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Vince McMahon May Be Preparing to Sell WWE

ManaByte

Gold Member

Talk about WWE potentially being sold has come and gone in waves. At one point, it was believed there was real potential Vince McMahon was gearing up to sell the company, emphasized by the fact big contracts were cut from the talent payroll. In other weeks, the talk has quieted. What's really going on?
For those that don't understand what that means, the fact WWE got out of the business of running the business of streaming it's product to consumers, then let another company have the rights to do so was a smart financial move -- if the objective is to be sold. US OTT refers to over-the-top media service. (WWE Network). "ROICs", refers to Return on Invested Capital. Essentially, WWE has cut out the costs of running the network and made a huge chunk of money by selling the rights to the content. The decision looks good to outside potential buyers.

vince mcmahon wwe GIF
 
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HoodWinked

Member
Comcast seems like the most likely to buy. They currently have the broadcast rights and you can stream it on peacock.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
My only contact with wrestling is Jim Cornette’s podcast and botch clips. On the podcast they’ve been talking about WWE gearing up for a sale for quite a while now. I assume the article says most of the same things, but between Peacock, releasing talent, and a few other things it gives a lot of people the impression that they’re looking to sell to the point that it will be a surprise if they don’t.
 

truth777

Banned
WWE, from a creative standpoint, has sucked for the majority of twenty years. Vince basically tried to rewrite how wrestling works after he bought WCW because they’re actually ashamed of wrestling and want to be a movie studio.

Next thing you know, Road Dogg is talking about how “wins and losses don’t matter.”

. . .

Then why do you have championship belts?
 

truth777

Banned
My only contact with wrestling is Jim Cornette’s podcast and botch clips. On the podcast they’ve been talking about WWE gearing up for a sale for quite a while now. I assume the article says most of the same things, but between Peacock, releasing talent, and a few other things it gives a lot of people the impression that they’re looking to sell to the point that it will be a surprise if they don’t.
Cornette’s 14 minute rant on the Montreal Screwjob is incredible.
 

DKehoe

Gold Member
Why though? They're making more money than ever.
They've recently secured a few long term guaranteed deals for huge money. With their shows now tied up in those deals there's maybe not too much more value you can squeeze out of it so it's a good time to sell and the guaranteed income from those rights fees, along with hours and hours of "content" could make them appealing to potential buyers. The problem I see is that let's say NBC decides to buy them (I'm picking them because with the Peacock and a TV rights deal that's who WWE is currently in bed with the most) then one of your flagship shows, Smackdown, is locked into being on Fox for a few years.

I just can't imagine Vince giving up that sort of control though. What's he going to do if he does sell up? He's not exactly the type to just kick back and enjoy retirement. But everything he's ever tried that's not wrestling has bombed badly. With WWE everything revolves around him, he's the singular most powerful figure in the industry by a long shot. Being the big fish in a small pond suits him well.
 
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MastaKiiLA

Member
Can Heyman get a group of investors together to buy them, and then bring back the glory that was ECW? That might get me to watch again. I stopped watching when Roman got his first, completely unearned mega-push, and fans boo'd the shit out of him every match. That was when I'd finally had enough of Vince's shit booking, because before that was Cena. In retrospect, Cena was at least charismatic, even if he sucked in the ring. Roman sucked both on the mic, and in the ring. I don't need to hate watch wrestling. I can just not watch it.
 

GloveSlap

Member
Whoever buys it has their work cut out for them. They have some bafflingly profitable contracts and some creative accounting, but the foundation of the company is terrible in regards to the product/ratings/interest/reputation/etc.

Which is probably why the McMahons are considering selling. The company is mostly smoke and mirrors and is in trouble long term. AEW isn't exactly helping them either.
 

skneogaf

Member
I've recently been watching royal rumbles on YouTube for the 90's and 00's and have really been reminded how well done and entertaining wrestling was.

I couldn't name a single wrestler in the last ten or more years I imagine.

They all seem to wear black and look similar from the bits that I've seen as I'm scrolling past recommended articles on Google.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
So probably selling to Comcast since the Network is already on Peacock?

WWE can't possibly get any worse so I guess any change might be welcome?
 

Karmic Raze

Member
The only thing that’s got me to tune into WWE at all the past two years is the return of Edge. I’ve been exclusively watching AEW since it started and before that I was only watching NJPW when it was on AXS. I rarely tune into WWE programming because it is just so terrible these days.
 

RavageX

Member
Wrestling as a whole has definitely gone downhill. I still love talking about it, but watching it.....eh. Can watch the old stuff over and over, lol.

It's actually getting to be that way with gaming for me too. The explosion of battle Royale, fortnite type games/graphics, huge focus on YouTube and twitch ppl....i mean, WtF?

There's still good stuff of course, but there's a lot.... Alot of bs. Mostly because of social media IMO. That has really affected wrestling too.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
So probably selling to Comcast since the Network is already on Peacock?

WWE can't possibly get any worse so I guess any change might be welcome?

I dunno, would Vince really be satifsfied by selling off his life's work to some general entertainment corp? Basically WCW v2?
 

GeorgPrime

Banned
I dunno, would Vince really be satifsfied by selling off his life's work to some general entertainment corp? Basically WCW v2?

1. Vince doesnt see anything in Hunter because Hunter is bad with finances

2. Vince thinks that his own daughter is not good enough to lead WWE because he prefers a male heir to his universe. Stephanie will never get it.

3. Shane McMahon failed at everything and his father has no interest in handing him WWE over

So he will close it down or sell it off before he dies
 
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Md Ray

Member
So the crowd returns. This week's RAW was pretty good with Jeff Hardy and Cena's return with massive pop, I missed that. I get that WWE's been pretty much dead but I'm surprised no one's talking about it here on GAF.
 
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dave_d

Member
So the crowd returns. This week's RAW was pretty good with Jeff Hardy and Cena's return with massive pop, I missed that. I get that WWE's been pretty much dead but I'm surprised no one's talking about it here on GAF.
Umm, you do know there's literally a wrestling thread in communities.
 

Md Ray

Member
Umm, you do know there's literally a wrestling thread in communities.
My bad, I didn't know. I almost never go to the communities tab. Always hang around gaming and & off-topic only so I assumed WWE threads are/would be created here in the off-topic.
 
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