Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[koberulz]

I don't get how being on the road is resulting in them bleeding money, but they can afford to run a major NYC arena, unless "arena" is an assumption, "major" is a marketing term, and it's the Manhattan Center.

[shadowgrin]

Road:
Costs for the advance party (people who apply and reserve the venues where the future event will happen)
Fees for the venue.
Fuel costs for the trucks transporting equipment (cameras, tarp, ring stuff, etc.).
Maintenance costs for the trucks.
Maintenance costs for the equipment.
Fuel costs for vehicles carrying the 'backstage' help.
Maintenance costs for those vehicles.
Costs of hotel/motel for the people/talent to stay in.
Costs of feeding the help people while on the road.


One site:
Fees for the venue.
Storage fee for their equipment.
Maintenance costs for the equipment.

[koberulz]

Costs of hotel/motel for the people/talent to stay in.

WWE doesn't even pay those; no way TNA does.

[shadowgrin]

Depends on the contract of the talent.

Almost a year old and probably 4th hand info at best:

http://www.ringsideaction.com/2012/10/w ... -salaries/

Alberto Del Rio: $675,000 downside/first class travel – 3 year contract
Big Show: $1,050,000 downside/allocated a personal touring bus/first class travel arrangements paid for, when bus travel is not an option – 10 year contract
Brodus Clay: $170,000 downside – 2 year contract
Christian: $595,000 downside/first class travel – 3 year contract
CM Punk: $1,220,500 downside/allocated a personal touring bus/first class travel arrangements paid for, when bus travel is not an option/receives an additional 3.25% bonus for high merchandise sales – 7 year contract
Cody Rhodes: $494,500 downside – 3 year contract
Daniel Bryan: $620,470 downside – 3 year contract
Darren Young: $80,145 downside – 3 year contract
Dolph Ziggler: $540,230 downside – 3 year contract
Jack Swagger: $319,000 downside – 3 year contract
Jinder Mahal: $75,000 downside – 3 year contract
John Cena: $2,750,000 downside/first class travel and accommodation/receives an additional 6.25% bonus for high merchandise sales – 10 year contract
Kane: $905,000 downside/first class travel and accommodation – 5 year contract
Kofi Kingston: $254,200 downside – 3 year contract
Mark Henry: $877,000 downside/first class travel – 10 year contract
Randy Orton: $1,600,500 downside/allocated a personal touring bus/first class travel arrangements paid for, when bus travel is not an option/receives an additional 2.2% bonus for high merchandise sales – 10 year contract
Rey Mysterio: $985,000 downside/first class travel arrangements/receives an additional 4% bonus for high merchandise sales – 5 year contract
Sheamus: $1,000,000 downside/first class travel arrangements – 7 year contract
Tensai: $520,000 downside – 3 year contract
The Great Khali: $974,000 downside – 5 year contract
The Miz: $712,000 downside/first class travel – 5 year contract
Zack Ryder: $135,050 downside/receives an additional 1.5% bonus for high merchandise sales – 3 year contract


Alicia Fox: $72,520 downside – 3 year contract
AJ Lee: $104,300 downside – 3 year contract
Beth Phoenix: $112,500 downside/first class travel – 3 year contract
Eve: $109,475 downside/first class travel – 5 year contract
Layla: $86,450 downside – 3 year contract
Natalya: $74,410 downside – 3 year contract


Booker T: $477,375 downside/first class travel and accommodation – 3 year contract
Jerry Lawler: $500,000 downside/first class travel and accommodation/allowed to make independent appearances – 5 year contract
Matt Striker: $164,000 downside – 3 year contract
Michael Cole: $549,000 downside/first class travel and accommodation – 5 year contract

[Andrew]

Even if they're not paying for accommodation on the road, there are still plenty of other expenses compared to taping at one venue. Seems they're at least considering doing the latter again.

[Lean]

I agree with koberulz regarding Bryan's booking, the angle might make it to the point where Bryan's pop may die down.

Also, those side plates for Daniel Bryan look stupid.

[JaoSming]

From the Reddit, PWI, WR, etc.

People are getting refunds for NoC from their cable providers because of the overturn on Raw, which is hilarious to me.

Hogan's contract is up on the 1st. Spike evidently wants him resigned.

[Andrew]

Despite the gaps in logic in how it came about, I'm kind of liking the current angle with Big Show. He's a pretty good actor on top of being one of the best super heavyweights there's been, so he's playing his role really well. Stephanie and HHH have always been pretty good at drawing heat and making others look sympathetic (except perhaps Cena at Wrestlemania 22, but that's a whole other problem), I'm looking forward to the payoff of Show snapping and getting his revenge.

Apparently they might be bringing HBK in to align with Bryan against HHH, which could perhaps be an interesting twist. I'm guessing that's why HHH made passing mention of him on RAW when he said Bryan had left Shawn down, it could be planting the seeds for that to happen in the coming weeks.

[koberulz]

People are getting refunds for NoC from their cable providers because of the overturn on Raw, which is hilarious to me.

Getting, or trying to get?

[JaoSming]

Getting - http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=80359
http://www.pwinsider.com/article/80368/ ... y.html?p=1

[koberulz]

Overturned finish or not, WWE's statement is just flat-out false. The general consensus seems to be 'three-hour episode of Raw', or whatever the phrasing for that criticism is now that Raw actually is three hours.

