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Ring of Honor held a press conference at the WNUV studios in Baltimore to introduce new Chief Operating Officer Joe Koff, as well as formally announce the station lineup for its new television show.
Everyone was talking optimistic, particularly Jim Cornette, the Executive Vice President, who will oversee the wrestling and creative end of the company, about the attempt to market what has been a mainstream niche product, that has also been a consistent money loser, to a larger audience.
Cornette tried to emphasize that they will be presenting a different wrestling product, not old school wrestling, nor modern sports entertainment, but a fresh approach to tell stories of driven individuals. He tried to differentiate between the competition by saying they are not sports entertainment, but they want to present an entertaining sport.
Most of the top stars on the 6/26 iPPV were there, and they promoted that show, but the main thing was to officially announce the television debut on 9/24 in a number of mid-level markets.
Cary Silkin, who was the money man behind ROH during most of its existence, shortly after original owner Rob Feinstein was unable to afford the losses and had to bring in a partner. To Silkins credit, he kept the promotion alive, in particular after the HDNet deal which proved not to be big enough to turn the fortunes around.
This deal comes at a point that is a crossroads in the history of pro wrestling. Whatever one wants to think about the in-ring product, pro wrestling has never been built on great matches. It has been built on great personalities and the ability to create larger than life stars who can capture the imagination of the masses. For a number of reasons, the creation of new stars has never been more difficult. Even during the mid-90s, when wrestlings popularity was lower than it is today, both WCW and WWF were able to create superstars, and even ECW was able to create superstars to a degree. Whether its a product that has moved too far from believability, or has over-angled itself into oblivion, or turns characters so quickly theyve created an audience that no longer cares deeply about the product or follows the television closely is hard to say. But right now, the No. 2 promotion that has two hours of prime time, huge mainstream names, does numbers that would be considered disastrous for a company with its payroll. ROH doesnt have the star power to compete for No. 2. Clearly, the sale to Sinclair Broadcasting does give them more financial backing and a synergy in promotions that they didnt have in the past. Can syndicated wrestling without mainstream stars in mid-level markets on Saturday nights draw enough of an audience is question one. Can they also make that audience care enough to come? Even during the 80s, when Bill Watts Universal Wrestling Federation was producing some of the best television anywhere, and drawing real ratings in syndication, when they left their territory and tried to draw, they got nowhere. Even Jim Crockett Promotions struggled in drawing in some parts of the country when they were hot and during a period many fondly remember as glory days for the business. And eventually, they stopped drawing in all parts of the country for a variety of reasons, and this was with a roster loaded with future Hall of Famers and some of the biggest stars in history in their prime years.
Silkin said that he is happy with the sale because the company is finally put in a position to do what he wasnt able to do, which is market it to the masses. He also said that the product itself is not going to change.
Of course, it will change and be tweaked, but Cornette and Gary Juster, who are going to be largely in charge, have a vision of pro wrestling as something that it once was. The problem isnt the vision, but the reality of being No. 3 in a business that has never been kind to even No. 2, and in some cases, even No. 1. For all the talk of ECW in the 90s, which had a cult following because they presented a different product, ECW was never able to financially turn the corner. Now, if it was around today, and had a network paying millions of dollars per year in rights fees, would it be different? With Sinclair, would a few hundred thousand in losses be considered the cost of doing business if they can provide good ratings on Saturday nights, normally a death night, to its stations? But will people in a world with endless major sports on television, as well as a multitude of MMA (which may be competition to aspects of the vision here as far as presenting lesser known names but with the idea of building real competition for title belts and trying to tell stories), two major WWE shows per week that present main event matches and TNA leave a large enough audience with enough time to follow a new product? And how big can the product be without television in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Houston, Toronto and many of the other major media markets in North America? Plus, without those markets, there isnt going to be the level of advertising income that can make a difference.
At the same time, can PPV on the Internet grow enough to be significant? And if thats the case, how long will that turnover take. And even if it does, does that mean ROH will be swept to the top in a giant wave, or like with PPV, will that just mean riches for the biggest events, and will secondary events flounder like they did with television PPV?
