More WWE releases expected, ECW DVD shipping notes and selling well
On Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 4:29 PM EST World Wrestling Entertainment laid off a number of office employees last week, including numerous from the licensing end of the company. There was word making the rounds at the dual TV taping on Monday in Anaheim that there will be more wrestler releases coming as well. This will no doubt kill some morale as the workers head overseas to Japan and Korea this week. Any releases by WWE are being made in preparation for the company's move to the USA Network in October. WWE's deal with USA will see them take a hit in revenue due to USA getting the rights for a reduced rate and WWE releasing advertising sales to the network. As WWE has done in the past, costcutting measures will be taking place in all areas in order to keep the company profitable.
Due to the rushed release of the ECW One Night Stand DVD, it almost didn't make it to retailers on time. Thanks to the fast turnaround in getting the DVD produced and duplicated in Mexico, Sony (who handles WWE's DVD distribution) didn't get them done in time to transport the stock via regular shipping methods. Sony ended up having to overnight all of its stock from Mexico to retailers to make the scheduled June 28 release date. Sony informed retailers of the shipping changes late last week. WWE made the decision to rush the release of the DVD for many reasons, including the reason to avoid bootleggers who no doubt wanted to capitalize on the momentum of the show. This was the fastest produced and released WWE title to date.
Credit: Mike Johnson @ PWInsider.com
On a related note, the DVD currently holds the Top 3 spots on WWE's Shopzone website. Two of the top three include a package that includes either a pendant or t-shirt. A package including a program from the show is currently at #8 on the list.