Vince McMahon: Talent absences to blame for declining WWE numbers
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On Thursday's Q1 call for investors, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon pointed to 15 top and mid-card talents being out as the reason for declining numbers.
"When you don't have talent, you don't have storylines. When you don't have storylines, you're not going to do that well in terms of live events and television ratings. It was like a cascade of things that happened," he said.
McMahon followed that up by saying that all those talents were back and that they "made new talent." He was optimistic for the future, citing new additions to the writing team and a new live events team that is now in place.
WWE Co-President George Barrios later said it wasn't just talent absences, but "the magnitude all at one time that felt unique." He said in his time at the company, he can only remember one similar time that happened: spring/summer 2010.
The company announced Q1 revenue was down 3% year-over-year to $182.4 million due to lower merchandise and lower ticket sales. Live event revenue was down 15% year-over-year to $26.2 million while consumer products were down 11% year-over-year to $20.8 million."
Imagine the problem with this company being not enough talent!