Date: 05/05	11:00 PM
Views: 422

Thurs. #2 is HERE. To help out the site subscribe to Mistah MegaManFan or support us on Patreon. With the cheap plugs out of the way here's Friday's latest wrestling news.

In this interview Drew McIntyre says Raw and SmackDown should have their own world champions: "If we've got separate rosters, I kind of prefer the idea of a champion for each show. At the same time, we just had WrestleMania and we needed a huge match. Brock had one title, Roman had the other title. It made for a very interesting ... I don't want to use the word stupendous, but it made for a very, very big match and now we are kind of with in the fall out of that huge match, that huge WrestleMania and we'll see what happens. I kind of like the idea of a champion representing each brand. We have those separate brands, so somebody has to take down Roman at least for one of those titles."

Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins are being locally advertised for tonight's SmackDown in Uniondale, NY but that doesn't mean they will be on the live broadcast. It could be a dark match for the fans in attendance only. (PWI)

Here Moose talks about how close he came to signing with WWE: "A lot of people don't know this, but I was pretty much about to walk into WWE. Yeah and I was literally gone and the last talk I had with Scott D'Amore really showed me how much they wanted me. It's one of those things, I talked to my wife about it, I said, 'There's still a lot of things I haven't accomplished at IMPACT. So leaving to go to the WWE really would be not fair to myself and not fair to Scott, who I really look up to as a mentor and a big brother.' So I decided to give it one more shot. IMPACT has done a great job keeping some of their core guys and homebred guys. I'm hoping we keep doing the same. I think Scott's done a phenomenal job with the turnaround he's done with IMPACT and it's only gonna get better."

New WWE related videos are available below.

In addition new AEW related videos are below.

Myron Reed will defend his middleweight title against Arez and KC Navarro at MLW Kings of Colosseum.

Deadline has revealed that Nikki Nella will be hosting a new game show called Barmageddeon on USA Network.

Ninja Mack has signed a one year contract with Pro Wrestling NOAH and will be working regularly for them in Japan from July on.

Here's what Impact is advertising for their May 8th taping. (IW)

* Gauntlet for the Gold
* El Phantasmo vs. Kenny King
* Jay White & Chris Bey vs. Josh Alexander & Tomohiro Ishii
* Matt Taven & Mike Bennett vs. The Good Brothers

Speaking of Impact new videos from the promotion are below.

Marko Stunt is returning to GCW on June 18th.

This week's AEW Dynamite did  833,000 viewers, down from 921,000 last week. The 18-49 also dropped from 0.33 to 0.32. (Wrestlenomics)

From WWE.

WWE Reports Record First Quarter 2022 Results

First Quarter 2022 Highlights

* Revenue was $333.4 million, an increase of 27% and a quarterly record; Operating Income was $92.4 million, an increase of 42%; and Adjusted OIBDA was $111.7 million, an increase of 33% and a quarterly record
* Returned capital to shareholders totaling $38.9 million, including share repurchases and dividends paid
* Announced a multi-year expansion of the Company's original programming partnership with A&E that includes more than 130 new hours of premium WWE-themed series and specials
* Announced a broadcast partnership with MBC Group, the largest and leading group in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, to air WWE premium live events, live episodes of Raw and SmackDown as well as WWE Network's vast library of content
* Announced a comprehensive, long-term partnership with Fanatics to create a new, enhanced digital platform for e-commerce and licensed merchandise, as well as physical, digital, and non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards
* WWE 2K22, the latest installment of the Company's flagship video game franchise, was released to strong consumer demand and rave reviews

WrestleMania Highlights (April 2-3, 2022)

* WrestleMania was held at AT&T Stadium in Dallas over two consecutive nights in front of a combined 156,352 fans.
* WrestleMania was WWE's highest-grossing and most-attended event in company history
* WrestleMania was the most viewed WWE premium live event of all time. Global unique viewership increased 54% and domestic unique viewership increased 61% year-over-year
* WrestleMania was the second most viewed event on Peacock to date, behind only Super Bowl LVI
* WrestleMania generated 2.2 billion social media impressions, more than the 1.8 billion impressions generated by Super Bowl LVI
* WrestleMania viewership in India was a record 56.1 million, a 29% increase year-over-year

2022 Business Outlook

* The Company reaffirms its expectations for 2022, which assume ticketed audiences at the Company's live events for the full year, and target record revenue and an Adjusted OIBDA range of $360 – $375 million, which would be an all-time record. This range of anticipated performance reflects the continued ramp-up of live events, including large-scale international events, and increased monetization of content, partially offset by increased production, content-related, and other expenses.

