X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

06/08/2006: RIP, John Tenta.

Rest in peace, John Tenta. I remember the first time I saw Tenta as part of the (then) World Wrestling Federation. In the opening series of pre-match interviews during the 1989 Survivor Series, there he was — “The Canadian Earthquake” — taking the place of Barry Windham’s much shittier “Widowmaker” character on Randy Savage’s heel team for a big match. Earthquake made a splash, and in no time at all, he became one of Hulk Hogan’s greatest monster adversaries. Even after the inevitable defeat by Hogan and subsequent shuffling down the card, Tenta remained an impressive force both as a bad guy and, later, a good guy. It’s the bad guy stuff I remember most, because God damn, this is the man who took Jake Roberts’ beloved python and…well, he sat on the fucker, right in the middle of the ring on Saturday afternoon network television. Like, six times in a row. Laughing the whole way through. Thumbs up.

Tenta eventually made his way into World Championship Wrestling, becoming part of the much-maligned “Dungeon of Doom” faction, which was stupid to most but rocked to me. Seriously, that’s what got me watching WCW consistently for the first time. The Dungeon was a group of mostly bad wrestlers in hideously dumb B-movie costumes, and Tenta was charged with playing…”The Shark.” Yes, he portrayed a shark, and came to the ring to a riff on the Jaws theme. And he had to incorporate shark mannerisms into his wrestling matches. He hated it and most others did too, but man, I just had no problems at all watching a 400 pound wrestler/shark.

That’s not my favorite Tenta moment, though. Much later, Tenta was just about gone from WCW. Nobody had seen him in months. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was fighting the white hot nWo faction at the time (bad guys who were cheered riotously), and decided to battle them with an unusual team composed of “opportunity seekers” who weren’t particularly popular or well-known. Roddy would “test” potential teammates during really goofy interview segments that the fans booed mercilessly, but when John Tenta joined the fray and lobbied to be a part of Piper’s team, the fans ate it up. Well, maybe “ate it up” is an exaggeration — but they were definitely cheering. It wasn’t the typical wrestling cheer, either. It wasn’t a “lost in the moment, I’m really buying this” kind of cheer. It was a respect cheer. It was a “cheer for John Tenta so he GETS TO DO SOMETHING COOL” kind of cheer. The look on Tenta’s face — a mix of shock, relief and euphoria over overcoming the odds and being cheered in this absolutely ridiculous storyline — is my favorite of his moments. (Of course, WCW brass later pulled the plug on the “opportunity seekers” storyline and Tenta didn’t get to wrestle after all, but hey, let’s not be depressing.)

RD from Wrestlecrap is one of the most decent people I’ve “met” in all my years of running this site, and he’s always spoken so highly of John Tenta. Getting to know how nice the guy was, how courageous and family oriented in a not-at-all superficial way he was, even just vicariously through RD, was about a million times more inspiring than I ever thought the former wrestler/shark would be to me. Leaving the world and his family behind much too soon after a long battle with cancer, I encourage everyone who was ever entertained by this unique behemoth to drop a dime in Wrestlecrap’s fundraiser — all donations go directly to John’s family.

I don’t remember the opportunity seekers storyline, but one post-Natural Disaster moment I remember was when he had a sumo match with Yokozuna I believe. I’m pretty sure Tenta won, but was attacked by Yoko afterwards.

Always sad to hear about the passing of a pro-wrestler. I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever seen John Tenta in a match…all I’ve ever known about Earthquake I learned from old WWF arcade games. But still, it’s a damn shame. What has me even more bummed is the news that Kane is apparently going to be hanging up his boots sometime soon. I don’t follow wrasslin’ nearly as avidly as I used to, but when I did, I was a HUGE Kane fan and still am. It has always pissed me off royally that they never gave Kane a serious championship run, and I seriously doubt that they will before he bows out. The WWE has a tremendous knack for shining the spotlight away from its most talented, most deserving wrestlers (see: Chris Jerhico, Rob Van Dam, etc)

P.S. It was made painfully apparent to me precisely how long my interest in WWE wrestling has been waning when I logged on to their official website earlier today. I browsed their current talent roster and recognized approximately 4% of the faces I saw. Where the hell have I been?

seein as how were all talkin bout wrasslin’, i wanna publicly say FUCK JOHN CENA!!
havent watcheed wrasslin’ sice i was about 11 or 12 but i just hate the guy, so sue me…but im currently unemployed so you aint gettin much sucka..

