THE MAIN EVENT WWE - World Wrestling Entertainment Andrew Birns, Kevin Connolly & Sue Vilim – BUSN412

COMPANY / WEBSITE / INDUSTRY: WWE - World Wrestling Entertainment Website - wwe.com Industry – Entertainment Diversified

BACKGROUND / HISTORY: IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS: NWA & WWWF TOP PROMOTERS VINCE MCMAHON SR TOOTS MONDT 1976 DEATH OF MONDT RENAMED THE WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION MCMAHON WAS OLD SCHOOL 1980’S MCMAHON SOLD WWF TO HIS SON 1985 FIRST WRESTLEMANIA

BACKGROUND / HISTORY: 1987 WRESTLEMANIA 3 INDOOR RECORD OF 90,000 IN ATTENDANCE FIRST SUCCESSFUL PAY PER VIEW EVENT 1990 FACED TWO SCADELS WWF STARTED TO SUFFER 1999 WENT PUBLIC 2002 LOST RIGHTS TO WWF NAMED CHANGED TO WWE 2005 WWE BRINGS BACK ECW NAME

TODAY’S WWE: CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS STAMFORD, CT SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BUSIENSS LIVE AND TELEVISED EVENTS MERCHANDISE SALES APPAREL BOOKS / MAGAZINES TOYS VIDEO GAMES DISTRIBUTES IN 30 LANGUAGES APPROXIMATELY 145 COUNTRIES

TODAY’S WWE: EXECUTIVES VINCENT K MCMAHON GEORGE A BARRIOS CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, CEO, CHAIRMAN OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE GEORGE A BARRIOS CFO, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER KEVIN DUNN EXEC VP OF TELEVISION PRODUCTION, EXEC DIRECTOR & MEMBER OF EXEC COMMITTEE PAUL LEVESQUE EXEC VP OF TALENT & LIVE EVENTS MICHELLE D WILSON CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

WWE SWOT: STRENGTHS WEAKNESS OPPORTUNITIES THREATS VINCE MCMAHON 300 LIVE SHOWS A YEAR TELEVISION PROGRAMING SYFY, USA, WGN CONSUMER PRODUCTS INTERNET SALES FORBES TOP 200 BEST SMALL BUSINESS WEAKNESS WRESTLING MATCHES SCRIPTED PRODUCTION COST OF LIVE SHOWS XFL EIGHT-TEAM FOOTBALL LEAGUE MOVIE PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES PURCHASING WCW OWNS RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTERS CONTINUOUS STORY LINES LICENSES LOCAL STATIONS IN 145 COUNTRIES 30 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES THREATS NFL MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CRITICS WRESTLERS BEING RECRUITED BY COMPETITORS ADVERSE PUBLICITY STEROID USE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

STRATEGIES USED: GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ANALYZE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTS INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION FINANCIAL OUTLOOK SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT DEVELOPMENT EXPAND PARTNERSHIPS MOVIE SLATE ANALYZE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTS SCRIPT BASED ON AUDIENCE REACTION IN LIVE EVENTS WORK ON EXCEEDING THEIR COMPETITORS ASSESSING THEIR INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL 130 PRODUCT LICENSES WORLDWIDE OWN THEIR CHARACTERS AND SCRIPTS INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIES 145 COUNTRIES 30 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

STRATEGIES USED CON’T: BUSINESS & CORPORATE LEVEL STRATEGIES RAW – LIVE EVENTS SMACKDOWN MAIN EVENTS SOCIAL MEDIA INTERNET PRESENTS VIDEO GAMES MERCHANDISE ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGY & COMPETITIVE DYNAMICS XFL MOVIES REALITY TV – ARE YOU “TOUGH ENOUGH”? ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

CHALLENGES: LACK BEHAVIOR CONTROL LACK PR CONTROL http://youtu.be/OUrNrB8jl84 LACK PR CONTROL http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qsro_vince-mcmahon-announces-the-death-o_news#.UL_NNYPLTQU LACK OF BIG NAME STARS PAST HULK HOGAN, MACHO MAN, JESSI VENTURA IMAGE SEX AND VIOLANCE MIX MARTIAL ARTS E-COMMERCE LIVE PERFORMANCE

FORMER WWE SUPERSTARS: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin “Goldberg” “Hulk Hogan” & “Macho Man” Randy Savage

CURRENT WWE SUPERSTARS: “CM Punk” “Sheamus” Daniel Bryan John Cena

RECOMMENDATIONS: MORE EPHASIS ON CREATING WRESTLING SUPERSTARS PUBLICIZE POSITIVE ASPECTS OF PHYSICAL FITNESS AQUIRE MORE POSITIVE PUBLIC RESOUCES TO INHANCE PUBLIC IMAGE CONTINUE EFFORTS ON IMPROVING OVERALL PUBLIC IMAGE AS IT PERTAINS TO FAMILY CREATE A NEW BACKGROUND WRESTLER STORY LINE TO COMBAT MMA COMPETITION WORK ON EFFECTIVELY MARKETING E-COMMERCE SALES BUILD UP THE SUSPENSE TO INCREASE LIVE EVENTS THROUGH PROPER MARKETING

OPINION ABOUT CASE STUDY: “WWE used to be so great,  you could tell by just talking to people how they could name a bunch of wrestlers and how they would intimate there super moves.  Now it seems like the people you ask do not care for wrestling anymore.  We feel that with our helpful ideas that we could bring that spark back to WWE and influence past watchers to come back and watch.” Andrew Birns WWE is not my topic of choice so this Case Study forced me to research a business of which I knew nothing about and gather intelligent information, which could be used to formulate recommendations based on unbiased opinion. By doing so and presenting this information to a group I found this process to be invaluable to any organization’s management team. Sue Vilim

REFERENCES: http://www.wwe.com http://corporate.wwe.com/index.jsp   http://corporate.wwe.com/index.jsp http://corporate.wwe.com/company/bios/vk_mcmahon.jsp http://prowrestling.about.com/od/thepromotions/a/historywwe.htm http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cf?s=WWE+Cash+Flow&annual http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wwe-app-tops-hbo-revolutionary-225200283.html http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/wwe/competitors http://prowrestling.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin_Dunn_(WWE_VP) http://www.chillertheatermemories.com/StudioWrestlingMemoriesTheShow.html http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/toughenoughcastingcall

REFERENCES: http://nwalegends.com/fanfestforum/YaBB.pl?num=1265730561   http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/results/wweppv/wrestlemania3.php http://www.ugo.com/the-goods/wrestling-legends-the-rock-and-others http://bleacherreport.com/articles/956854-25-best-holiday-gifts-for-the-wwe-fan-in-your-life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47iDWMgTsjw http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286840,00.html http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qsro_vince-mcmahon-announces-the-death-o_news#.UL_NNYPLTQU http://asia-globalstudies.org/ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1357272-wwe-main-event-5-things-to-watch-for

REFERENCES: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/05/macho_man_randy_savage_heart_attack_tampa.php http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Wrestling/Goldberg?from=Main.Goldberg http://windows8osx.deviantart.com/art/Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-Photo-1-304025705 http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/cm-punk/images/15842098/title/cm-punk-photo http://www.420mp3.com/2011/07/wwe-superstar-sheamus-wallpapers_06.html www.wwe.com/superstars/danielbryan http://www.wwe.com/superstars/johncena