Below are notes from WWE’s shareholders meeting on Friday:
* Marketing exec Michelle Wilson said the decision to drop “wrestling” from their official name is a part of their vision to expand. She noted that WWE executives had a meeting at the end of 2010 to come up with a new plan to improve, fix and grow WWE’s core business, while coming up with new ways to be more than a wrestling company. She added that WWE won’t take their eye off the ball of their heritage being wrestling but want to grow beyond that.
* USA Network is helping WWE pay for some of their new marketing campaigns and they have new sponsorship deals with companies like M&M Mars and Kmart as a way to “get the word out about WWE.”
* Triple H was introduced as the Senior Adviser to the Chairman’s Office. Vince McMahon stressed that Triple H is leading WWE’s new talent initiative that will look to bring in more international stars. Triple H is now in charge of “re-focusing on talent development.”
* Vince talked about new stars and said guys like Alberto Del Rio, Sin Cara and The Miz are on their way to being the “next John Cenas and The Rocks.”
* Vince noted that WWE might have other programs in the future with NBC Universal. They are also looking to “monetize in-ring live event content” through services like Amazon, Netflix and Google.
* WWE is still looking at launching their own TV network in 12-18 months. The network may be launched through normal cable/satellite systems or it may be part of a new model WWE is looking into with services like Amazon, Netflix and Google.
Labels: triple h, USA Network