Well, I was never into wrestling and I’m not familiar with that guy, but it’s still sad.

But I do like looking at the related google ads, and one of them is for Rey Mysterio of all people!

I did not know that EARTHQUAKE was Golga. I remember when the INSanE ClowN PosSE was teamed up with The Oddities for awhile in the WWF. Mediocre results.
Good loving tribute. Click the name for more on dead wrestlers.

weak (here’s where a sad face would be, but chucky seems really inappropriate)

RIP "Canadian Earthquake", its sad that all of these guys that brought such joy to us as kids are leaving this world at such a young age. Being from Nova Scotia, I remember liking John Tenta’s character because there weren’t a lot of "Canadian" titled wrestlers!

It was mentioned above, the first time I saw Earthquake was when he was pulled out of the crowd to sit on the backs of Dino Bravo and the Warrior in a push-up contest. I also remember freaking out when Hulk body slamed him. How could a mortal man be so strong?

Yeah I remember back in the day of the WWF when he injured Hulk Hogan, I was such a huge Hulk fan, and a young kid…so that really upset me when that happened. He was one hell of a wrestler. The last time I remember seeing him, was a good 5 or so years ago in Niagara Falls, Ontario. There was a wrestling card at the local arena down here…there were a lot of unknowns fighting, but as you got closer to the "main event" there were a few big named wrestlers. the second to last card, had Chris Benoit fighting, i can’t remember the other wrestlers name, but he used to fight with Shawn Micheals, back when HBK first started in the WWF. The main event was Earthquake against Typhoon (I’m sure there are some who remember him too…think he also went under the name "Tugboat") anyhow, they were fighting each other, but by the end of the match, they teamed up, and beat the crap out of the ref…then walked out of the ring. It was classic!

Sorry to see someone die young, but wretzling _sux_. Now **wrestling** on the other hand… with real athletes and honesty… I could watch that all day.

I’m a member over at the Wrestlecrap forums and whenever John would answer any of the question you’d give him, it felt good… This guy, a "bigger than life" entity that you knew from when you were a kid was really giving back to the fans… It was slightly surreal…

This part is dedicated to Mike Oxlong… It’s people like you, complete dickheads who make the internet almost unreadable these days… Yes, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but to come into a post dedicated to a fallen wrestler and then shit all over it is just stupid… Whatever, you think Wrestling is stupid, then don’t comment, keep it to yourself, laugh to your friends later about how some fake wrestler died today, but seriously man, human decency…

And yes, Pro-Wrestling is a scripted SPORT, we’ve all known this for how long? Try another argument next time…

1) AFAIC, people like *you* with their overactions are what make the internet unreadable these days. Oh boo hoo! Did I hurt your little feelings? I thought wretzling fans were tough guys!

That’s my opinion. If you don’t like it, why not take your own advice and clam up. I’m a fat mouth? Well you can get in line right behind me, Hulkie lover.

2) The denizens of this forum chose to glorifly a pathetic charade called wretzling. I just rained on that. I also pointed them to REAL athletes who are much more interesting.

3) You’ll note, if you reread my post, that I have nothing agaist the dead man… just the silly BS associated with your "sport". Is that really too difficult for you too grasp?

A man in the entertainment industry is dead. Sad. Just don’t pump me full of tales of great VICTORIES and LOSSES in the world of wretzling. When I hear that BS, I’ll call attention to it.

RIP.
I didn’t see him all that much…didn’t start watching wrestling until late ‘99 w/ my then boyfriend now husband. Sadness…and he was only what, 42?

