Oh Dear. WWE’s Third Quarter Financial Reports Are In And The Numbers Are Not Good.

It’s what makes the (wrestling) world go around. There are a lot of wrestling companies in the United States as well as the world, but there is one (main) think that separates WWE from the rest of them, and that is money. WWE has more money than they know what to do with and they basically make it on a never ending cycle. With all of their contracts and television deals, they are going to be around for a long time to come. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect though and as of this week, there are some numbers that prove things may not be so great.

WWE released its third quarter financial report on Thursday and overall, the numbers were mainly down compared to the previous year’s quarter. According to Wrestlinginc.com, this includes live event revenue being down 13% to $23.2 million, merchandise down 13% to $17 million and sales from WWEShop.com down 16%. WWE primarily focused on their television deals during the call and said that they would be trying to reach a new television deal in the Middle East, which they blamed for some of the financial situation. As a result of the report, WWE stock was down 15% and closed at $56.04 a share.

This is kind of a hard one to talk about, so this is the best I can do. Check out some Money in the Bank highlights (they’re always cool):

Opinion: This is a situation you can look at from two different ways. On one hand, there is no way to deny the fact that WWE is still making a FORTUNE. Even with their numbers down, they have more money than they know what to do with and their deals with FOX, USA and Saudi Arabia will keep them profitable for years to come.

At the same time though, it is clear that something they are doing is not working and needs to be fixed. These numbers are from the late spring and early summer, which was a very dark time for WWE. They never seemed interested in fixing things and look where they are now. It’s way too early to truly panic, but WWE’s fanbase is getting smaller and smaller every year. How long can they go without really changing something?

What do you make of these numbers? What do they mean for WWE’s future? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

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