And local syndication is a different animal than in the 80s when the power of a local station is nothing compared to a generation before with the onset of cable, plus the concept of taping weeks in advance, particularly for a product that at this point its primary audience is the type that is Internet savvy and into immediacy is another question.
Still, the old system they were running under was not working. Anyone who thinks this move is bad for business, well, at worst, its an added lease on life to a business that was running out of time. At best, its saving a business that was not going to last much longer in its prior incarnation.
The company was working on signing all of its talent to long-term deals to start focusing on who they will have a lot of guaranteed time with and can start pushing on television. Sinclair, like any media property owner, wants the talent under contract and not to push someone on its television, only to have them leave for a television show on a rival station.
Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin were announced as having signed with the promotion, which were the two key names because there was always the chance TNA could pick them up because they are major league talents and Kurt Angle had pushed for them, plus Benjamin had received a tryout match with WWE a few months back. From the iPPV, it looked like Haas & Benjamin vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe was going to be the main tag team program once television begins.
Of the key talent, the only ones who hadnt signed new deals based on what we were told going into the show day of were Homicide, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Rhino and Christopher Daniels. Homicide surprisingly beat Rhino on the iPPV, but then did an injury angle after. He signed with the Urban Wrestling Federation to be there top guy and got guaranteed money, which meant he couldnt sign here. TNA wanted him for Destination X but his UWF contract may have precluded that from happening since Homicide was not on TV for TNA at the recent tapings, unless he did a backstage vignette. At one point he was expected on this weeks TV. I cant imagine the UWF having done any business at all for its PPV, and they spent money on tapings and on advertising (including on ESPN Sports Center). If UWF doesnt last, I could see him being back. We were told Homicide suffered a cracked rib, but he may work the next show in New York for ROH, but after that, he wouldnt be back unless something happens with UWF. His UWF contract is believed to be through January. Hero & Castagnoli reportedly have received a WWE developmental offer. They had not signed the deal as of the weekend, but the belief was they were leaning toward going, which would be a fairly significant loss because of their ability to have good matches with various different style opponents. Rhino is not under contract right now but looked good enough that its expected hell be used going forward and they do want all the key guys under contract. Daniels, who dropped the TV title to El Generico, worked his last ROH match at least for the time being. He is under contract to ROH but wasnt going to sign a renewal since hes back with TNA. There was a lot of unhappiness regarding Daniels working in TNA as himself because they had an agreement he would only work in TNA under a mask as Suicide, but TNA blatantly ignored the agreement. The feeling is TNA felt, and as it turned out it was so, that ROH wouldnt want to spend money in a legal battle, plus TNA felt that ROH would want access to TNA talent in the future and thus they werent going to make a fuss over it. It is possible Homicide would work again for ROH, but most likely the iPPV would be his last iPPV event.
Right now the plan is to do one more iPPV, although the date and place wasnt announced, in the fall, before the television really kicks in. But the plan right now is two more iPPVs, this year, one in the fall, and Final Battle in December.