It’s a nice tribute to the man, Matt. I’m sure a lot of people are glad you posted it.

yeah, sorry matt… been a loyal reader for a while, and this comment got me mad… i’m not going to argue with him here though… can’t wait for the Disney Vacation Part 2…

John Tenta was great. He was a great heel with actual talent to battle Hogan in the old days (and there weren’t many bad guys brought up against Hogan with talent), and he was a genuinely nice guys. I remember loving the Natural Disasters’ good guy run because they seemed to be having so much fun, and Quake again in the WM X-7 Gimmick Battle Royal.

I’m assuming YOU know that wretzling is entertainment camp. It’s very 80’s, too. That’s why it’s on the site, right? In that context it’s a hoot.

But… I’ve always been torqued by those who insist on treating it like anything a true sport. How about a comment like this:

**"Yeah I remember back in the day of the WWF when he injured Hulk Hogan, I was such a huge Hulk fan, and a young kid…so that really upset me when that happened."**

Hulk wasn’t hurt. It was all a show… and this kid didn’t know it and was upset by the sham. I think that’s ridiculous. Bleeding foreheads? Sure… with the help of a bit of razor. Body slams? Puh-lease!

I also think that calling it "Wrestling" is a huge diservice to the **REAL** sport of wrestling.

Watch the camp entertainment but call it what it is. Wish were the wretzling industry would do the same.

Does anybody remember the sumo/pro wrestle, Yokozuna!? He was my favorite WWF Japanese import along with pepper bomb throwing Mr. Fuji, his manger. I believed Yokozuna died a while back as well.

Earthquake is one of the wrestlers I def. remember from when I was a kid. And I really didn’t get into wrestling all fanatically, either. The Natural Disasters was a great gimmick, him and Tugboat looked like they worked great together.

I lurked on ‘crap’s forums for a while, and no matter what people would ask him, or what they would say, John would reply nicely, trying to cover so many things in each post. He would reply to the littlest questions about teeny trivial things…and I’m sure he was asked every question in the book countless times over.

You don’t really hear about fans getting the chance to write/talk directly to celebs…but John made that happen for a lot of people. And none of them REALLY, ACTUALLY KNEW him. But they wanted to…and he gave it to them.

Now some one correct me if I’m wrong and I’m thinkin I might be since I’ve been watching wrestling since I was 4 so I can’t remember everything BUT…….. Didn’t hogan bring in tugboat as his partner to battle earthquake but then he turned on him and became Typhoon? Man that was great! As far as tag teams go they had a great gimmick and worked well together. Whatever happened to tugboat/typhoon anyway?

"Pro" or "Real", it’s still sweaty mens in tights humpin’ all over each other. If it’s grown men or young boys, makes me no nevermind. Whatever blows your skirt up. Take your vehemence outside. Matt’s just saying he was a great actor in a somewhat merciless venue. Oxlong? *snicker* ain’t heard that since elementery.

PRSense, yeah, something like that — my memory is vague on it, too. I definitely remember poor Tugboat having to sell Get Well Hogan armbands under the guise of a "my friend is in terrible pain" confessional — that was hilarious.

PRSense, Fred "Tugboat/Typhoon" Ottoman went to WCW for a bit where he came out as The Shockmaster, but during his debut, he tripped on the stage and his mask fell off, not to mention the mask was a shoddy spraypainted Stormtrooper mask. This entire incident is one of the big reasons why Wrestlecrap.com was started.

It was such a waste when he came back to the WWF/E as one of the Oddities - he was the Golga guy who wore the mask and the South Park t-shirt. I couldn’t believe he was wasting his time doing that…

Fortunately, I’ll never be able to forget my shock when he came out of the crowd during his first appearance with Dino Bravo. I think that was the first time I remember saying "maybe this is scripted… but it’s still awesome!"

