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Updated Friday, May 9, 2008

I started to write this column on Wednesday night, but I couldn't shake this weird vibe to the story as I re-read what I wrote. I'll try again.

June 24, 2007 and the events surrounding that date are still very raw. That day, I sat in the Toyota Center in Houston for Chris Benoit's last scheduled match. It was scheduled for Benoit vs. Punk. ECW Title was on the line. PPV audience watching at home. As we know, things didn't turn out quite as planned.

Fast-forward to June 24, 2008. WWE returns to the very same building on the very same date one year later for a Smackdown/ECW taping. I picked up tickets this afternoon during WWE's pre-sale, almost hoping to find closure on a situation that still feels too fresh less than a year later.

Irv Muchnick, through his brilliant reporting, digging, and questioning, has uncovered many more pieces to the Benoit family tragedy. There seems to be something new each week.

Yet, as Muchnick has uncovered more information, I've avoided thinking about the latest developments. I haven't been able to face the situation. There I was in the Toyota Center looking forward to one match: Benoit vs. Punk, and I walked away disappointed not to have seen it. I had no idea what happened in the Benoit residence that weekend prior to the Vengeance PPV, and I had no idea what would happen that Monday morning when Benoit ended his life.

Many people are still trying to come to grips with what happened. We'll never be able to figure out exactly what occurred that weekend, which makes it all the more-frustrating. Complete closure doesn't seem possible with this story.

But, the June 24, 2008 WWE TV taping at the Toyota Center will hopefully be one step in the healing process for everyone involved who knew and worked with Benoit. I don't know if it will. I don't know if it's just an optimistic thought that isn't based in reality. Uncertainty continues to linger over the story, which is why Muchnick's reporting is key to moving forward.

For the vast majority of the fans in attendance at the June 24, 2008 TV taping, they won't have any clue as to the significance of the date. Personally, I'll be analyzing the in-ring action during the show. But it will be impossible to forget the date's significance. There isn't a way to end this column, so I'll simply leave it at that.

***

Updated Wednesday, May 7, 2008

ECW - Characters in Hiding. Sometime between last Tuesday's episode of ECW and last night's episode of ECW, WWE realized a problem with the ECW brand. The problem is that fans don't have a reason to care about the wrestlers on the roster. WWE addressed the problem on Raw two nights ago and ECW last night.

On Raw, WWE gave the ECW brand full-blown promotion to give the main WWE viewers an opportunity to find out about these individuals on Sci-Fi every Tuesday night. Live in Toronto on Monday night, the ECW brand was about as welcome as a Mike Adamle promo.

For the TV audience, Jim Ross enhanced the 14 nameless individuals opposite Mr. Kennedy and Triple H with commentary about each character as they tagged into the match. Providing that little information on a show where the live audience wasn't invested in the action still allowed the TV audience to pick up something from these individuals.

Ross also commenting on how much he enjoys watching Miz & Morrison on Tuesday nights helped off-set their quick four-minute loss to one and a half men. As the voice of the fans, Ross is trusted to give viewers a reason to care about special guests who appear on the show. Should we care about them? Should we ignore them? Why are they on my TV?

WWE didn't provide enough answers as to why the ECW brand was taking up valuable time on a Monday night, but Ross's commentary certainly provided a basic explanation that was good for the TV audience to make up for the live audience understandably not caring about ECW.

WWE putting Stevie Richards, Shelton Benjamin, and Miz & Morrison on commentary last night was the second example of WWE recognizing the problem. Richards had virtually disappeared for the last month, while the last memory we have of Shelton on the mic was a flat promo that killed the crowd prior to a match against Kofi.

Giving them an opportunity to comment on the action like Joe Bob sitting at home on the couch with a beer and a bag of chips creates a connection with the TV audience. Audiences want to buy into these wrestlers, and WWE presenting them as wrestling fans who are just like you and me sitting at home watching the show was an effective change. Certainly, the change was created to cover for Adamle, but the result was character enhancement for some individuals that needed it.

