Earlier today Forbes & Bleacher Report wrestling columnist Alfred Konuwa was featured as a guest on WrestleZone Daily. Alfred was debuting a new segment for the Daily called What’s Best For Business? This will be a regular segment on WrestleZone Daily where Alfred and host Nick Hausman talk about financial and business aspects of the WWE.
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You can listen to Alfred’s appearance starting at the 40:27 mark in the embedded audio player below. Some of his quotes have been transcribed below it:
On the financial void John Cena leaves by taking time off from the WWE:
AK: I absolutely think this is going to be a big blow for the WWE. This is the wrong time for this to happen to WWE looking at how low the ratings are. We’ve seen record lows in the month of August, we’ve seen record lows just a couple weeks ago. Earlier in September I did an article for Forbes because John Cena had just suffered an injury scare. A lot of people thought it might be serious because it was one of those non-contact injuries. So it gave kind of a sense of what WWE looks like traditionally when John Cena is out of the picture. We have seen long periods at a time when John Cena is out. Every time out it’s not good for WWE. I’m talking ratings are down when John Cena’s gone. House show revenue for shows when John Cena’s not there were $60,000 less than that of the shows where he is there. It’s been reported as recently as a couple of years ago that John Cena outdraws the rest of the roster combined when it comes to merchandise. I looked at WWEShop.com at that point and of the sixteen top items John Cena had eleven of them. It was such a huge amount and Cena is such a huge part of WWE’s business that eventually they are going to have to cycle off him. For him to just disappear right now when the ratings are in free fall. When the NFL season is cranking up in October and when there are so many main stream sports that have come along in prime time? It’s really a nightmare for WWE.
On why Stephanie McMahon is selling off so much of her WWE stock:
AK: I have heard so many things about this and I always investigate every time because I see that she’s just funneling off stock. Like you say. I have heard that it’s because she has to make some home repairs and improvement. She would like to use that money to build her home. All kinds of different renovations. I just think that she owns a whole lot of WWE stock to where it’s pretty much just controlling interest. For her to sell off stock, we hear these stories but it’s not like she’s just selling off to the point where she owns a minority interest. You know? It’s definitely still a big part of the WWE that she owns. When it comes to somebody who is making the kind of money that Stephanie McMahon makes one of the ways you get cash… think about it like going to the ATM as like selling off stock. That’s one of the ways you liquidate and get cash in order to handle the day to day business this person would handle.
On if Vince McMahon would ever sell the WWE to a company like Disney:
AK: I don’t think it’s anything Vince would entertain. I can almost guarantee Vince would not do that as long as he lives. It’s always going to be a Vince McMahon company. Vince just doesn’t play well with others. He just lives in this role where he gets pretty much the final say; at least when it comes to WWE matters. Now when Vince is gone it’s anybody’s guess where the company goes. I think people are going to be a lot more malleable. I could see a situation where way in to the future God forbid Vince ever leaves the comapny or no longer at the helm of WWE. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon will be more open to working with these big companies because… listen… Vince McMahon knows what he’s doing more than anybody else in that company. It shows they are confident in Vince McMahon’s guidance and leadership. Even when he does something kooky he knows this business inside and out. When he’s gone they’re not going to have that same confidence in a Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Once the numbers start reflecting they’re going to want to know if there can be some big changes that could possibly turn the ship around. So, I could absolutely see the share holders getting more influence in terms of pressuring the next generation to make these types of moves.
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