Do we know where the refund money is coming from? Entirely from the cable companies, or is WWE losing money on it too? And will this teach them not to write shitty angles (no)?

[[Q]]

refunds come from cable companies, wwe already made their money and the companies are doing it from a customer service standpoint

[buzzy]

Apparently we're back to doing Ryback vs. Local squash matches.

[JaoSming]

Mickie James and Ken Anderson's profiles were removed from the TNA website, so with their contracts expired, they are officially gone from the company.

Let it begin. Anderson did well though IMO...

[Andrew]

They could still be negotiating.

[JaoSming]

Smackdown

*Heath Slater with 3MB vs. Santino with Great Khali and Hornswoggle. Santino goes for the Cobra but Jinder Mahal pulls out a FLUTE and ties to charm it. Khali then pulls one out and attempt to charm the cobra. The Cobra goes back and forth. Hornswoggle finally steals Mahal's flute, allowing Khali to charm the cobra into striking Slater. Santino wins. I wish I was making all this up.

[Andrew]

Well, at least they're undercard comedy relief characters. Still, that's pretty bad.

[deihatein]

Smackdown

*Heath Slater with 3MB vs. Santino with Great Khali and Hornswoggle. Santino goes for the Cobra but Jinder Mahal pulls out a FLUTE and ties to charm it. Khali then pulls one out and attempt to charm the cobra. The Cobra goes back and forth. Hornswoggle finally steals Mahal's flute, allowing Khali to charm the cobra into striking Slater. Santino wins. I wish I was making all this up.

lol it immediately reminded me of this:

phpBB [video]

[JaoSming]

Spoilers for next week's TNA

Hulk says that he quits. Dixie grabs and holds onto his leg to keep him from "leaving" to end the show.

Hopefully

Article on it (great read, highlights below)
http://pwinsider.com/article/80550/what ... n.html?p=1

Hogan announced in late 2009 that he was coming to TNA, portraying it as if he was legitimately running the promotion in media appearances and before the public. The reality is that he and long-time partner Eric Bischoff had heavy say in the creative and in how the product was rolled out, but they didn't have complete control over every aspect of the promotion.

Hogan debuted in January 2010 to a lot of fanfare, bringing a number of new talents with him, including Rob Van Dam, Bischoff, Ric Flair, Val Venis, The Nasty Boys and Bubba the Love Sponge. Kevin Nash, Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman also returned at the same time while Ken Anderson soon followed. Of that crew, only Hardy and Bischoff remain and none of the other names, despite excellent track records elsewhere, helped TNA achieve any great gains in drawing TV ratings or live crowds.

They attempted a poorly received Monday Night move against WWE Raw before returning to Thursdays. They took Impact Wrestling live weekly and dropped their schedule of 12 live PPVs a year down to several "major" shows with the remainder pre-taped. Most recently, they took the Impact tapings on the road. These were all concepts that the Hogan/Bischoff regime pushed for - some of which Hogan claimed in media interviews needed to be done to get the company going. In the end, they were chasing another, more expensive carrot and none of the changes, to date, were successful. If anything, TNA was now spending more money to get the same results they had prior to the Hogan era

The reality, however, was that the biggest name of the 1980s wasn't able to make it happen in the 2010s - and he was being paid a premium salary for it not to happen.

If Hogan is gone, obviously the big question is what happens with Eric Bischoff, who will obviously remain committed to Hogan in a major way. Surely, he could remain, but he has a lot of other projects going, some of which could be (or already are) far more lucrative for him. If Bischoff does depart, the question is who would replace him in his duties. Bischoff's current deal is believed to expire before the end of 2013.

One clue may be that Jeff Jarrett was working backstage at the St. Louis taping and was again at Impact last night in Little Rock. Jarrett has taken a more active role in TNA business in recent weeks, which could be a sign that he's preparing for a much larger role.

[Andrew]

Bischoff's deal supposedly expires soon as well, so it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he and Hogan do leave. It seems like Hogan wants to work with WWE again, with his appearance in WWE 2K14 reportedly being a sign of fences being mended.

[Andrew]

Here's something from the WWE's official YouTube channel, HHH's debut on RAW:

phpBB [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URo88s5zDgk

Just your standard debut squash match against a jobber, certainly not a memorable bout in and of itself, but his pre-Pedigree finisher might be an interesting surprise.

[JaoSming]

Saw this on Reddit

On 06/23/03, Kane broke a mirror backstage before his "Mask vs Title" match against Triple H
Six years and 364 days later, he lost a one-on-one match to CM Punk on SmackDown (06/22/10).
After the seven-year anniversary of Kane's unmasking passed the next day, he went three months without being defeated, with most of that time coinciding with his reign as World Heavyweight Champion.
Kane broke a mirror, unmasked against his will, and had a horrible streak of losses and bad breaks for the next seven years...
Then, as SOON as seven years passed, he went on a very solid winning streak (11 straight wins from the end of June to the beginning of October), and during that winning streak won his first world championship in over a decade.
Coincidence, or an amazingly thorough angle that was never even brought up?

[deihatein]

WWE releasing old and full matches in their official youtube channel is best for business!

[[Q]]

his pre-Pedigree finisher might be an interesting surprise.

The Hunter Cutter doesn't have the same ring to it

[JaoSming]