?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Thursday, June 30, 2005 at 3:17 PM EST

World Wrestling Entertainment held an investor conference call earlier this morning to discuss their fourth quarter financial results that were released today. Those taking part in the call included WWE CEO Linda McMahon, Chief Financial Officer Michael Sileck and Senior Vice President of Finance Frank Serpe.

Following some prepared statements that were read and all financial numbers reviewed, questions from investors were taken. Here are some news and notes regarding some of the questions asked in the conference call:

- WWE RAW will return to the USA Network on October 3rd and SmackDown will have their first Friday night episode on UPN on September 9th.

- McMahon heavily put over the WWE's move to the USA Network in October, noting that USA will be a "rebranding" their network at the same time WWE returns. WWE will be a focal point of USA's marketing push as well.

- In regards to WWE Films, Linda McMahon said that Fox and Lion's Gate Films were pleased with "See No Evil" and "The Marine" at this point. McMahon put over John Cena's potential as a "breakout action star" in the film. "See No Evil" starring Kane is scheduled for a January 2006 release date, while The Marine doesn't have a planned release date yet. The next planned film project is the film "The Condemned" starring Steve Austin. McMahon said they were confident about how the division is coming.

- The topic of WWE 24/7 was mentioned and McMahon noted how they were rolling it out into more cable systems, with Cox Cable being the largest so far. McMahon said their ability to offer the service depends on more cable systems offering Video-On-Demand channels to their customers. She noted that they are happy with the growing number of subscribers in the systems where WWE 24/7 is already available.

- It was asked if ratings increases lead to PPV buyrate increases. McMahon said that while there have been "breakout PPV events", usually ratings increases do lead to PPV buys going up in the end.

- When asked about the possibility of John Cena leaving WWE if he became a "breakout star", Linda McMahon mentioned that Cena is under a long-term contract, both as a wrestler and an actor, and hope he will become a huge star in both movies and music. She noted that WWE has "preferential movie deals" with Cena and Steve Austin.

- In regards to the future of SmackDown on UPN, McMahon said that you can't really tell what UPN's "appetite for WWE" will be when their contract expires in September of 2006. She noted that the move to Friday night was an opportunity for WWE to prove their value to UPN by bringing in a younger audience to the channel in a timeslot that generally doesn't draw very strong. McMahon said that if UPN didn't want to renew WWE's contract next year then they have other options including "other networks and cable."

- The new "Legends" division was discussed and how WWE will be presenting a line of merchandise, DVDs and other products with "Superstar" Billy Graham, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Jerry "The King" Lawler to help push the division.

- WWE will be running fewer live shows in the United States in 2006 due to the increased international tours that have been drawing very well for them.

- The topic of WWE using their substantial cash to make movie rather than offering a "stock buyback" was then brought up. McMahon stated that analysts had advised her not to offer a stock buyback. At that point, the caller requested to know who those analysts were since he questioned their "sanity." The caller also went into detail about how much cash "the family" (McMahons) have pulled from the company and asked if they would be buying back some of the stock to show potential investors that they have confidence in the WWE stock growing. Linda basically dodged the question and at one point appeared to be flustered by the questions as a whole.

- WWE will see no revenue from WWE Films until 2007.

- Regarding the ECW One Night Stand PPV, McMahon noted that there was a lot of "positive feedback" on the event and pushed the "turbo release" of the DVD to get into stores this week. One caller asked if the show drew close to 500,000 buys. McMahon said that wasn't true and was unaware of where the caller got that number. She added that preliminary numbers for the show have yet to be made available at this time. McMahon did note that some ECW talent will be brought into WWE after the success of the show.

- There are no plans to put the RAW and SmackDown brands back together.

- Another question was asked regarding WWE's cash reserves, with this specific caller asking why WWE insists on holding the large amount of cash rather than providing dividends to the shareholders. McMahon said that they hold the cash for potential investments and that they keep it able to pay a 12-cent divident to the shareholders in case operating income is insufficient. Michael Sileck added that it was "premature" to give the stockholders the money at this time and that all shareholders need to be patient. At that point, the caller become very heated and said he felt insulted by the insinuation that they were not being patient. The caller pointed out that he, as an investor, has been with the company for four years and gone through the failures of the XFL and the restaurant in New York City. He stated that WWE is now investing in three movies and still maintaining their cash reserves, yet are not offering dividends, buybakcs or any other options for stockholders to share in the wealth. The caller was then quickly cut off when he began to reiterate how insulted he was by WWE's lack of answers.

- At that point, the conference call came to an abrupt end and those in attendance were told that no more live questions would be allowed.