Vince McMahon on WWE’s Deal with The Rock, WWE Name Change, PG Product, More

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon opened his speech by joking that shareholders were welcome to throw rotten tomatoes at him due to the way the company slashed the dividend payouts.

-WWE CFO George Barrios headed to the podium to address the change in the dividends. He said the rationale for the change is that it’s more inline with their free cash flow. Barrios said they were in a quiet period as far as their quarterly earnings go because the information will be released soon.

-Barrios noted that they want to have a balance sheet that will allow the company to make “smart, strategic acquisitions that would add to overall shareholder value.”

-Another shareholder asked why the company felt the need to be publicly traded. Barrios quoted Vince in say that he likes the halo effect that comes with being publicly traded, as well as the discipline it requires, among other reasons. “I think the board will always look at what’s the smartest thing to do to create enterprise value,” Barrios said.

-A share holder noted that he’s a musician who studies classical music and thus perhaps it would be a good idea for the company to go back and study various forms of wrestling from the past. “I think I’ll leave that to Vince and Paul (Triple H),” Barrios responded. Hunter never actually spoke.

-Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson took the podium to discuss the marketing strategy. She said they want to evolve from being “just a wrestling organization” while addressing the name change. “That’s not to say that we’re ever going to take our eye off the ball with our heritage of our brand being wrestling, but how do we grow beyond that,” Wilson said. She cited Kentucky Fried Chicken changing their brand to KFC, and Apple Computers taking the computers out of the name.

-Wilson stressed the move to Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) leading the talent development. She also touted the success of Tough Enough and said the company will continue to “look for TV innovations along that front.”

-Wilson also touted their marketing deal with Kmart, and said they are once again doing business with M&M-Mars.

-Wilson mentioned the WWE Network and said it’s a “natural evolution for this company.” She said they hope to develop it within the 12 to 18 months. She said it could be an actual traditional network or “an alternate distribution method” such as Netflix, Amazon, etc.

-Wilson confirmed the news that the preliminary WrestleMania 27 numbers indicate that they topped one million buys.

-A shareholder asked about The Rock’s contract with the company. Vince said he has a handshake agreement with The Rock. “That’s the way we’ve operated for a long, long time.” Vince said it’s based on increased value. He said The Rock will get a piece of growth above what they were projecting.

-Vince said Smackdown has roughly the same distribution via Syfy as they had with their previous network affiliate. Vince sang the praises of being on solid ground in the NBC Universal family rather than on the unstable My Network.

-Vince admitted the pay-per-view numbers are down aside from WrestleMania, but he’s now hopeful they will increase based on the WrestleMania numbers.

-Vince spoke about the new talent and specifically mentioned Sin Cara, The Miz, and Alberto Del Rio. He said they and many others are on their way to becoming the new Rocks and John Cenas of today.

-Vince and Barrios addressed overseas pirating. Vince said they just went on the air in Russia, and then cracked that they’ve actually been there for a long time. He said the best way to counter piracy is to be “in first to counter the real thing.”

-A shareholder brought up WWE’s failure to branch out beyond wrestling in the past. Vince said they have no plans to go back into football, bodybuilding, or the restaurant business. Vince said they are looking for things that are closer to what they do.

-Another shareholder said WWE feels like its ’70s and ’80s comic book campy. He suggested they could be PG and yet more adult oriented. Vince said it’s important to go backward in order to go forwards. Vince said they went so far in the other direction at one point that there was nowhere to go. He said they have no plans to go back in that direction, but he said they could have a “more aggressive and more sophisticated product” that appeals to different age groups. “We’re broadening a bit,” McMahon said.

-A second shareholder backed up the previous comment by saying that the product lacks passion like it had in the old days. Vince said it should be like a diner menu. Vince said WrestleMania 27 had the very serious Triple H vs. Undertaker match, and a more lighthearted Michael Cole match. “We’re in the entertainment business,” Vince said. “There’s always that balance… I would prefer to be more on the more serious side, but again it’s WWE and the E is for entertainment, there’s always that balance.”

-A shareholder asked if WWE is trying to avoid running pay-per-views on the same weekend as UFC. Vince admitted they are. He said it’s not just UFC, but also boxing events. He said they can’t always control it, but they are trying. He said the problem is that the promotion from the cable and satellite systems gets split between the products.

-Vince addressed the PG product. He said a TV-MA rating means a lot of sponsors won’t come near the product. He said they will be aggressive and highly entertaining, but it’s important for their sponsors to know that they’re not going to do anything “outlandish.” He said they can be sophisticated, yet remain PG.

-A shareholder asked about Extreme Rules. Vince said you don’t need blood in order to be extreme. He said people won’t tune in to see someone bleed.

-Another shareholder asked about the loss of WGN America as a television partner. Vince said the Tribune Company is challenged. He said they have a place for WWE Superstars “as well as new programming.”

A shareholder asked Vince McMahon about the possibility of buying TNA. “When are you going to buy the three letter company that’s based in Nashville, Tennessee, because they have the wrong people running that company?” the shareholder asked. “Please save the business from Dixie Carter. Stephanie has more brains than Dixie Carter.”

Vince said “right” after the shareholder said they didn’t have the right people running TNA. Vince added, “I would hope,” after the shareholder said Stephanie has more brains than Dixie. “I don’t know if they’re for sale,” Vince responded. After some goading from the shareholder, Vince replied, “Well… maybe,” with a smile, which drew a lot of laughs.

-Vince closed the meeting by thanking the shareholders for coming and supporting them despite the dividend situation.