Vince McMahon on Lousy Quarter for WWE, PPV Buyrates Decline and More

WWE released its 2010 second quarter results today. The results were $106.8 million in revenue and $6.3 million in profits. This is a decline from last year’s second quarter which had $138.8 million in revenue and $19.9 million in profits. However, keep in mind Wrestlemania was in the second quarter last year and was used in the first quarter this year.

PPV numbers is where the company took the biggest hit showing a 19 percent decline domestically. Extreme Rules in April did 182,000 buys, down from 213,000 buys last year. Over The Limit in May did 197,000 buys, down from 228,000 buys last year. Fatal Four Way in June did 143,000 buys, down from 178,000 last year in the same month. That number would be one of the lowest buyrates in company history with the exception of the disaster known as the ECW December to Dismember back in 2006 (which did 90,000 buys with 55,000 coming domestically).

During the WWE conference call held earlier today, Vince McMahon described the scenario as WWE just having a very lousy quarter. He also blamed the retirements of Shawn Michaels and Batista, injuries to Triple H and The Undertaker and the Icelandic volcano as reasons for the company struggling over the last few months. McMahon did address a question about plans for an all WWE cable network saying they are going to cable systems with a presentation in January. He added they are making a pitch based on the Major League Baseball model and that they have already received strong reactions to the idea of a “WWE Network” within the cable industry.

Source: corporate.wwe.com

* Vince was asked about new talent and praised the Nexus group. He said that the "new talent infusion" plus the returns of The Undertaker and Triple H will improve WWE's talent lineup.

* Vince said they are looking at Summerslam as "the kickoff" to reversing the negative trends and getting back on track in terms of PPV buys.

* Vince said he wasn't sure if the increased PPV price or the talent situation was causing PPV buy drops.

* Vince said WWE plans to go to cable systems at the beginning of 2011 to start giving presentations on the planned WWE Network.

EWN