At the press conference, Sinclair Broadcasting announced the station lineup and time slots for the show: Baltimore (WNUV, Saturday 10 p.m., Sunday midnight); Birmingham (WABM, Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday 11 p.m.), Buffalo (WNYO Saturday 9 p.m.); Cedar Rapids (KFXW Saturday 11:30 p.m.; KGAN Saturday 3:30 a.m.); Champaign, IL (WICS Saturdays at midnight); Charleston, SC (WMMP Saturday 10 p.m.; WTAT Sunday 1 p.m.); Charleston, WV (WVAH Sunday 11 p.m.; WCHS, Sunday 1:30 a.m.); Cincinnati/Columbus, OH (WTTE Sunday midnight); Dayton (WRGT Sunday 10:30 p.m. and Sunday 3 a.m.); Des Moines (KDSM Saturday 2 a.m., Sunday 11 p.m.); Flint (WSMH, Sunday 11 p.m.; Greensboro (WMYV Saturday 8 p.m. and midnight); Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, SC (WMYA Saturday 10 p.m., WLOS Saturday 1:30 a.m.); Las Vegas (KVCW Saturday 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.); Lexington (WDKY Sunday Midnight); Madison, WI (WMSN Saturday 12:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m.); Milwaukee (WVTV Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday midnight); Minneapolis/St. Paul (WUCW (Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday 1 a.m.); Mobile (WFGX, Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday midnight); Nashville (WUXP, Saturday 10 p.m., Sunday 1 a.m.); Norfolk (WTVZ, Saturday 10 p.m., Sunday 1 a.m.); Oklahoma City (KOCB Saturday 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.); Paducah (WDKA Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday 2 a.m.); Peoria (WYZZ Saturday 3 a.m., Sunday 11 p.m.); Pittsburgh (WPMY Saturday 10 p.m., Sunday midnight); Portland, ME (WGME, Saturday 1 a.m.); Raleigh (WRDC, Saturday 10 p.m., Sunday midnight); Richmond, VA (WFLH, Sunday 11:30 p.m.); Rochester, NY (WUHF, Sunday 1:30 a.m.); San Antonio (WMYS Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday 1 a.m.); St. Louis (WDNL, Saturday 1:30 a.m.); Syracuse (WNYS, Saturday 10 p.m., Sunday 1 a.m.);, Tallahassee (WYWC, Saturday 1 a.m.); Tampa (WTTA Saturday 9 p.m., Sunday 9 p.m.).
An interesting note is that while syndication is going back to a different era, during that era wrestling was often airing in weekend afternoon time slots, and for the most part that isnt the case here. The Saturday prime time slot is most frequent. In most cases, I think a post-midnight time slot is useless. You can draw your super hardcore fans with it, and with DVRs you can work around bad time slots. But the key to television is to attract new fans, and you arent going to do that in bad time slots.
The one thing the 6/26 ROH iPPV showed is that losing HDNet didnt hurt business at all.
The Best In the World show, built around Davey Richards, in what he said would be his last challenge ever for the ROH title, against longtime American Wolves tag team partner Eddie Edwards, sold out the Hammerstein Ballroom with just over 2,500 fans, and did 2,100 iPPV orders, a company record. This was done even though the company lost its television in early April. The New York sellout wasnt a surprise, as ROH for big shows at the Hammerstein has drawn well in the past, with or without television. When ROH lost HDNet, company officials said that there was no indication to them that any of their core business was really aided much by being on TV, and there had been no decline in house show attendance either.
WWE got a mixed bag of results from May when it comes to PPV, with the Extreme Rules show being one of the companys worst producing PPVs in history, but Over the Limit three weeks later rebounded in surprising fashion, although in both cases the shows were carried by buys outside North America.
The most significant news of all is that in May, for the first time in history, PPVs outside of the core domestic region (United States, Canada and Puerto Rico) fell below 50% of the total (largely due to the UFC 129 show, the Toronto show with Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch absolutely killing domestic PPV for Extreme Rules the next day). For the month, the two shows were at 49.7% domestic and 50.3% overseas. Where that is significant is that for WrestleMania, the split was 59.2% domestic and 40.8% overseas.
Preliminary indications for Extreme Rules were 138,000 worldwide buys and 65,000 domestic buys. The latter would be the lowest total for a WWE show since the mid-80s when only a tiny percentage of homes could even get PPV. It actually did worse on a domestic basis, and in the same ballpark on a worldwide basis, with last years Bragging Rights show which combined a bad gimmick with coming one day after the stronger Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez show.
Extreme Rules, from 5/1 in Tampa, headlined by John Cena winning the WWE title in a three-way over champion The Miz and third wheel John Morrison, Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match for the World title, Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole & Jack Swagger in a country whipping match and Randy Orton vs. C.M. Punk in a last man standing match. From a domestic standpoint, it fell 38% from the Extreme Rules show in 2010, so using the crutch of it being the first show after Mania so it wasnt going to do well is true, but the fall was far greater than usual.
