Pro Wrestling Business Strong only for the WWF

My Friday night plans were centered on a N.W.A. event, commonly known as an independent show. The card was to feature former WWF champion The Iron Sheik. The promoter informed me the night before the event, that due to poor ticket sales, the show had been cancelled.

The cancellation of the show was just another piece of evidence that points to the fact that while the WWF is still red hot, the wrestling business over all is not.

The latest estimates place WCW on a course to lose a whopping $70 million dollars, following a year the company lost a reported $16 million. The company has recently releases several wrestlers to reduce the payroll. Gone from the roster include Roddy Piper, Meng, Jerry Flynn, and Mona, among others. Due to financial restrictions, WCW has also passed on renewing the contracts of Randy Savage and Curt Hennig.

For the month of June, WCW failed to sell out a single house show, which includes Nitro's, Thunder tapings, and the Great American Bash PPV. The attendance for the PPV was just 4,677. The average gate for a WCW live event was a mere $78,676 for the month, compared to an impressive $326,989 for the WWF.

The WWF’s King of the Ring extravaganza earned an estimated 1.19 buy rate, which translates to roughly 475,000 buys or $6.12 million in revenue. WCW’s Great American Bash only mustered a 0.19 buy rate, or $1.24 million. WWF’s June PPV hosted at the Fleet Center sold out to a tune of 14,464 paid for the event.

A recent house show in the Glass City of Toledo, Ohio saw WCW manage to sell an embarrassing 759 tickets, less than recent shows held at the same building booked by ECW. The show was headlined by a Booker T title defense against Shane Douglas. There is talk within WCW to eliminate house shows in favor of running nine live shows a month - four Nitro’s, four Thunder tapings, and a pay-per-view.

Speaking of ECW, the promotion also failed to earn one sell out for events held in the month of June. Despite recently meeting payroll, wrestlers are still owed money in the way of pay-per-view bonuses. The company signed a three-year contract with TNN last summer, yet following the cancellation of their cable program, ECW has been unable to secure a new deal for the fall season.

The recent financial woes are not limited to promotions based in the United States. Business is down substantially in Japan, a hot bed for the industry. New Japan Pro Wrestling saw attendance drop almost seven percent from this time a year ago, and more than ten percent in attendance gates.

All Japan Pro Wrestling, a former pro wrestling powerhouse and home of former American stars Vader, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams, Bart Gunn (now wrestling under the alias Mike Barton), and former AWA champion Stan Hansen, recently split up into two separate factions.

The company was founded by Shohei “Giant” Baba in 1972. Baba ran the company until his death on January 31, 1999. His widow assumed ownership of the group, and Mitsuharu Misawa became President. Motoko Baba and Misawa never saw eye to eye, and the President has left to form his own promotion.

Tidbits: In recent weeks, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, and Scott Steiner have taken brides … Dustin Rhodes (the former Goldust) is still under contract to WCW. He is awaiting word on his new gimmick … Legendary wrestling announcer Gordon Solie, 71, lost his battle with brain cancer last week … Madusa will be appearing at the yearly rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, August 7-13 … The wrestling documentary "Beyond the Mat" will be released on video and DVD on August 22nd … Arn Anderson is a road agent.

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