====================================================================== ====================================================================== ____ ___ ____ ___ ____ / /\/ /\/ /\ / \ / /\ __ ___ / / / / / / / / \ / / / / \/ \ / / / / / / / / \/ / / / \ / \/ / / / / / / / / /\ /\ / / / / / / /\ / / / / / / / / /\ \/ / / / / /\ / / / / / / / / / /\ / / / / / \ / / /____/ /___/ / /___/ / \_____/ / /___/ / /__/ / \____\/\___\/ \___\/ \____\/ \___\/ \__\/ n a i d O ' s W r e s t l i n g N e w s Edition// 460 Date// August 23, 2001 Motto// "Continuing to get the news so you don't have to." Website// http://www.geocities.com/naidosnews Subscribe// naidoswrestlingnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe// naidoswrestlingnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ====================================================================== Table of Contents//=================================================== naidO's daily note TOP HEADLINE Latest news & notes from the WWF, WCW & the rest of pro-wrestling Article// WWFE Reports First Quarter Results Remember... Affiliates ====================================================================== naidO's daily note//================================================== Hello to you and to those just joining. Tell your friends about the BEST newsletter around to subscribe today. Enjoy this latest edition of nWN! -Click for the SummerSlam results: http://www.naidosworld.com/results_sslam01.html -Click for the RAW results: http://www.naidosworld.com/tvraw.html -Man, talk about your weird news weeks. yesterday I was literally scrounging to find news and today, I couldn't even fit everything in! I'll shut up now as you have a little bit of reaing to do. ALL are great newsbits so have fun and be warned, read this on your lunch break LOL! LOVE THE NEWSLETTER? PLEASE TELL A FRIEND TO JOIN! Thanks for reading. naidO// ====================================================================== TOP HEADLINE//======================================================== Universal has acquired two projects with an eye on Rock being the lead role in each. One is an untitled picture written by Oscar winner Brian Helgeland of "L.A. Confidential" fame. The other is a spec script, "Hunting Bronze," a rugged action-comedy, according to a Variety wire story today. Rock's role, although only 10 minutes long, in "The Mummy Returns" is credited with helping the movie gross well over original expectations - $415 worldwide to date. Such movie projects would take Rock further out of the full-time picture for the WWF, but because of the nature of his long-term WWFE contract, it would assure WWFE years of at least part-time access to a bona fide movie star should his Hollywood career take off. Access even part-time to a crossover celebrity box office leader could be more valuable than full-time access to a top drawing main event wrestler without such crossover credentials. To read the entire wire article, click: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010823/en/film-dish_13.html ====================================================================== News from the WWF//=================================================== -1Wrestling.com reports that a show in Toronto similar to Good Morning America to the folks in the states had a lead story that WrestleMania 18 is CONFIRMED for SkyDome in Toronto next year. The announcement is expected to be made at a press conference on September 3 (day after RAW in Canada). Vince McMahon, Stone Cold, and The Rock will be in attendence for the confrence. -This Tuesday, August 28th, Stacy Keibler and Rhyno will be reading to children from 11am-noon in Royal Oak, Michigan at the Royal Oak Public Library (22 E. Eleven Mile Road). The reading is free and open to the public. -Chris Jericho visited Dr. David Ting (team doctor of the San Jose Sharks) on Monday morning regarding a concussion that he felt he endured at Summerslam. Jericho took an MRI exam, which turned out negative, explaining why he wrestled on Raw. -Kurt Angle will be on "Conan O'Brien" this Tuesday, August 28th. Check your local listings for more information. -Last week's RAW in the United Kingdom was watched by 480,000 viewers. This is the highest watched RAW in United Kingdom history. -WWF.com has posted an article with comments from the midget who played Booker T on RAW, and Tommy Dreamer's comments on his first WWF match on Television. To view the article, click http://www.wwf.com/news/headlines/1075839 -The WWF has updated http://www.wwfunforgiven.com/ to reflect this year's PPV. Click the link to view it. -WWF.com has put up a article on Rob Van Dam (RVD) and the high flying style he has brought to the WWF. The article also talks about the Ladder Match with Jeff Hardy at SummerSlam. To view the article, click http://www.wwf.com/news/headlines/1075975 -The Smackdown! leading into the SummerSlam pay-per-view didn't bring in tremendously positive numbers. The show came in at 55th with a weak 4.3 in the ratings. An episode of Cops, America's Most Wanted and even Diagnosis Murder scored higher than Smackdown!. -On Thursday WWFE chairman, Vincent McMahon, sold 1.9 million WWF shares owned by him at a premium to Invemed Catalyst Fund LP. for $25 million. WWF, a producer and promoter of professional wrestling matches, said McMahon received $13.25 a share for the stake, a premium to WWF's closing price of $12 on Wednesday. Prior