Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on Mar 9, 2008 14:02:10 GMT -5
-There is reportedly a new policy within WWE where they give false return dates for wrestlers in order for it to appear more of a surprise when they come back early like John Cena. It is very likely that Rey Mysterio will come back earlier than WWE have reported.
-Aerial advertising, TV commercials, video-on-demand snippets, direct mail, bus wraps, in-store toy displays, radio promotions, even a sweepstakes for a customized motorcycle: It will be hard for viewers to ignore the fact that Wrestlemania 24 will be held March 30 in Orlando, Fla.
World Wrestling Entertainment is adding more elements each year in order to top the previous year’s buy-rate. The goal now: to beat the 1.2 million buys recorded for the 2007 event.
Continued, growing interest is primed by the stories created for the wrestlers, stunts (such as last year’s “feud†between Vince McMahon and Donald Trump) and marketing, said WWE executive vice president of marketing Geof Rochester.
This year’s “stunt†is a match between welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and 7-foot-tall WWE wrestler Big Show.
The marketing is massive and multi-layered, he said.
Affiliates including DirecTV, Dish Network, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems have signed up for a promotional campaign that will result in one viewer winning a custom-built WWE motorcycle from Orange County Choppers.
Subscribers in participating systems will be targeted with 2 million direct-mail pieces. Rochester called that a 30% increase in mail over last year.
Guides and bill ads will reach 9 million homes; cross-channel spots will air in 10 million homes. The effort will be supported in 30 markets with radio promotions.
Charter and Comcast will boost visibility in some of their markets by participating in WWE’s Community Champions, where cause-related activists will be nominated for a chance for a trip to Orlando for the wrestling event.
The market around the Citrus Bowl will be especially saturated. DirecTV’s new blimp will hover over three NASCAR races this month, showing 2-minute clips, six times per hour. Also, local affiliate Bright House Networks helped WWE gain access to 70,000 local hotel rooms to offer three-minute promotions for the event.
The partners also worked together to rent a patch of land near the Orlando airport so arriving planes will see the WWE logo depicted on the plot, Rochester said.
In all, WWE will try 40 to 50 tactics to spread the word.
-WWE 24/7 is slowly starting to show Chris Benoit more and more on the old Nitro clips. He is still edited out of his interviews and matches, and while there are no plans to change that, the philosophy now is he can be shown as long as it’s not in a match, a promo, or a melee where he’s a focal point.
-In a recent interview, Rob Van Dam said he would consider TNA but anything other than WWE is a step down. He also said that the formula to make it to the top in WWE involves politicking, kissing ass, stabbing people in the back, and holding people down.
-The WrestleMania AXXESS tour will be in the Chicago area this weekend. Mick Foley, Jimmy Yang, Maria, Shannon Moore, and Candice Michelle are all scheduled to appear.
-"Light It Up" by Rev Theory is one of the official theme songs for this year's WrestleMania XXIV. The other is "Snow (Hey Oh)" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
-The Sports Illustrated website has added a feature comparing Ric Flair & Brett Favre side-by-side. The feature compares the two as "retiring legends."
-OVW has announced that they will continue their summer shows at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. According to the Six Flags website, WWE will still supply talent for the shows.
-Brooke Hogan will have a spinoff of the popular "Hogan Knows Best" reality series on VH-1. According to Multichannel News VH-1 will air 10 half hour episodes of "Brooke Hogan Knows Best." The series will focus on Brooke Hogan as she moves out on her family and begins a life of her own.
-The Grand Rapids Press out of Michigan has an article now online looking at Floyd Mayweather's claimed $20 million payout for working WrestleMania XXIV.
-The Oshkosh Northwestern has an interview with Finlay online meant to promote Saturday night's house show on the campus of University of Wisconsin.
-Trish Stratus has signed on to host a new travel television series called 'Stratusphere', reports Mike Johnson of the Professional Wrestling Insider. In the series Trish will travel outside of North America to learn about other cultures. The series has already started filming in Europe.
-Shawn Michaels is said to be pleased with his current role in WWE. However, the same irritations that set him off in the past don't go unnoticed by him. Michaels simply deals with them better because professional wrestling doesn't consume his life anymore. Regarding how his body is holding up these days, it's said to be sore, but rumors of crippling pain or delaying needed surgeries are reportedly exaggerated.
-There has been some buzz backstage within WWE about who would actually win in a fight, Floyd Mayweather or Big Show. A few years ago, Big Show engaged in a real fight when he knocked out a 6-7 275 pound indy wrestler at a Marriot hotel in Long Island, NY. A few WWE wrestlers believe Big Show would crush Mayweather in a fight because Show can take a punch, not to mention dish them out. Also, the size difference is quite huge.
-WWE stockholders will be paid the increase in dividends on March 25th.
-Carmike Cinemas has announced that they will be showing the WWE Greatest Super Stars of WrestleMania DVD in their theaters on March 14th. Show times are scheduled for: 9:45 PM, 7:00 PM, 4:15 PM, and 1:00 PM.
-The gate for this year's WWE No Way Out pay-per-view in Les Vegas topped $800,000 and was a legitimate sellout with nearly 13,000 paid.
-The latest issue of Power Wrestling -- a German wrestling magazine -- features Mr. Kennedy on the cover, who is interviewed for the mag. Kennedy says that he has signed a contract with WWE Films to appear in one of their movies.
He says that shooting for the movie starts this month, and it will be shot in Puerto Rico. He also notes that it will be an action movie.
So far there are no other details on this particular movie that Mr. Kennedy is referring to, or if it is one of the movie already announced by WWE. Their next movie is 12 Rounds starring John Cena, a old school-style Western called "Journey of Death" starring Triple H, and another movie called "A Chance for Both Barrels", about a mercenary who wants to bring a killer to justice, which doesn't have any names attached to it yet.