Matt, Oh man I rmember that! That’s one of the reasons wrestling was so great back then, you just knew something wasn’t right and it couldn’t be all real but they made it seam like they where soooo serious about it all lol. Gino, I never even heard of the shockmaster. I never watched wcw before the nwo came along. The only time before that I watched wcw was when I was home bored to death on a saturday night or when monday night raw went to commercial.

go there, it’s a 4 min vid with the whole intro… just listen to what Bobby Heenan says after the Shockmaster trips… It’s funny as hell…

For the whole wrestling debate…I’m not really offended by anything that goes on on the internet, everybody has a right to their opinion and that’s great. I just hate the perception that people that watch wrestling are stupid. We know it’s fake, but we enjoy it. It’s the same thing as if you love 24. If Kiefer Sutherland died, you’d be a little sad about that, right? Because you love the show and the character he plays and you won’t see him do it anymore. No different here. And while it is scripted, it does take a certain amount of athleticism to be able to run and jump around for 20 minutes straight and land on that rock hard mat.

On a less flame-war worthy topic, I just got back from seeing Cars, and I can sum up the movie in one word: AWESOME. I thought it was going to be bland and that Pixar couldn’t do it again, but sure enough, they did. I’ve been waiting for this movie for 2 years and it did not dissappoint. If I wasn’t broke, I’d give you all money to go buy tickets for it right now. And stay for the credits, there’s some good stuff there.

There’s lots of Pixar in-jokes throughout the movie, like we pass by the birds from "For The Birds", John Ratzenberger back again as Mack (and this whole thing with him is addressed, but I won’t say how or when), and the Pizza Planet truck appears too, looking like the rest of the characters.

**"We know it’s fake, but we enjoy it. It’s the same thing as if you love 24. If Kiefer Sutherland died, you’d be a little sad about that, right?"**

I think a big difference is that "professional" wretzling never tells anyone it’s fake. Heck, they deny it. Sutherland will do an interview and talk about the staging/showmanship of creating 24 (in essence, how it is FAKE), but do you ever hear wretzling describing themselves and their stagecraft? No. They want to be treated like a mainstream sport, and not like entertainment. They work to hide the fact that they are fake. They deny deny deny. What a crock.

As for that "rock hard" ring? Don’t kid a kidder, ok? I’ve stood inside the ropes of a "professional" wretzling ring, and it sure is bouncy - compared to a true wrestling mat.

Get taken down in a NCAA wrestling match and then tell me how hard the "pro" wretzlers plight is. Ever really wrestle?

I haven’t paid any attention to wrestling since late 80’s/early 90’s, and even then I wasn’t the wildest fan. However, when someone wants to pay respect to someone who has passes on, I think it’s best we pay respect and leave trivial opinions to ourselves.

"but do you ever hear wretzling describing themselves and their stagecraft? No."

WRONG, asshole! (sorry, but let’s face it - you’re an asshole). There are countless books out by some of the biggest names in wrestling — Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, among others — who do exactly that. WWE & MTV had Tough Enough, a reality show all about learning the craft of wrestling. WWE Confidential (now cancelled) was in part about the craft of wrestling.

"Get taken down in a NCAA wrestling match and then tell me how hard the "pro" wretzlers plight is. Ever really wrestle?"
You mean like NCAA champ, Olympic Gold medalist & WWE champ Kurt Angle? Or Brock Lesnar? Shelton Benjamin?

Should I keep proving you wrong, or would you like to keep making an ass of yourself?

Man, I don’t remember the blog about Kamala, the Ugundan Giant causing this much heat….

Hmmm… how to distract the unruly mob from the murkish direction it’s trying to take?

If there is anything that wrestling has been doing for the last 10-15 years it’s establish that their business is Entertainment. I suppose if you never watched it in these years I can’t blame you for not realizing this change but you have no reason to continue with this arguement. The years of interviews with pro wrestlers denying it’s staged and everything in the back stage being behind closed doors is long over so you can quit your whining.

I’m no pro wrestling fan, at least not for many many many years but this is a thread in tribute for a man who’s dead. Doesn’t matter what he did, what his job was or what he died of, he’s dead. If people want to pay tribute to him, let them and find a better day to be ignorant.

I’m sure profanity and name calling is just great in the day job you have, but you don’t see me calling folks profane names here, now do you? What’s really funny is that I don’t need to call wretzlin’ fanz small minded, because so many of you seem to speak for yourself.

I don’t seem to recall anyone talking about how wretzling was fake last time I stopped by Spike to laugh at the pathetic "sport" you so love. They may talk about their "craft", but are you really going to assert that they are open and forthright about how fake it is?