The drop isnt all UFC related, because the 2010 Extreme Rules show was probably stronger, with Cena vs. Batista in a last man standing match, Chris Jericho vs. Edge in a cage match for the World title and Orton vs. Swagger in an extreme rules match. The big two matches at that time felt like hotter programs than anything on this years show.
The good news is that Over the Limit rebounded well, doing an estimated 220,000 worldwide buys and 113,000 domestic. The worldwide buys were slightly up from the 218,000 for the 2010 show, although domestically it was down 7%, from 121,000, but right now a 7% year-to-year drop almost has to be considered a success.
This years show on 5/22 from Seattle had Cena vs. Miz for the title in an I Quit match, Orton vs. Christian for the World title and Lawler vs. Cole. Perhaps as important as anything is there had been no UFC event on PPV since the Toronto show. If there is something on the show, Id think it was the I Quit match. Lawler vs. Cole wasnt even as hot as it was three weeks earlier and maybe Im wrong on Christian vs. Orton, as they did have the best match with the most reaction, but in the build up I sensed Cena vs. Miz as a blow off was the strongest thing. But one thing positive is that either Miz or Christian, who had really never established themselves as draws, were in the top two matches and while 109,000 buys domestically is really not that good, it also isnt that terrible. In fact, worldwide, Over the Limit shockingly beat the Elimination Chamber and I dont think anyone would have predicted that happening.
The comparison show from last year was Cena vs. Batista in an I Quit match, Swagger vs. Big Show in a World title match, Edge vs. Orton and Hart Dynasty keeping the tag titles against Jericho & Miz (boy does that result feel strange a year later). Another factor last year is May 2010 was a killer of a month on PPV with Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Shane Mosley, Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua (which had Kimbo Slice on the undercard) and Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans (one of the biggest UFC grudge matches and arguably the biggest non-title match ever). While none were the same weekend and this years May had Pacquiao vs. Mosley, UFC for May last year had an average and a monster show while this year they had one show, which was a weak marquee show where the entire main event fell out.
Raw on 6/27 did a 3.14 rating and 4.95 million viewers even with Shawn Michaels. It was still No. 1 on cable for the night. No. 2 was the NCIS rerun in the former Tough Enough time slot which did 3.79 million viewers, way more than Tough Enough was getting. It was 35% women, the highest percentage of women viewers in a long time.
In the segment-by-segment, the show opened at a 3.25 for Shawn Michaels in the ring and C.M. Punk, Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga. Punk vs. Kane lost 495,000 viewers which is terrible. Sin Cara vs. Evan Bourne gained 451,000 viewers. Thats unusually large growth for a non top of the hour or overrun segment. Notably teenage boys jumped 15% to see this match. This is the first evidence Ive seen of Sin Cara as a genuine TV draw. Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler lost 278,000 viewers. Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show in a cage match with the Mark Henry run-in gained 471,000 viewers to a 3.34 quarter, which ended up as the highest point of the show. Kelly Kelly vs. Nikki Bella in the submission match, and the backstage stuff with Booker T, Rey Mysterio, Michaels, Drew McIntyre and Diamond Dallas Page lost 388,000 viewers. Thats usually a bad segment. The Miz & Jack Swagger vs. Rey Mysterio & Alex Riley in a tornado match gained 33,000 viewers. The overrun with the John Cena vs. R-Truth tables match gained 314,000 viewers to a 3.31 quarter.
Smackdown on 6/24 did a 1.72 rating and 2.40 million viewers. Thats the lowest number of viewers in a while. It should be noted that historically Smackdown ratings traditionally decline in the summer, whereas Raws numbers usually stay pretty steady in the summer and decline in the fall due to football.
Impact on 6/23 did a 1.17 rating and 1.69 million viewers. The show did a 0.72 in Males 18-34 and 1.08 in Males 35-49, which is at usual levels.
