Minor news items that don't deserve a thread

[Snitsky's back acne]

Finlay's ex-wife, and a damn good wrestler in her own right, Princess Paula passed away today.

 

RIP Princess Paula.

 

Heard this yesterday, but not been online until today.

 

Very sad news. She can't of been that old?

 

Very little information can be found about her online. I'm assuming she was about the same age as Finlay, which would make her early 50's, but could be wrong.

 

In other news, Sami Callihan/Solomon Crowe appeared at an NXT live event last night with a new gimmick.

 

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Photo_...Live_Event.html

Edited December 6, 2013 by Snitsky's back acne

[LaGoosh]

On a related note, there's been a lot of talk within WWE of both Punk and Alberto Del Rio talking about retiring within the next few years.

 

Both have been fairly open about wanting to finish up in the next few years. I can see Punk doing a part time schedule, turning up for a few months and then fucking off. Or having the odd big match here and there.

 

Hoping ADR retires soon, he's basically done all he can do at this point. And like Punk, he's been around for awhile so is probably quite banged up.

[aaron]

Very little information can be found about her online. I'm assuming she was about the same age as Finlay, which would make her early 50's, but could be wrong.

 

In other news, Sami Callihan/Solomon Crowe appeared at an NXT live event last night with a new gimmick.

 

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Photo_...Live_Event.html

 

I'm disappointed that he can't write valid binary; it's just random 0's and 1's

 

[PSF]

Wwe have put an interview up explaining sin caras 's new tattoo. I bet you lot all feel stupid now for thinking it was Hunnico!

[aaron]

Did Sin Cara overindulge for Thanksgiving too?

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

On a related note, there's been a lot of talk within WWE of both Punk and Alberto Del Rio talking about retiring within the next few years.

 

Both have been fairly open about wanting to finish up in the next few years. I can see Punk doing a part time schedule, turning up for a few months and then fucking off. Or having the odd big match here and there.

 

Hoping ADR retires soon, he's basically done all he can do at this point. And like Punk, he's been around for awhile so is probably quite banged up.

Punk especially has had a grueling schedule, there was a lot of retirement talk around Payback time for him.

 

Del Rio's a funny one. He's worked a long time internationally, and is heading towards his late 30's, but his mainstream WWE run has been a cup of coffee compared to most big stars, including Punk. He's been at the same spot on the card for so long, it's easy to forgot he debuted in the summer of 2010.

[DCW]

Yesterday (12/5), Wrestlezone

[UK Kat Von D]

Does anyone think when Punk hangs up the boots he would look to try and be a colour commentator? Part of me thinks he would miss wrestling and still want to be involved somehow. He also seems the type who would get bored at home. However saying that he does also seem the type who wants the spotlight, and being a commentator might not be enough for him

[Fox Piss]

Does anyone think when Punk hangs up the boots he would look to try and be a colour commentator? Part of me thinks he would miss wrestling and still want to be involved somehow. He also seems the type who would get bored at home. However saying that he does also seem the type who wants the spotlight, and being a commentator might not be enough for him

 

He would have to find a balance.

 

His NXT stint was hilarious but week in and week out it would probably start to grate.

[King Pitcos]

I'd pay $60 for WrestleMania 30 and six months of WWE Netflix. I can't see it being a game-changer for them, though.

[JNLister]

MLB Advanced Media is Major League Baseball, who seem to be among the more successful groups in handling the tech side of doing only TV.

[CTXRussomark]

I can understand the logic behind the $60 deal from a Network perspective (get as many people signed up as possible and hope they stay after the 6 months) but to me they'd be giving away Wrestlemania and the next 6 months worth of PPV's and the Network itself for the $60 everyone would have paid for WM anyway. Just seems like a huge risk to give up 6 months worth of PPV revenue for what will essentially be a free gift for those who order Wrestlemania. That's if the $60 story is true of course.

[JNLister]

The original (well, last) plan seemed to be $10-15 a month with all non-Mania PPVs. They then started talking about the possibility of having Mania on the network for the first year only to get a load of subscribers and hope people didn't just cancel. The $60 deal is just a way to make sure they limit the number of people who would sign up for Mania and immediately cancel. It's worth remembering that something like 85% of people who order Mania in the US don't order most of the minor PPVs anyway.

[CTXRussomark]

The $60 deal is just a way to make sure they limit the number of people who would sign up for Mania and immediately cancel. It's worth remembering that something like 85% of people who order Mania in the US don't order most of the minor PPVs anyway.

But on the flipside the people who do still buy all of the non-Mania PPV's (which still seems to be a pretty decent number) are going to be the first people to sign up for this deal where they pay $60 (which they would have paid for Mania anyway) and then get the next 6 months of PPV's and the whole Network for free. That just seems like a huge amount of revenue to be sacrificing. I think it will definitely work and people will sign up to the Network if that's the deal on the table, but I just can't understand how they'd make up for that loss in revenue.

[Van Dammer]

The $60 deal is just a way to make sure they limit the number of people who would sign up for Mania and immediately cancel. It's worth remembering that something like 85% of people who order Mania in the US don't order most of the minor PPVs anyway.

But on the flipside the people who do still buy all of the non-Mania PPV's (which still seems to be a pretty decent number) are going to be the first people to sign up for this deal where they pay $60 (which they would have paid for Mania anyway) and then get the next 6 months of PPV's and the whole Network for free. That just seems like a huge amount of revenue to be sacrificing. I think it will definitely work and people will sign up to the Network if that's the deal on the table, but I just can't understand how they'd make up for that loss in revenue.

 

WWE just flat out dont care about PPV buys anymore though, its all about TV advertising in the US now. Getting paid subscribers to their network and getting impressive uptake early on will be of huge benefit for bringing in major advertising partners. If that part of it goes well, and it should do with the advertising and marketing department they have now, then they will easily take in what they were taking for the shit PPVs in advertising alone and then they have the subscription fees on top of that. Plus they're hoping for a big spike in their income from Raw and SmackDown! advertising when those deals are up for renewal.

 

The major thing they actually need to get right is to get the subscribers in early and then keep as many of them for 2-3 years+ before new cycles of customers arrive, that could be what they fail at. I say they could, they probably will, they massively count their chickens before they've hatched in the company now, lets not forget they were running ad's for the imminent launch of this network about 18 months - 2 years ago before they really had anything in place whatsoever.