WWE travel schedule increasing. During yesterday's conference call with investors, WWE COO Michael Sileck identified the company's revised vision to reduce the number of domestic house shows they run, specifically in smaller markets, in favor of increasing live events overseas. First off, that opens the door to TNA to run house shows in markets WWE plans to abandon.

More importantly, it means increased travel schedules for WWE wrestlers. That means more airplane travel, more headaches with international customs, and more time on the road away from families. Now more than ever, WWE strongly needs to consider rotating talent off the road to create natural breaks for wrestlers.

The indication is that WWE will be doing one major international tour each quarter on top of the quick two-or-three event mini-tours throughout the year. First quarter of this year was Latin America. Second quarter was the just-completed European tour after WrestleMania. Third quarter is another Latin American tour. Fourth quarter is another mega-European tour around the time of Survivor Series.

These tours are very lucrative for the company and for the wrestlers, who receive some very nice paydays. But, over time, burnout is going to become a factor as WWE continues to push their brand into every corner of the globe.

The answer is that no wrestler should be booked on all four major quarterly tours. The maximum should be 3 out of 4 international tours per year, which will allow WWE to set up a rotation of talent on each tour, and give wrestlers an extended two-to-four week break to rest at home.

WWE's Wellness Policy shouldn't be limited strictly to drug testing. It should also include time at home to enhance relationships with family members and enjoy the hard work a wrestler puts in 365 days per year. More international tours means more temptation for WWE to push the wrestlers to the limit of their physical and mental well-being. WWE needs to look at this from a human perspective, not just in terms of dollars and cents.

***

Updated Tuesday, May 6, 2008

WWE reported first quarter earnings this morning, and investors apparently were not satisfied with the results to snap up shares of WWE stock. In morning trading, the price of stock dipped 4.5 percent to the mid-$17 per share range. Some analysts last month had predicted WWE stock would jump to $20 in the first-half of the year.

Looking at the financial report, it's difficult to compare and contrast the numbers for this year's first quarter to last year's first quarter or even last year's second quarter, which is when WrestleMania 23 took place. The impact of all-things WrestleMania affects every revenue stream, so this year's first quarter takes into the account the sweeping effect of WrestleMania on TV revenue, licensing revenue, home video sales, etc.

Whereas, last year's first quarter had all the build-up to WrestleMania, but the sweeping results and subsequent two months of post-Mania cool down were all reflected in the second quarter. The timing skews the results, so it will difficult to truly measure the impact of WrestleMania this year compared to last year in a side-by-side comparison. That said, there are some specific takeaway points just looking at this quarter's numbers.

- WrestleMania buys. Today's lesson is: the drawing power of Donald Trump > the drawing power of Floyd Mayweather. WrestleMania 23 generated 1.2 million PPV buys and $24.6 million in PPV revenue, compared to this year's WM 24 figures of 1.06 million buys and $23.8 million in revenue. WWE increased the PPV price $5, which accounts for the revenue figure being close to last year's, but not enough to surpass it.

- International revenue. It's always interesting to read CEO Linda McMahon's "second paragraph commentary" that is always included in WWE's quarterly earnings press releases. This quarter, she references the power of the WrestleMania brand. She also acknowledges international expansion by opening new offices internationally.

International business has been the story of this company for several years now, and next quarter will reflect the strong business from WWE's post-Mania tour in Europe. In WWE's press release, they include a note that revenue derived outside of North America was $34.0 million, compared to $24.1 million in the first quarter of 2007. A portion of that came from more lucrative TV deals with international distributors, which contributed an additional $2.0 million in revenue.

Kids. WWE won't report business on their newly-launched WWE Kids magazine, but kids (or their parents) continue to help WWE's business. Licensing revenue was up $5.5 million thanks to an increase in video game and apparel sales. Kids are playing the video games and buying merchandise.

