WWE Network would be available for the first time in mainland China.
WWE and PPTV, a Chinese sports media streaming service that carries the company’s programming, will be partners in getting the Network into the final major country in the world it isn’t already in. The Network will be debuting on August 18th, in time for SummerSlam weekend.
“PPTV is a tremendous partner, and has been key in helping us engage with WWE fans in China and further establishing our brand in this important market,” said WWE chief revenue and marketing officer Michelle Wilson. “With this launch, WWE Network is now available in every market, reaching more than 180 countries around the world, delivering all our premium live events and an archive of action-packed, family-friendly entertainment that has thrilled WWE audiences for years.”
PPTV customers can download the PPTV App and watch WWE Network content via smart TVs, set-top boxes, mobile devices, and tablets, as well as on WWE’s Chinese language website and PPTV’s websites.
The news has led to a rise in the company stock, which at this writing was at $21.42 per share, up from $20.84 per share at the close of business yesterday.
WWE announced Thursday that they set a record for revenue of $214.6 million for the WrestleMania quarter, finishing with $5.1 million in profits as compared to $199 million in revenue and $800,000 in profits for the same quarter last year
The big key was less spending on the WWE Network. With fewer original non-wrestling shows, the profit margin for Network and pay-per-view was $1.2 million for the quarter instead of $8.3 million in losses for the same period one year ago. Actual subscribers were up four percent as of June 30th, but the number of people who canceled was also the largest in the history of the Network.
Television, based on new deals and escalating deals, also increased in profitability and when it comes to overall profitability, it is still television and live shows that carry things. Live event profitability was down even though business was steady. North American shows were slightly up in attendance when you factor out WrestleManias each year (with WrestleMania, things were down based on the larger venue capacity last year).
North American non-Mania attendance went from 5400 to 5500 due to the increased number of pay-per-views that draw a larger attendance. Including WrestleMania in the average, it would be a decline from 6600 to 6400. Overseas shows fell from an average of 8000 to an average of 6300, but the drop was partially due to adding a lot more events in new markets.
As compared to previous calls, the company provided significantly less information past the numbers themselves with Vince McMahon praising Paul Levesque’s work in the women’s division and how quarter hour numbers show fans are responding better to the women.
They also pushed their new localized versions of WWE shows in the Middle East and India as helping to build popularity.
Q&A
– A question regarding moving Raw and SmackDown to Facebook came up and George Barrios noted that Raw and SmackDown is the company’s biggest revenue stream and felt that at some point, social media platforms will mean as much as television does which is why they are working on their social media following.
– When asked about the much-discussed weekly UK television show, Barrios really didn’t answer or give a timetable. As noted before, WWE had contacted venues for monthly tapings that would have started in June, but then backed off with no announcements.
The Network Numbers
Aside from television revenue, which is a fixed contractual number, the biggest number is the WWE Network number. On June 30th, the WWE Network grew slightly to 1,568,000 subscribers as compared to 1,511,000 at the same point last year.
In the second quarter of 2016, the Network gained 625,000 new paying subscribers while losing 471,000 (people who let their subs lapse after WrestleMania). This year, during the second quarter, the company gained 598,000 new paying subscribers while losing 604,000.
Last year, it was the second quarter that gained the most subscribers of any quarter while this year they actually lost subscribers during the same period even with producing more PPVs in the quarter than the year before.
As far as the other divisions, Home Entertainment was down 10 percent in profits, digital media had a stronger quarter with $1.4 million in profits, and while venue merchandise was down significantly, licensing and WWE Shop revenue were up.
For more on WWE financials, check our Twitter feed and listen to Chris Harrington on today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
One of the staples of WWE Network original programming is having its broadcast schedule significantly reduced.
WWE issued a statement today confirming that Talking Smack will no longer air weekly and will instead only be shown after SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-views: “We continuously review WWE Network’s programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 LIVE.”
Talking Smack was one of the elements that helped SmackDown differentiate itself from Raw after last summer’s brand split. With Renee Young and Daniel Bryan as the co-hosts of the show, it furthered storylines and provided an outlet for advanced character development.