In the segment-by-segment, Bully Ray vs. Scott Steiner gained 130,000 viewers. Velvet Sky & Miss Tessmacher vs. ODB & Jackie lost 116,000 viewers. Some backstage interviews with Tara and Madison Rayne and Beer Money gained 43,000 viewers. Crimson & Matt Morgan vs. Beer Money gained 72,000 viewers and were the high point of the show at 1.23. A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels in-ring lost 130,000 viewers. The three way with Zema Ion (Shiima Xion) vs. Dakota Darsow vs. Federico Palacious and Winter vs. Mickie James street fight lost 14,000 viewers and did the show-low 1.13. Sting vs. Abyss gained 44,000 viewers and did a 1.16 main event.
Hulk Hogan announced on twitter that the deal is done and TNA would be starting to do arena tapings in August, but then had to back off that statement, saying an announcement would be made this week and the new schedule would be tested out. This is the same plan they had for March and were waiting for Spike to kick in more money since TNA itself wasnt going to spend what we were told was a significant increase in money to do tapings on the road even though virtually everyone agreed they needed to do them. Internal reports are that this is all dependent on Spike, and their willingness to fund the added expense since TNA doesnt feel it can add to spending right now for something like this. The plan is for tapings in Orlando on Mondays and Tuesdays after PPV shows. The tapings between PPV shows will be done with two shows being taped on the same night. In the past, the idea was to tape on a Friday, six days before the airing of the first show of the set of tapings, giving them time to edit and figuring its easier to draw on a Friday or Saturday than any other night. My feeling is this is probably one of the best moves they can make, because the Fayetteville tapings in February made the company look so much more major league than the Orlando shows do. The Impact Zone has its positives and I like it as a base, but the more tapings they can do in other locations, the more major league the product comes across. I always thought they should have taped in the U.K. when they went there and drew good crowds, or done a taping in Mexico in conjunction with AAA just because the crowd reactions in Mexico are so great.
Linda Bollea was on the Today Show with Matt Lauer promoting her new book and talked about being abused to Hulk, positioning herself as standing up and hoping it would enable other women to talk about the abuse they would have received from their husbands. She said she was afraid of his violent outbursts, saying he tore her shirt, he threw lamps, he held her down on the bed with his hands around her neck, he was pounding walls, In was always afraid he would kill me in one of his rages and then claimed that he never showed remorse for her actions. Hogan responded No comment when NBC asked him about it. Later, he went on Bubba the Love Sponge and said he would only talk to Bubba, saying the stories werent true, denied any rampant drug abuse and said this was just her trying to put herself back in the spotlight and promote her book.
Linda then went on Piers Morgans talk show on CNN. She said Hogan had a girlfriend before the divorce and she felt left out and a loser. She blamed Hulk for Nicks accident saying Hulk never should have let Nick drive, nor should he have let the other boys drive the other car since they were out waterskiing and partying all day. She portrayed herself as a normal housewife and mother going through a bad time. She said John Graziano was now at home and cared for by his mother. She said she had suicidal thoughts of jumping off a bridge but said she didnt want to kill herself, but really didnt want to live either. She said her life was so bad, noting that her dog was run over in the driveway during this period. She brought up Hogan dating Brookes best friend, Kristi Ann (this was before Hulks current wife Jennifer McDowell). I think Kristi Ann was 31, so it wasnt like she was Brookes age or the age of Lindas boyfriend who is a year younger than Brooke. When asked if Charley Hill, her current boyfriend (hes now 23, shes now 52), was like a young Hulk, she agreed. She said she didnt start dating him until nine months after they were divorced and said Hulk doesnt talk to her at all because of her dating Hill and their only communication is through lawyers. She said shes happy now and wasnt happy in her marriage. Morgan said they got a statement from Hogan who said that Lindas belief that he cheated on her was like a hole way down the hull of a ship, and that no matter what he said or tried to do to patch it up, the water would keep breaking through. He told CNN, As far as I am concerned, until our marriage was almost completely over, I never cheated on Linda."