Now, by the knowledgable tone of your post, I assume you *did* wrestle? Where? What weight class? Ever been in a "pro wretzling" ring? Seems to me that you are just speaking out of your southern orifice. Why don’t you tell me where I can pull up your creds so I can see how much you really know. Where are your real wrestling wins, losses, titles?

You say it’s all fake and then you go on to brag that Kurt Angle is the WWE "champ". Wow!!! He must of scripted really hard to "win" that "title". And I’m sure he’s working up through the ranks of the ECW!!! Man… The thrill of all that **scripting**! Maybe he can "win" yet another **"BIG TITLE"**!!!

**"Among Angle’s trademarks is the audience — whether he is face or heel — chanting "You Suck!" in sequence with his entrance music."**

Jeez, I see where you get your social skills from. Now, isn’t break time over on the loading dock? Don’t lose that great hourly gig over me!

Geez Matt… You seem like a decent guy. Why are you unable to tolerate different opinions in your forum? Does banning me really protect the delicate feeling of your readers? Do they really need that protection. They seemed to have no problems flaming me quickly. Heck, I was even called an "asshole" and mocked.

I liked this site because it seemed like rockin’ kind of place. Guess not. I’ll let you get back to protecting your base now.

I’ve been hitting the spam filter for days, and this guy gets through eleventy times?

Sometimes I understand what Matt was getting at in that old article mentioning how the net was passing him by.

I think that wrestling as a whole has almost gone out of its way to show it is not real. From re-naming itself entertainment, to calling wrestlers "superstars", to all of the behind the scenes books and DVDs. Of course they try to sell the fantasy a little, because it doesn’t make sense to watch a match when you know guys are best friends outside of the ring. It’s like watching any movie. No, I don’t believe Kamala is from Uganda and eats people, just as I don’t believe Anthony Hopkins eats the hearts and livers of those he kills. It’s all in fun and entertainment.

I don’t want to throw insults around here, but I’m taking it Mike that you are a real wrestler who feels that professional wrestling taints whatever you have achieved. I don’t believe that pro wrestling lessens the achievements of any athlete. But I do find it interesting that you know Kurt Angle is in ECW, since that only happened about a week ago.

Beside the point, whether you like it or not, this is an 80s, retro, campy website, and pro wrestling was a big part of that in the 80s. I’ve said my piece, as I don’t want to monopolize this forum with this topic and I don’t have any need to provide fuel to continue the insults.

I loved Earthquake, ’specially when he was in the Natural Disasters with Tugboat, Typhoon.

**"Beside the point, whether you like it or not, this is an 80s, retro, campy website, and pro wrestling was a big part of that in the 80s."**

Glad you referenced that… because that’s what I was saying in an earlier post. 80’s camp is ok with me, but the "realitization" (I made that up) is what offends me. Why? Well I think you said it well:

**"that you are a real wrestler who feels that professional wrestling taints…"**

Not my acheivements, because I sucked. But it does taint the real thing. And I did do the real thing. I didn’t sit on a boa constrictor, or slap a man, or body slam. I just fuaght hard in a real, unscripted match and faigh like hell. No backstory. No theme music.

No other sport has to suffer the indignity of a mock version. I am glad to hear others attest to wretzling’s more entertainment oriented pitch. That does count, a little at least.

**"But I do find it interesting that you know Kurt Angle is in ECW, since that only happened about a week ago."**

Actually, I read that on Wikipedia. I really don’t know what ECW stands for. I’ve got no grudge with Angle, though. I mean, being a great real wrestler is like being a great gymnast. Heck, what are you going to do to make money? I wish he didn’t join wretzling… but, like Chris Rock says: "I understand."

I guess since we’re already on this topic: Do people here think bringing back ECW is a good thing? I live in Philly and I love ECW. I was at the ECW Arena for most of the historical moments, and I was so sad when it closed down. But I’m thinking they should have left well enough alone. It’s like the Star Wars Prequels…I was excited for years for them, and I think they were a giant letdown. Maybe it would have been better to just have the original trilogy and kept it at that. I’m afraid that the new ECW might tarnish it’s legacy. I’d rather just remember the good times.