to the transaction, WWF said that the fund had acquired 696,000 of WWF's shares in the open market. In total, the fund now holds a 3.5 percent stake in WWF. Michael Solomon, managing principal of Gladwyne Partners, LLC, a general partner of the Invemed Catalyst Fund, will now serve on WWF's board. -Official SmackDown! Preview: Once again this week, SmackDown! is as LIVE as LIVE can be, this time from Denver, Colo.! Tonight on UPN, SmackDown! is set for an explosion! We all witnessed Kurt Angle's incredible (and hysterical) milk assault on the Alliance this past Monday night. One has to believe that Stone Cold Steve Austin and his followers will be out for some revenge tonight on UPN! Also, Booker T wanted a piece of The Rock this past Monday night -- but he didn't get one! Will Booker make any more strides towards regaining the WCW Championship on tonight's show? Find out on SmackDown! The great thing about live television is that ANYTHING can happen -- so don't miss tonight's LIVE episode of Smackdown! on UPN! Check your local listings for time and channel! -As an aside, X-Pac will be hosting the Live SmackDown! at WWFNY Source// Yahoo! News, WWF.com, Ultimo Wrestling ====================================================================== News from WCW-ECW//=================================================== -There is currently an interview with David Flair on WCW.com that talks about him breaking into the business as the son of Ric Flair. "I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was hard on myself and then you have Ric Flair as your dad," Flair stressed. "You don't even know. I could be wrestling in the school with the boys and it's over my head every single day. To me it's like having Babe Ruth as your dad." To read the story, click http://www.wcw.com/news/082201/flair1.html -Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler don't have any ankle injuries. Stacy slightly twisted her ankle slightly two weeks ago but was fine two days later. Torrie said her ankle was sore but never injured. -This Friday on WWF.com's Byte This webcast, Lance Storm will be the guest from 4-5pm ET. Speaking of Storm, he has updated his commentary at http://www.stormwrestling.com/commentary/default.asp?aID=1135 -Kanyon has posted his latest commentary at his official web-site. The commentary this week deals with the current road schedule that Kanyon now has. To view the commentary, visit http://www.ChrisKanyon.com Source// WCW.com, Ultimo ====================================================================== News from the rest of pro-wrestling//================================= -XPW relaunched their website at XPWrestling.com today with some new features. To go to the site, click http://www.xpwrestling.com/ -UPW.com reports that the WWF has shot a commercial for a PPV to air during this year's World Series. The Superstars in the commercial are The Hardy Boyz, Kane, Edge, and Bradshaw. More UPW stars will be in the commercial as well. -Jerry Lawler was on Opie & Anthony yesterday. They were laughing at him as he told his tale of quitting his job over siding with his wife, who then left him. -Staying with Lawler, Jerry Lawler and new valet Donna will be appearing on Friday on the debut on TNN's new show "Pop Across America." The theme of the show is to take statisticians at TNN headquarters who will attempt to bore people to death, so they don't figure out that if you take the ratings of Raw away, TNN is actually slightly behind the pace it was at one year ago. Source// Ultimo, 1Wrestling ====================================================================== Article//============================================================= WWFE Reports First Quarter Results: Revenues of $90.7 Million and Earnings Per Share of $0.16 STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 2001--World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWF - news) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended July 27, 2001. Total revenues for the quarter were $90.7 million compared to $101.9 million in the same period last year. Earnings per common share were $0.16 for the quarter versus $0.22 in the first quarter in the prior fiscal year. During the quarter, the Company recorded a pre-tax gain of $9.3 million associated with the revaluation and sale of its warrant position in one of its licensees. "Our first quarter earnings are largely within the range that we expected,'' said Linda E. McMahon Chief Executive Officer. ``We were aware that the year-over-year comparisons would be affected by lower ratings and increases in operating expenses and we included this in our most recent guidance. Our business plans assume growth in our key business drivers as the introduction of new story lines and talent take hold.'' "There are indications that the drivers have in fact responded as evidenced by our ratings. Ratings for Raw is War increased 17% over the past four weeks while ratings for SmackDown! increased 13% over the same period. Our July pay-per-view, Invasion/Fully Loaded, set an all-time record for this event with an initial estimate of approximately 681,000 buys, an increase of 70% compared to the same event last year,'' concluded Mrs. McMahon. Quarterly Results by Business Segment Live and Televised Entertainment: Total revenues decreased 4% to $72.4 million compared to $75.2 million in the prior year quarter. *Live Event revenues - There were