WWE looking at business model
When WWE runs its bigger PPVs like WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series as of late, it has held an NXT show on Friday or Saturday night as well as running Raw and Smackdown in the same venue.
While this can be looked at as oversaturation of a market, WWE is heavily considering this model moving forward to save on travel for its talent and to save money in different aspects.
An idea being tossed around is selling one ticket that would be good for all four shows and selling other tickets for Raw and Smackdown.
Another reason is said to be that Smackdown is drawing such low attendance that by doing this, fans would be more inclined to attend both events after the PPVs.
Hardy has right to “Broken” character
When Matt and Jeff Hardy were recently in TNA (also known as Impact Wrestling), Matt developed a character where he was “Broken.”
For the first time in his career, he had a character that was not bland beyond belief, but when the brothers returned to WWE at WrestleMania, Anthem Sports (owners of Impact said it owned the trademark to the “Broken” character and the sides looked at legal ways to use it.
Word broke earlier this week that Anthem backed off of the trademark and Hardy will officially file paperwork to own in and use it.
This would explain some of his “Broken” antics Monday on Raw, and for his sake, hopefully the move to the character will breathe fresh air into what has been a stale act since returning.
According to the Wrestling Observer newsletter, WWE will refer to the Hardy’s as “Woken” and not “Broken” when it is fully used.
WWE tickets on sale for Pittsburgh show
WWE is running a house show in Pittsburgh on Dec. 28 and is running a special.
Ticketmaster has a “Me+3 Four-Pack offer” with great seats available.
Tickets start at $20 per ticket just off the floor level.
More information can be found at www.ticketmaster.com.
1,000th episode of Smackdown coming
On Oct. 18, 2018, WWE will air the 1,000th episode of Smackdown.
Much like the 25th anniversary of Raw that will be celebrated next month, look for the Smackdown show to be a big-time event.
Longtime WWE employee gone
Jim Johnston, the man who has created all WWE ring music for more than 30 years, did not have his contract renewed and is no longer employed by the company.
On this date…
In 1991, WWE ran a trial-run PPV called “This Tuesday in Texas.”
In the main event, Hulk Hogan threw ashes into The Undertaker’s eyes and rolled him up to end Taker’s first World title reign after five days.
At Survivor Series on Thanksgiving night the prior week, Taker tombstoned Hogan onto a chair that Ric Flair put in the ring and pinned him to become an “undefeated” champion.
Taker was being promoted as being undefeated as he had never lost on TV, but he had indeed been defeated on house shows by the likes of Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior with the matches usually being bodybag matches.
Hogan would be stripped of the title later that week and it would be held up until the Royal Rumble seven weeks later.
This week’s question: With all of the new women wrestlers on Raw and Smackdown, will there be a women’s Royal Rumble match next month? Tori, Uniontown.
While I fully expect to see a women’s Rumble match at some point, I am not sure they will do one next month at the Rumble PPV.
For one, doing a men’s Rumble and a women’s Rumble would eat up well over 90 minutes, and two, the new talents need to be built up and developed giving fans a reason to like, or dislike them.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III