Diluting their roster doesn’t seem like the best idea right now, honestly. People are injured/getting injured left and right; spreading the people who are left even thinner doesn’t make too much sense to me. Then again, if profitable, they’ll have the cash to refill the rosters with new blood/old faces. I definitely think they’ve misjudged ECW’s cult following so far, though. Not to say it doesn’t have a cult following, but the way they’re trying to present it doesn’t really represent why it still has a cult following. I dunno. Too early to tell. I’m curious to see what happens after the weekly show gets settled. If it bombs, are they really going to keep top tier talent there?

I’m not too worried about tarnished legacies, because the people involved realize that "they had what they had" and all this other stuff is just a gig with a marketing spin. They’ve all got WWE contracts and for some of them, that’s gotta be worth a lot more than nostalgic stories right now. So, good for ‘em.

Great write up Matt on a great man that left us way too soon. He definitely will be missed.

A couple weeks ago I watched a wrestling tape my brother an I had made like 7 or 8 years ago. This compilation tape of a bunch of our favorite wrestling matches from the 80s all the way up to the nWo/DX stuff.
I was so shocked at just how many people on that tape had died in the past couple years.
Owen Hart, Chris Candido, Rick Rude, Curt Hennig, Eddie Guerrero, Miss Elizabeth, The Bitish Bulldog, even Brian Pillman and Louie Spicolli.

And ECW will never be the same. Even though WWF always kinda played a part in ECW this shit right now just seems like Vince realized with the ECW dvd and ppv that he could cash in. I hope I’m proved wrong and that this new ECW will be badass and live up to and exceed expectations, but yeah it’ll never be the same.

John Tenta was a respected collegiate wrestler at LSU, so the person who is denegrating him as only a pro wrestler only should shut up

Ah yes, ’twas RD Reynolds who opened the door to X-E through your wearing a kiddie Ultimate Warrior costume.

I’ve personally had a friend/coworker who died from cancer (brain), and as he explained it, he felt like crap for the first couple days after chemotherapy, but then he felt better for the remaining days until he had to go in for chemo again.

The point to my story is, he always appeared to be happy. I know deep down inside, he was in a lot of pain, but his smile still stayed on.

I’d think if I had some sort of disease, I wouldn’t want to know about it and continue on doing my normal thing until I simply vanish, but we’ll have to see about that.

"wretzling"
.
?
.
?
.
That’s a Pretzel with a harelip, ain’t it?
Or a Germanic cartoon bad guy. Gottfried von Wretzling, the Baron of Gotterrdammerrdingledong.

When and what channel is the new ECW going to be on? I thought I heard it was going to be on the sci-fi channel.

Wow. Well worded post you’ve got there. Once again demonstrating the intelligence levels I already alluded to. Glad to see that my posts have trigged a thoughtful streak in you.

Now, just to set the record straight, allow me to post what I hate about your "sport":

Professional wrestling is **"simulated"** in the sense that the outcomes are **predetermined**, and their effects upon the opponent exaggerated. Some treat the performance as a form of entertainment or drama, and would not use the term **"fake"** in describing it.

The vast majority of the matches have **pre-determined results** and are said to be **"worked"**. The results are determined by "bookers" to maximize "heel heat" for the bad guy and "(baby)face heat" for the good guy, often in the context of a long-running "feud" or storyline. Typically, the wrestlers will work out some signature "spots" marking key moments in the match in advance.

Man-o-man! A "sport" that’s all made up! It must be thrilling to wait for the scripted outcome. If you were actually capable of reading my previous posts, you might have understood my veiwpoint. As it is, I’m surprised you could even spell the word ‘f*ck’.

And in closing, just for you Jack… What’s the opposite of "above me". Yeah, you got that one, didn’t you?

I’ll grant you all this… Here’s one big way that wretzling rocks: EARNINGS! [But on SciFi - What's with that?!?]

Yeah, the WWE may seem goofy with its scripted matches. But wrestling is cool again and the stock’s on a tear.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Investors may feel like they have been caught in a choke hold for the past month and a half. But shareholders of World Wrestling Entertainment have market bears pinned to the mat.