seven fewer events in the quarter (43 events versus 50 events) compared to the same period last year. Event revenues were $14.9 million in the quarter ended July 27, 2001 compared to $18.6 million in the same period last year. Attendance was approximately 415,100 compared to 611,500 last year. *Pay-Per-View revenues - In period buys for the quarter were 1,431,000 as compared to 1,284,000 last year, an increase of 11%. There were approximately 167,000 out of period buys in the quarter versus 515,000 in the first quarter last year. As a result, total pay- per-view revenues declined 12% quarter versus quarter. *Television Rights Fees revenues more than doubled compared to the same period last year principally reflecting the impact of the agreement with Viacom that was effective as of last September. The increase in rights fees in international markets was a result of the combination of renegotiated contracts and new deals. *Television Advertising revenues decreased 17% largely due to lower sell through on Sunday Night Heat which is broadcast on MTV. Branded Merchandise: Total revenues for branded merchandise decreased 32% to $18.3 million in the quarter compared to $26.7 million in the prior year quarter principally due to a decrease in licensing revenues resulting from the timing of cash receipts from our licensees. Selling, General & Administrative Expenses SG&A expenses for the quarter were $25.6 million. While the expenses were $5.0 million higher than last year, the prior year's SG&A expenses included a credit for the receipt of $2.2 million relating to the settlement of a lawsuit in the Company's favor. Additionally, the Company incurred increased overhead expenses related to its entertainment based complex in Times Square, advertising/promotion expenses, and consulting fees in part related to marketing and corporate communications initiatives. ====================================================================== Remember...=========================================================== -Remember that if you've missed any TV Shows, PPV's or more? Go to the following links to read the results. Raw// http://www.naidosworld.com/tvraw.html Smackdown// http://www.naidosworld.com/tvsmackdown.html PPV's// http://www.naidosworld.com/currentppv.html Ratings// http://www.naidosworld.com/tvratings.html ByteThis// http://www.naidosworld.com/bytethis.html ====================================================================== Affiliates//========================================================== -http://paywindah.hypermart.net -http://www.green-mist.com -http://www.geocities.com/dsherelo -http://www.TommyDreamer.net -http://www.StephanieBellars.com -http://www.PaulHeyman.Net -http://Wrestling-Freak.8k.com -http://www.JeffTheRef.com -http://www.ecwanderson.com -http://www.eswfed.com -http://welcome.to/wfwa -http://www.mrwicked.com BECOME AN AFFILIATE// Make nWN your official newsletter!! Email naido@hotmail.com with your website's address for consideration ====================================================================== News gathering links//================================================ -1Wrestling/Dave Scherer @ http://www.1wrestling.com -Wrestling Observer/Dave Meltzer @ http://www.wrestlingobserver.com -The Law @ http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com -UltimoWrestling @ http://www.ultimowrestling.com -SLAM! Wrestling @ http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestling ====================================================================== Ads//================================================================= -Come join the ESW today. Its the best Fed on the net today! With 8 belts, 3 weekly shows, and a monthly PPV, what more could you ask for? JOIN NOW! http://www.eswfed.com ====================================================================== nWN Staff//=========================================================== Founder & Editor: naidO - naido@hotmail.com Columnist: Sam Jerry - SAMJERRY@aol.com Columnist: The Vile - vile316@yahoo.com Columnist: Leno - jm51509@AOL.com Columnist: Smokey McPot & Johnny Potsmoker - TheDreamTeam420@aol.com Columnist: Tomac - tomac67@yahoo.com Columnist: The Sad Rebel - sadrebel@hotmail.com ====================================================================== Disclaimer//========================================================== naidO's Wrestling News was founded on April 30, 2000 and is owned and operated by naidO. He, nor this newsletter is in no way, shape, or form affiliated with World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting's World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, or any other wrestling organization. Nor the people (staff members), wrestlers, or any other talent in the wrestling. News is gathered from various sources around the net, including newsgroups and are believed to be of public domain and truthful (uh huh). As long as proper credit is given it exempts nWN and it's staff. I (naidO) am just promoting their organization/website. nWN is not responsible for content on affiliate websites or where they may link to including mp3's, warez, kiddie porn and/or other unlawful content. This exempts myself & this newsletter (nWN) from all legal disputes. Copyright © 2000, 2001 - naidO - All Rights Reserved ====================================================================== ======================================================================