Women’s division boosts WWE ratings
WWE鈥檚 quarterly numbers
Thursday morning, WWE released its second quarter earnings and also updated the most recent WWE Network numbers.
Currently, there are 1,630,000 subscribers which includes 1,158,000 domestic and 410,000 internationally.
WWE did not announce how many are paid subscribers and how many are free.
On its post-WrestleMania conference call on April 3, WWE announced the Network had 1,949,000 subscribers (1,661,000 paid) and this was right after WWE鈥檚 huge promotional blitz that allowed new and returning subscribers to get up to three months for free.
During the call, Vince McMahon praised the quarter as a whole and also Paul Levesque鈥檚 work with the women鈥檚 division.
McMahon acknowledged WWE鈥檚 growing female audience and that quarter-hour ratings show that fans are responding to the female talents more than ever.
Asuka鈥檚 record-breaking title reign
Undefeated NXT Women鈥檚 champion Asuka has been blowing by several historical title reigns under WWE鈥檚 umbrella, and it needs to be recognized.
As of today, she is at 483 days which is one more than The New Day鈥檚 reign of 482 days with the World (now known as the Raw) tag team titles.
Amazingly, if Asuka makes it to NXT: Takeover Brooklyn III on Aug. 19 as the champion she will pass Rockin鈥� Robin to have the longest Women鈥檚 title reign in WWE history other than the Fabulous Moolah鈥檚 reign which 鈥渓asted鈥� over 18 years.
Robin鈥檚 reign is at 502 days, and the Takeover show will be the 504th day of Asuka鈥檚 reign.
There have been over 1,100 combined title reigns including current, or former, titles and Asuka鈥檚 reign will be the seventh longest in company history if she makes it to Aug. 19 as champion.
Making Asuka鈥檚 reign even more impressive is that she will have the longest reign since WWE started its national expansion and virtually ended regional and territorial wrestling in the early 1980s.
The only reigns longer in WWE history include Bruno Sammartino鈥檚 two world title reigns (2,803 and 1,237 days, respectively), Hulk Hogan鈥檚 first WWE title reign of 1,474 days, Bob Backland鈥檚 first WWE title reign at 2,135 days, Pedro Morales鈥� WWE title reign of 1,027 days, and Moolah鈥檚 recognized 鈥渞eign鈥� of over 18 years (although it is factually inaccurate).
Regardless of when Asuka drops the gold, her reign is one for the ages in today鈥檚 pro wrestling world of hot-shot booking.
Long gone are the days of titles reigns lasting for a long time, but Asuka鈥檚 reign has been nothing short of impressive.
Credit for the numbers go to Stuart Carapola and his well-done piece on www.pwinsider.com on June 5.
WWE applies for former trademark
Steve Fernandes of www.pwinsider.com is reporting that WWE has applied to trademark 鈥淭aboo Tuesday.鈥�
It was a PPV that was a precursor to Cyber Sunday with both shows being interactive allowing fans to pick matches.
WWE changes
Yesterday was the last day of work for Ed Wells with WWE.
Wells had held the role Executive Vice President and Head of International for the past 13 months and had been with WWE since 2008.
John Brody is assuming the role to go along with already being the Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Partnerships.
Flair documentary finally airing
ESPN announced on Wednesday that a 30 for 30 documentary piece on Ric Flair titled 鈥淣ature Boy鈥� will air on Nov. 7 at 10 p.m.
There is a trailer available at espn.com.
Raw in Pittsburgh
WWE returns to PPG Paints Arena on Monday night.
Brock Lesnar will be there as the hype for SummerSlam continues.
Plenty of seats remain and can be ordered at www.ticketmaster.com.
Sting headed to Washington
Pro wrestling legend Sting will make an appearance at the Big Time Wrestling show at Wild Things Park in Washington on Friday, Aug. 11.
Scott Steiner and Billy Gunn will square off, and other wrestlers scheduled to appear include Sabu, Gangrel, Gillberg and more.
For more information, go to btwtickets.com.
On this date鈥�
In 1999, 鈥淐urtis Comes Home,鈥� a fund raiser for referee Mark Curtis (real name Brian Hildebrand), was held at the Rostraver Ice Garden.
The event was amazing to see live as I worked the event as security, and it was a spectacle because wrestlers from WWE, WCW and ECW all appeared.
That happened only a couple of times and any wrestler who had a history with Curtis was on the show.
Some of the names on the show included Lord Zoltan, Mick Foley, Al Snow, Shane Douglas, Dominic DeNucci, Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman, Jim Cornette, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Tracey Smothers, Chris Candido, Sunny (as Tammy Lynn Sytch), among others.
The event drew over $30,000 for Hildebrand who passed away from stomach cancer six weeks later on Sept. 9.
This week鈥檚 question: Is it me or is WWE鈥檚 writing getting worse and worse? Chris, Rostraver?
This may be the most asked question that I get, and while the writing lacks at time, I get this question from fans that are in their 30s and older.
My hunch is that fans get older and WWE still sells its PG shows to younger fans.
If we were kids today, I assume we would be into it more much like we were when younger!
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.