Speaking of that date, it's everyday that I get asked if that's in any association with the baseball strike date for the MLB. NO! August 30th just so happens to be on a Friday, and given that I'm very busy on Saturdays, personally and professionally, the PDC ends there. Plus, I want to end it with one last full Smackdown review.
The NEW weekly column will be posted on Tuesdays, which will mainly be focused around my famous RAW review. I've thought about putting mini Smackdown and Pay Per View reviews in the intros, along with other wrestling thoughts or whatever. This is not to say that I won't be whipping out a special column here or there, or multimedia reviews, etc.
What's the name of the new weekly column? Tune in on August 30th...
So as I was saying before... Rectum? Damn near killed 'em.
On to the PDC.
-Discouraging news came from the WWE first quarter financial report, which I believe ran from sometime in April until July 26th. In comparison to this time last year, which was also a low financial period for the WWE, they did $88.1 million in comparison to $90.7 million last year. It might look like a close call, but account for inflation and some of the things we'll talk about to truly see where the WWE is today, as compared to last year. Let's look at some avenues of revenue, piece by piece.
Television advertising revenues: $16.7 million this year, compared to $19.5 last year. I'm not sure how the structure for ad revenues is set up, as the WWE's ratings are lower today than they are during last year at this time. They've lost so many bigger name sponsors throughout the years to make the ad revenue higher. I don't think the ratings have anything to do with the ad revenue, though, as it's just under a $3 million difference. I'd say it's a lack of better or slightly higher paying advertisers.
Live event revenues: A big increase of 28%... Again, note that the WWE has doubled the amount of houseshows they now hold, hence the increase. The costs of holding more shows probably eats that 28% up. Also note that ticket prices have gone up significantly over the past year.
Merchandise: Up to $20.3 million, compared to last year's $18.3. Again, more houseshows, more merchandise sold. The numbers mentioned do include stuff like video games, home videos, etc as well. The WWE has pumped out more video titles lately than in recent months, and Wrestlemania X-8 for the Gamecube is seeing some good success in the video game market.
The World: The nightclub in New York City... its revenues decreased 32% in this quarter. Jesus Christ, will someone shut that place down! Such a failure, especially when it's located in Times Square, a very expensive place to hold a business anyway.
Looking at a few other things, their business expenses are a little down, which comes from all of the office workers and developmental talent they cut off of payroll. Working exclusively in one developmental territory instead of 2 should cut down costs, and the same goes for continued efficiency, like taping several parts of shows at once, like Heat or Velocity.
Now, I'm not trying to discredit the WWE in any way here. They threw a big positive spin on everything they announced, without giving any true definitions to why certain things increased, etc.
-Oh lord, hold the F'N phone! Former WWF wrestler, Tiger Ali Singh is attempting to sue the WWE for $7 million for harassment and for possible money owed to Singh after a career ending injury. Singh claims that he was harassed in the WWE locker room, with his turban was swiped and filled with garbage and cigarette butts. He also claims that he was called "Taxi Driver" and was forced to wear his turban on television. That's interesting, because it's unlikely that Singh ever complained to management or even Vince McMahon about such harassment in the first place, let alone having to wear his turban as part of his "gimmick". Now that he's no longer receiving paychecks, it now comes out...
With the money owed to Singh for when the WWE stopped paying him after a career ending injury, despite that injury taking place for another company, apparently (Meltzer says it was in Puerto Rico). $7 million is rather high for a suit with hardly any facts to back it up, so I see some kind of settlement occurring between the WWE and the Singhs or the WWE will have it go to court so that it can be possibly thrown out in the first day.
-Spots 'n' Dots mentioned that Smackdown was among the top rated shows among Hispanics during the last television season. That's cool, and what could that mean for the upcoming television season? PUSH REY MYSTERIO! PUSH EDDIE and CHAVO GUERRERO! I see Rey-Rey becoming a huge hit with Hispanics, and it's no wonder why the WWE is already pushing him already to be above the Cruiserweight division; the intended place for Mysterio.
-Tonight's Smackdown should be interesting. Kurt Angle will take on Billy Kidman to warm up for Mysterio this Sunday. That should be good. Another good match COULD be Shannon Moore/Hurricane vs. Tajiri/Jamie Noble. Can you believe that Noble isn't defending his belt at Summerslam? I guess plans change when Rey Mysterio looks like he's a bigger star than that division. Also, we'll see what Nidia is truly made of, as she'll take on Women's champion Molly Holly. Interesting....
FINAL PHAT DAILY COLUMN: August 30th, 2002. After that, Mr. Tito will produce a newly titled Weekly column on Tuesdays, mostly consisting of the famous RAW review.
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@I hope to be back tomorrow...
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.