WWE's lawyers wrote a letter to the Texas Attorney General about why the Governor's Office shouldn't release information revealing the Royal Rumble 2023 site fee to me, saying that I'm "interested only in uncovering WWE's private information, not in pursuing transparency from a governing body."

They also claim the information is proprietary and a trade secret, and that their bargaining power will be hurt if I publish the information. This is the same information at issue in WWE's lawsuit against the Texas AG.


I wrote my own letter to the Texas AG Open Records Division.

My objective is to ensure transparency from the City of San Antonio and the Office of the Governor regarding the government's spending on WWE's "Royal Rumble" event in 2023. This transparency serves the public interest by allowing taxpayers to evaluate whether their money was wisely spent and if the price paid aligns with other site fees and the economic impacts of similar events.

$TKO COO Mark Shapiro yesterday at the UBS media conference said they can make a deal for WWE Raw rights before an NBA deal is done or could wait until literally the night before the current deal with NBCU expires next fall. Shapiro says they want to cut back on WWE house shows. He says they're "dilutive" from a "margin perspective" which is wonderful corporate speak for unprofitable. Seemingly he's especially referring to house shows in smaller markets or "C and D counties".

In the course of this spectacle of euphemisms, there's a funny WWE terminology moment as he calls WWE events "cards" which he quickly corrects to "superstar events".

He says Wrestlemania tickets sold at the highest "per cap" (ticket prices) they've ever seen. He falsely says Wrestlemania was sold out in 24 hours. They've sold lots no doubt but you can still get first-market Wrestlemania tickets for either day on Ticketmaster.

Also, he sees MORE UFC events in the future, particularly Fight Nights.

THREAD: Jan 17 to Apr 2, "over 60 potential counterparties, including strategic companies, financial sponsors, family offices and sovereign wealth funds" were in contact about a WWE transaction.

Feb 6 to Mar 21, WWE made confidentiality agreements w/ 20 potential counterparties. Feb 7: WWE and Endeavor signed a mutual confidentiality agreement to do due diligence on each other.

The same day Endeavor submitted a non-binding indication of interest proposal to merge WWE with its holding company, with $EDR owning 57% and $WWE owning 43%.

WWE and Endeavor have entered into an agreement to merge WWE and UFC, according to a new SEC filing.
otp.tools.investis.com/clients/us/wwe… WWE employees were sent an email from Vince McMahon announcing the transaction and that there’s an all employees meeting at 4 pm ET.

No surprises here, but curious to watch this unfold. Will update later. Tweets with "WWEHOF" peaked highest at 12:07 AM ET, which I believe is at the end of Konnan's speech introducing Rey Mysterio.

New WWE filing with the SEC reports Vince McMahon yesterday paid $17.4 million toward costs for the Board's investigation, which was related to sexual misconduct allegations against him and former executive John Laurinaitis. Vince also agreed to pay additional costs incurred. "The Agreement also includes a release of Mr. McMahon by the Company regarding the recovery of the costs described above and a release of the Company by Mr. McMahon regarding the investigation and related matters described above."
otp.tools.investis.com/clients/us/wwe…

In this thread I will live tweet WWE's Q3 2022 earnings (covering Jul 1 to Sep 30).

The report should be live soon at corporate.wwe.com. The call is at 5 pm ET. Consensus analyst expects $284 million in revenue and an EPS of $0.49.

My preview here: wrestlenomics.com/2022/11/01/wwe… WWE reports Q3 earnings:

Net income: $41.7 million
Revenue: $304.6 million
EPS: $0.49
Adjusted OIBDA: $91.2 million

Revenue beats expectations, EPS right in line. Adjusted OIBDA way over guidance of $70M to $80M stated last quarter.
corporate.wwe.com/investors/news…

njpwworld.com has some free Antonio Inoki matches:

vs. Vader (1/4/1996)
njpwworld.com/p/s_series_001…

vs. Steve Williams (10/25/1987)
njpwworld.com/p/s_archive_14…

vs. Masa Saito (10/4/1987) Island Deathmatch
njpwworld.com/p/s_archive_243 vs. Great Muta (5/1/1994)
njpwworld.com/p/s_series_001…

vs. Dick Murdoch (9/1/1987)
njpwworld.com/p/s_series_000…

AEW Dynamite last night on TBS (8-10pm):
990,000 viewers
P18-49 rating: 0.34
#9 cable original in P18-49
📊 patreon.com/wrestlenomics The Weather Channel dominated top cable ranks in P18-49 as Hurricane Ian hit the southern U.S.

📋 Full report: patreon.com/posts/72647039…

With today's event, WWE will have earned more than $350 million from the Saudi Arabian government since 2018. Each event is worth $50M to $55M to WWE.

Here are some things that are less valuable than all the money WWE has made from the Saudi government so far... Every Wrestlemania ticket sale ever combined, going back to 1985, adjusted for inflation.

AEW Dynamite last night on TBS:

869,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.31 (406,000)

Lowest total and 18-49 viewership since December.

📊 More demos & analysis: patreon.com/wrestlenomics Dynamite ranked #3 among cable originals, behind the two NBA games on ESPN.

It doesn't appear Dynamite was up against any abnormally strong competition.

📋 Full report: patreon.com/posts/62700908

WWE gets paid by the Saudi govt $50 million, 3x the biggest Wrestlemania gate ever, for every event in the country.

The product the govt is paying so much for is a global broadcast of a big entertainment event from a normal-seeming country in the name of supposed progress. WWE is there, not to altruistically be “part of the change” but because of the money, which makes up 10% of WWE’s annual revenue.

The Saudi govt is still among the worst human rights abusers in the world.
hrw.org/world-report/2…

I'm working on a summary of the lawsuit filed today by MLW against WWE, alleging, among other things, that in August WWE pressured Fox-owned streaming service Tubi to terminate a media distribution deal with MLW the day before it was to be announced. MLW and WWE have both given comment to Wrestlenomics.

MLW CEO Court Bauer: "WWE has been wrongfully depriving its competitors of critical opportunities for many years, but its latest conduct has been even more unconscionable."

AEW Battle of the Belts on TNT, Saturday @ 8-9pm:
704,000 viewers
P18-49: 0.27 (355,000)

For comparison, Rampage the night before did 588,000 and a 0.24. Dynamite on TBS Wednesday had 1.01 million viewers and a 0.43 demo rating.

📊 More demos & analysis: patreon.com/wrestlenomics Battle of the Belts went against Cowboys-Eagles simulcast on ABC and ESPN, watched by a combined 20.2 million viewers and a 5.17 total P18-49 rating (=6.7 million viewers in the demo) from 8:14 to 11:22pm.

The last month TNT at 8pm Saturday averaged a 840k and 0.24 demo rating.

In this thread I'll be tweeting about the $WWE Q1 2020 earnings release. Documents release after 4pm ET. Conference call at 5pm.

Also, I'm making the 48-page @Wrestlenomics Pro Wrestling Industry Report 2019 is available again today only for just $5. payhip.com/b/qICi Consensus analyst EPS estimate is $0.23. Based on 88.6mm diluted shares, implies a net income of $22mm.
seekingalpha.com/symbol/WWE/ear…

WWE Q4 2019 report and conference call tweets will be in this thread.

Read by full 2019 PDF on the wrestling industry here:
payhip.com/b/qICi WWE earnings press release highlights:

Q4 revenue: $322.8mm
FY'19: $960.4mm (new WWE record)

Q4 net income: $69.3mm
FY'19: $77.1mm (short of 2018's $99.6mm)
corporate.wwe.com/investors/news…