World Wrestling Entertainment’s stock is up more than 21 percent so far this year and has held up relatively well during the market’s May and June swoon. And some Wall Street analysts think the stock still has some room to run.

Clotheslining the market: In a rocky year for the broader market, shares of WWE have been a big hit.

The company is scheduled to report its fiscal fourth-quarter results on Tuesday June 13. Analysts are currently predicting that WWE (Research) will post revenues of $114.5 million and earnings of 13 cents a share.

But if recent history is any guide, the company will likely crush those estimates. During the past five quarters, WWE has blown away consensus expectations by a wide margin.

RAW growth opportunities
The WWE, which stages live wrestling events throughout the world and airs several popular TV shows, has benefited from an increase in popularity during the past year.

Alan Gould, an analyst with Natexis Bleichroeder, points out that attendance at WWE events was lagging about two years ago but has been on the upswing during the past few quarters.

Attendance at North American events so far this fiscal year has averaged 6,700 people, compared to 4,600 during the same quarter a year ago and just 3,800 two years ago.

To that end, revenues from live and TV entertainment operations in the third quarter increased 6 percent from a year ago. This business accounted for nearly 60 percent of the company’s total sales.

Going forward, this business could get a boost from the addition of a third TV show this summer.

Beginning in June, the WWE will air programs from its Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) series on the SCI FI Channel. WWE already airs its "RAW" program on USA Network, which like SCI FI, is owned by General Electric’s (Research) NBC Universal unit.

The WWE also airs its popular "SmackDown" show on CBS’s UPN network. That show will move to the new CW, co-owned by CBS (Research) and Time Warner (Research), this fall. (Time Warner also owns CNNMoney.com.)

The company gets paid a licensing fee by the broadcasters and in the case of "SmackDown" also receives a small cut of advertising sales from the TV programs.

Michael Kelman, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, adds that the company has been posting impressive growth in DVD sales thanks to a renewed focus on older WWE stars like Hulk Hogan.

In the company’s third quarter, sales from the company’s home video division increased 215 percent from a year ago and accounted for 15 percent of the company’s total revenue.

"Home video is driving results. The company can mine this huge library they have," Kelman said. "They are bringing back old stars like Hulk Hogan to get people who were previously wrestling fans to get back into it."

Gould points out that the company has also seen its popularity increase abroad and that it is also taking advantage of new trends in technology.

"The WWE is doing a good job internationally and is starting to make some interesting moves in new media such as video on demand and a mobile product," he said.

Some risks but a heavyweight dividend
With that in mind, analysts and investors will be looking for WWE to raise forecasts for this fiscal year.

Wall Street is currently predicting that the company will generate sales of $417 million and earnings of 67 cents a share for this fiscal year, which ends in April 2007.

Still, there are some risks. Kelman said the stock, trading at about 26 times next year’s earnings estimates, seems fully valued. So if the company doesn’t raise its earnings guidance, the stock could get pile-drived by Wall Street.

Gould said he’s a little worried about the WWE’s plans to expand into the movie business.

The company produced a horror movie called "See No Evil," starring WWE wrestler Kane in May in conjunction with independent film studio Lionsgate (Research). Gould said he thinks the company could break even on this venture but he’s not so sure that the company will do as well on its next movie, "The Marine," which is due out in the fall.

But the WWE could also benefit from increased exposure to wrestling thanks to another movie due out later this week. "Nacho Libre," the Jack Black comedy about a Mexican wrestler, is not associated with the WWE. But Kelman thinks that if "Nacho Libre" is a hit, it can’t hurt.

Finally, these risks are slightly mitigated by the fact that in many other respects, the WWE is an incredibly fiscally conservative company.

The WWE has $278 million in cash and just $6.6 million in long-term debt on its balance sheet. What’s more, the company has chosen to take a huge chunk of the cash it generates and pay it back to investors in the form of a dividend that yields a whopping 5.5 percent.

By way of comparison, the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note only yields about 5 percent.