-Aerial advertising, TV commercials, video-on-demand snippets, direct mail, bus wraps, in-store toy displays, radio promotions, even a sweepstakes for a customized motorcycle: It will be hard for viewers to ignore the fact that Wrestlemania 24 will be held March 30 in Orlando, Fla.
World Wrestling Entertainment is adding more elements each year in order to top the previous year’s buy-rate. The goal now: to beat the 1.2 million buys recorded for the 2007 event.
Continued, growing interest is primed by the stories created for the wrestlers, stunts (such as last year’s “feud†between Vince McMahon and Donald Trump) and marketing, said WWE executive vice president of marketing Geof Rochester.
This year’s “stunt†is a match between welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and 7-foot-tall WWE wrestler Big Show.
The marketing is massive and multi-layered, he said.
Affiliates including DirecTV, Dish Network, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Cablevision Systems have signed up for a promotional campaign that will result in one viewer winning a custom-built WWE motorcycle from Orange County Choppers.
Subscribers in participating systems will be targeted with 2 million direct-mail pieces. Rochester called that a 30% increase in mail over last year.
Guides and bill ads will reach 9 million homes; cross-channel spots will air in 10 million homes. The effort will be supported in 30 markets with radio promotions.
Charter and Comcast will boost visibility in some of their markets by participating in WWE’s Community Champions, where cause-related activists will be nominated for a chance for a trip to Orlando for the wrestling event.
The market around the Citrus Bowl will be especially saturated. DirecTV’s new blimp will hover over three NASCAR races this month, showing 2-minute clips, six times per hour. Also, local affiliate Bright House Networks helped WWE gain access to 70,000 local hotel rooms to offer three-minute promotions for the event.
The partners also worked together to rent a patch of land near the Orlando airport so arriving planes will see the WWE logo depicted on the plot, Rochester said.
In all, WWE will try 40 to 50 tactics to spread the word.
-WWE 24/7 is slowly starting to show Chris Benoit more and more on the old Nitro clips. He is still edited out of his interviews and matches, and while there are no plans to change that, the philosophy now is he can be shown as long as it’s not in a match, a promo, or a melee where he’s a focal point.
-In a recent interview, Rob Van Dam said he would consider TNA but anything other than WWE is a step down. He also said that the formula to make it to the top in WWE involves politicking, kissing ass, stabbing people in the back, and holding people down.
-The WrestleMania AXXESS tour will be in the Chicago area this weekend. Mick Foley, Jimmy Yang, Maria, Shannon Moore, and Candice Michelle are all scheduled to appear.
-"Light It Up" by Rev Theory is one of the official theme songs for this year's WrestleMania XXIV. The other is "Snow (Hey Oh)" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
-The Sports Illustrated website has added a feature comparing Ric Flair & Brett Favre side-by-side. The feature compares the two as "retiring legends."
-OVW has announced that they will continue their summer shows at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. According to the Six Flags website, WWE will still supply talent for the shows.
-Brooke Hogan will have a spinoff of the popular "Hogan Knows Best" reality series on VH-1. According to Multichannel News VH-1 will air 10 half hour episodes of "Brooke Hogan Knows Best." The series will focus on Brooke Hogan as she moves out on her family and begins a life of her own.
-The Grand Rapids Press out of Michigan has an article now online looking at Floyd Mayweather's claimed $20 million payout for working WrestleMania XXIV.
-The Oshkosh Northwestern has an interview with Finlay online meant to promote Saturday night's house show on the campus of University of Wisconsin.
-Trish Stratus has signed on to host a new travel television series called 'Stratusphere', reports Mike Johnson of the Professional Wrestling Insider. In the series Trish will travel outside of North America to learn about other cultures. The series has already started filming in Europe.
-Shawn Michaels is said to be pleased with his current role in WWE. However, the same irritations that set him off in the past don't go unnoticed by him. Michaels simply deals with them better because professional wrestling doesn't consume his life anymore. Regarding how his body is holding up these days, it's said to be sore, but rumors of crippling pain or delaying needed surgeries are reportedly exaggerated.
-There has been some buzz backstage within WWE about who would actually win in a fight, Floyd Mayweather or Big Show. A few years ago, Big Show engaged in a real fight when he knocked out a 6-7 275 pound indy wrestler at a Marriot hotel in Long Island, NY. A few WWE wrestlers believe Big Show would crush Mayweather in a fight because Show can take a punch, not to mention dish them out. Also, the size difference is quite huge.
-WWE stockholders will be paid the increase in dividends on March 25th.
-Carmike Cinemas has announced that they will be showing the WWE Greatest Super Stars of WrestleMania DVD in their theaters on March 14th. Show times are scheduled for: 9:45 PM, 7:00 PM, 4:15 PM, and 1:00 PM.
-The gate for this year's WWE No Way Out pay-per-view in Les Vegas topped $800,000 and was a legitimate sellout with nearly 13,000 paid.
-The latest issue of Power Wrestling -- a German wrestling magazine -- features Mr. Kennedy on the cover, who is interviewed for the mag. Kennedy says that he has signed a contract with WWE Films to appear in one of their movies.
He says that shooting for the movie starts this month, and it will be shot in Puerto Rico. He also notes that it will be an action movie.
So far there are no other details on this particular movie that Mr. Kennedy is referring to, or if it is one of the movie already announced by WWE. Their next movie is 12 Rounds starring John Cena, a old school-style Western called "Journey of Death" starring Triple H, and another movie called "A Chance for Both Barrels", about a mercenary who wants to bring a killer to justice, which doesn't have any names attached to it yet.
ing champ.