The most memorable moment of Talking Smack’s weekly run was a segment that attempted to blur the lines between storyline and reality as Bryan and The Miz got into a heated exchange on the August 23rd, 2016 episode. After Bryan insulted Miz’s in-ring style, Miz dared him to quit and go back to the indies.
When 205 Live debuted on the Network, Talking Smack was moved back an hour and was taped during that show.
Though the service launched over three years ago, it’s still becoming increasingly apparent that the WWE Network has forever changed the pro wrestling marketplace.
FloSports raising the month-to-month rate of its streaming products, including FloSlam, for new subscribers to $29.99 per month has most recently reignited the conversation about the pricing of wrestling broadcasts. Comparisons to the WWE Network are inevitable and entirely justifiable. Though FloSlam offers a different product that may appeal to different types of fans, the $9.99 that it costs for a month of the WWE Network is a value that is almost impossible to match.
WWE’s strategy for the Network has always been to offer a big-tent product that turns as many of its viewers into subscribers as possible. The Network is a requirement if you want the full fan experience. Likely inspired by Netflix, the price started low and surprisingly hasn’t changed. The company also made the decision to put all of its pay-per-views on the Network, including WrestleMania 30 as the initial event to draw people in.
Though WrestleMania 33 took place in the second quarter of the year and the company had already released an updated network number following the event, WWE posted its first quarter financial report today.
Of note, the WWE Network averaged 1,490,000 paid subscribers over the first quarter of 2017. WWE noted that the number represents a 16 percent increase over last year’s opening quarter.
There were 1,574,000 paid network subscriptions as of March 31st, with 1,165,000 subscribers in the United States and 409,000 internationally. There were 1,697,000 total subscribers at the end of the quarter.
The network had 1,661,000 paid subscriptions as of April 3rd, which was the day after WrestleMania. Total subscribers fell just short of two million then, coming in at 1,949,000.
Revenue was also up in comparison to 2016’s first quarter, increasing to $188.4 million from $171.1 million. As Dave Meltzer wrote in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, profits were down in comparison to the same period from last year.
“We are pleased with the continued growth of WWE Network, which is a critical building block of our content strategy,” Vince McMahon was quoted as saying in a press release. “The recent production of WrestleMania set records for network viewership as well as digital and social engagement. As we leverage continuing innovation to extend our reach in India, China, and around the world, we are confident that the enduring and increasing global power of our brands will provide a solid foundation for long-term growth.”
WWE’s presence in India also came up during an investor’s call that the company hosted, with a question being asked about Jinder Mahal’s recent push and if it was a strategic decision to cater to fans in the country given his Indian heritage. Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios answered that they let storylines drive who is popular or not, but said that a local character getting hot could boost business in a country a bit.
The WWE released its subscriber information today regarding the WWE Network and the WrestleMania build and season was more successful in growth than last year.
Concentrating on actual paid subscriptions, the network has 1,661,000 subscribers as of today, broken down as 1,237,000 in the United States and 424,000 over the rest of the world.
With all the different free offers to bring back older subscribers and create new subscribers, there were 280,000 free subscribers as of today between the one and three months free numbers, which breaks down as 215,000 free in the U.S. and 65,000 free outside the U.S., meaning total subscribers were 1,949,000.
There were also some lower priced bargain subscriptions and actual revenues and how that all ads up won’t be available until the quarterly conference call that will take place toward the end of this month or first week of May.
Last year on the day after WrestleMania, the network had 1,109,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 345,000 outside the U.S. The greater outside the U.S. increase was because of adding new markets, but now the network is available worldwide everywhere except China, which got Mania for the first time on iPPV. George Barrios was asked today about the China numbers but didn’t answer that question.
The year-over-year increase was 11.5 percent in the U.S. and 22.9 percent outside the U.S., but that also adds in new markets.
Had growth been identical with last year during the same season, the U.S. number would have been 1,202,000 paid and the international number would have been 438,000 and total would have been 1,640,000. So overall this period was more successful than last year in creating new paid subscribers by a very slight margin.