STAMFORD, Conn., May 5, 2022 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2022.

"We are off to a strong start in 2022, highlighted by record quarterly revenue and Adjusted OIBDA," said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. "We continued to effectively execute our strategy, including staging the most stupendous WrestleMania ever in early April. WrestleMania, as well as our other successful premium live events such as Day 1, Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, further expanded the reach of our brands and enhanced the value of our content as evidenced by increased ticket revenue and viewership. We continue to monetize our intellectual property across various platforms through our media rights agreements, both domestically and abroad, as well as through the monetization of new original series, including our expanded partnership with A&E."

Frank Riddick, WWE Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, added "In the quarter, we exceeded the high end of our guidance. Adjusted OIBDA increased 33% reflecting 27% revenue growth. Our strong financial performance was primarily driven by our return to a full live event schedule, including the staging of a successful large-scale international event. These items more than offset the absence of one-time upfront revenue recognition related to the delivery of certain WWE Network intellectual property rights in the prior year period."

First-Quarter Consolidated Results

Revenue increased 27% to $333.4 million, primarily due to the timing of a large-scale international event as well as higher ticket sales due to the return of ticketed audiences at our live events. These increases were partially offset by a decline in network revenues primarily due to the impact of upfront revenue recognition in the prior year quarter related to the delivery of certain WWE Network intellectual property rights.

Operating Income increased 42%, or $27.3 million, to $92.4 million, driven by the increase in revenue partially offset by an increase in operating expenses. The increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by return to live event touring, including the timing of a large-scale international event, partially offset by lower television production costs associated with the creation of the Company's weekly, in-ring content. In the prior year period, WWE produced its weekly, televised programs utilizing the higher cost environment of WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida. The Company's operating income margin increased to 28% from 25%.

Adjusted OIBDA (which excludes stock compensation) increased 33%, or $27.8 million, to $111.7 million. The Company's adjusted OIBDA margin increased to 34% from 32%.

Net Income was $66.1 million, or $0.77 per diluted share, an increase from $43.8 million, or $0.51 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2021, primarily reflecting higher operating performance.

Cash flows generated by operating activities were $95.5 million, an increase from $59.9 million, primarily due to the timing of collections associated with WWE Network revenue and, to a lesser extent, higher net income. These increases were partially offset by the increased payout of management incentive compensation.

Free Cash Flow was $74.0 million, an increase from $53.8 million, primarily due to the change in operating cash flow, partially offset by an increase in capital expenditures.4 For the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company incurred $13.1 million of capital expenditures related to its new headquarter facility. Excluding the capital expenditures related to the new headquarter facility, Free Cash Flow for the three months ended March 31, 2022 was $87.1 million.

Return of Capital to Shareholders

The Company returned $38.9 million to shareholders in the first quarter of 2022, including $30.0 million in share repurchases and $8.9 million in dividends paid. Under the Company's existing stock repurchase program, approximately 525,000 shares were repurchased at an average price of $57.21 per share. As of March 31, 2022, the Company had $221 million available under its $500 million stock repurchase authorization.

The lineup for NXT UK next week is below. (WWE)

* NXT UK Championship Loser Leaves NXT UK Match: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. Jordan Devlin
* NXT UK Tag Team Title Match Qualifier: Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter vs. Gallus (Mark & Joe Coffey)
* Ivy Nile vs. TBA

The Great Khali talks about starting a wrestling school: "It was my dream to start an academy in India. Since I was a wrestler myself, I did not want to be the last wrestler from India to join WWE. I wanted more young wrestlers from India to go to WWE to make India proud. I had a very hard time when I started my journey. Going from India, getting a visa in the US, finding a good academy to get trained. It was a tough path for me. I also did not have much money. So it was my dream from that time. I went to the US in 2000. My dream was to remove all these barriers and perils for the next generation. So I always had in mind that if I could become something credible, I will create a wrestling academy in India to give youngsters a platform to achieve their dreams."