Speaking of which, I was reading an article in Newsweek last night about the interactive market in the video game industry created by Guitar Hero and assorted copycat games that have followed. If WWE really wanted to reach the kids and get them hooked on the WWE product, there's an opportunity to strike while the iron is hot by creating a Guitar Hero-style game set to WWE theme songs.

Or, it could be an opportunity for TNA to work with Midway Games on a second release if they ever get that first release out on store shelves. After all, TNA already has Lance Hoyt and Jimmy Rave pretending to be Guitar Hero rock stars on TV.

***

Updated Monday, May 5, 2008 (Cinco de Mayo)

Last week, WWE went for the big cliffhanging endings to Raw, ECW, and Smackdown. Who won the WWE Title match? Why did Adamle walk off the set? What's the status of the World Heavyweight Title? Why is Trevor Murdoch singing country songs? OK, scratch the last one.

Last week's endings, which were more suitable for weekday soap operas or "Lost", should become clearer this week. After all, WWE has another PPV in an absurd 13 days, with tonight's Raw starting a Week of Resolution to set up PPV matches.

Somehow, WWE is going to connect the dots on William Regal cutting off Raw to Triple H vs. Randy Orton in a steel cage match being signed for Judgment Day. Point A and Point B seem quite distant from each other, so the intrigue is for the journey.

It's like using Yahoo Maps to adjust the route from A to B and create all kinds of odd journeys with deviations off the suggested route. WWE could throw a few twists in the route tonight, as has been suggested Vince McMahon will return in some capacity to sober up William Regal, who was drunk with power on Raw.

History indicates that's a strong possibility. When WWE's ratings have slipped in the past, they've usually given up on developing the undercard with McMahon putting himself back on TV in attempt to boost ratings. This time around, I'm hoping for a more disciplined approach to developing the personalities of the mid-card wrestlers. It's simply impossible to believe fans are going to jump for joy at the prospect of a Super Crazy vs. Paul Burchill match if there is no reason to care about the individuals.

As for ECW, they celebrate 100 episodes of TV with the main angle being... the fate of the announcers. My, ECW, how you have grown. Of course, I didn't expect ECW to stay on the air after Week 1, which was one of the worst episodes of TV wrestling ever, so at least they made it this far. I just thought the top angle 99 episodes later would involve actual wrestlers, not a terrible announcer.

Really, there's not much else on the ECW front to be intrigued about in the Week of Resolution. C.M. Punk is apparently starting a program with Chuck Palumbo, as they wrestled on the weekend house show tour in Canada. Meanwhile, Chavo and Kane are still doing whatever they're doing. I'm just waiting for Tony Chimel to grab a headset and call a match. Chimel and Tazz. Let's make it happen.

As for Smackdown, they have a vacant World Title, which sounds all-too familiar to last year when Taker dropped the belt due to injury. This time around, it's just to set up a fresh program for Smackdown when ratings are slipping and they're a few months away from moving to a new network.

Based on the ratings, they have to try harder to grab the attention of viewers during the competitive NBA Playoffs and the start of a new baseball season. MLB is proclaiming record attendance during the first few weeks of the season, so that's certainly affecting viewership with many Smackdown viewers at the ballpark on Friday nights.

The Week of Resolution on Smackdown will set up the next round of programs to be featured on the brand. If they're going to strip Taker of the belt, it would be a waste of time to simply throw it back on Edge. It doesn't make Edge more credible of a champion, and it doesn't elevate mid-card wrestlers when they could use a day in the spotlight competing for the title.

Whether it's a tournament, battle royale, Tear-a-dome, or Deuces Wild Lethal Lottery Battle Bowl Reverse Battle Royale, WWE simply need to find a way to elevate the second and third tier Smackdown players by putting them in the title conversation.

Should be an interesting week for Raw, ECW, and Smackdown. The intrigue is there. The cliffhangers are in place. Now it's up to WWE to deliver a suitable payoff after leaving viewers hanging last week.

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