"Investing in the WWE is better than sitting in 10-year Treasurys," Gould said. "It’s a good place to be as long as business trends continue to improve."

My brother and I got hooked on wrestling during the summer Quake almost killed Hulkamania. He was THE bad guy at that time. Great tribute, Matt, and thanks for the memories, John Tenta.

The Internet: constant reminder that even us monkeys with nothing to say get a chance to say it.

Good Christ Mike!
Give it a break! I can copy and paste all day, too. That doesn’t do anything to make my point any more (or less) right. Fine, call pro wrestling scripted. It is. Almost anyone can tell you that. Just don’t call it fake. Unless you think you can ‘pretend’ to hold someone 400+ pounds over your head and slam them to the ground without hurting them OR you. Or perhaps we’re just imagining that someone has enough of a vertical jump to leap over a 6+ foot tall person. Watch some TNA wrestling. Look at the X-Division. Don’t pay attention to the stories, just watch the natural athletic ability of the performers. Then tell me it’s "fake".

Oh, and just to let you know, my high school wrestling career was 15-2, before I blew my knee out. 5 knee operations later, I’m relegated to a bad limp and a cane.

How’s this sound - When someone you know/respect/admire passes away, PLEASE let us know so we can be sure to denigrate whatever his/her profession was. Sound good? Sound appropriate? No? It’s not appropriate to do that while mourning a death? Then why the hell did you start?

Well said, Erich. I could watch TNA’s X-Division all damn day. I’ve never thought much of TNA’s ability to craft a decent storyline, but I’ll be damned if’n it ain’t an absolute blast to watch Styles, Sabin, Daniels and the like fly all over the ring. I’d rather watch an "Ultimate-X" match than see two of WWE’s "hosses" trip over each other any day.

How can someone have such a hollow and pathetic existence that they feel the need to try to drive home a tired point FIVE DAYS AFTER it was first stated? Also, why is he even wasting his time on entertainment and fans for which he has utter disdain? Mike, either get a life or change the channel.

Not me posting above… I’m onto new names, and I’m not a one word post kind of guy (obviously). But I do **LOVE** that I spark imitators. Welcome other Mikes!

**How can someone have such a hollow and pathetic existence that they feel the need to try to drive home a tired point FIVE DAYS AFTER it was first stated?**

You should be able to answer your own question… since **you** are certainly here five days later pressing your point. Bah! The level of intelligent comments slips rapidly - and the quality already wasn’t too strong!

I posted the story because I thought those here might be interested. I guess you’re too busy circle jerking me to actually read about your "sport". Sorry I tried to inform you. Clearly, for the denizens of this forum, ignorance is bliss.

**Oh, and just to let you know, my high school wrestling career was 15-2, before I blew my knee out. 5 knee operations later, I’m relegated to a bad limp and a cane.**

Then you should perfectly understand my points. Also, if you actually read my posts, you’d see I never questioned wretzler’s strength or physical capabilities. Just their choice of professions and the quality of their "sport". [And, BTW, I wrestled in high school and the NCAA so I know the score, too, bubba.]

**How’s this sound - When someone you know/respect/admire passes away, PLEASE let us know so we can be sure to denigrate whatever his/her profession was.**

Oh BOO HOO! I, for one, wouldn’t care if someone questioned the profession of someone I watched on TV/movies, because I don’t have my very existence wrapped up in it.

Who died recently that I cared about. Ok, photographer Arnold Newman just died and I loved his work. Fire away!!! You won’t see me wailing and moaning over you dissin’ the photography profession. Of course, there’s nothing fake about photography.

But I guess the emotional power of wretzling is much, much stronger, causing such vitriolic reactions.

**Don’t pay attention to the stories, just watch the natural athletic ability of the performers.**

PS: I make a great wretzling forum heel, don’t I. And boy do you all keep dancing for my script. I love you all!

Troll. I’m reading this months after all this occurred, but I still can’t fathom the mentality of someone who would post in the above manner. Sure, a little trolling once in a while, OK if you’re like 13. But trolling against a tribute to a cancer victim? Scumbag.

Add A New Comment!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 9:57 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.