Posted March 2, 200619 yr comment_4594897 From WO: --Also at today's investors conference they announced that Mike Graham's Florida tape library, which Graham vowed on many occasions he would never sell, has been sold to WWE for $1 million.
March 2, 200619 yr comment_4594952 more news from the conference --WWE announced its quarterly earnings with $103.0 million in revenue and $13.6 million in profits. It was up from $82.7 million in income and $10.9 million in profits for the same quarter last year. the biggest difference maker was the home video department (up from $4.8 million to $15.1 million), with the big movers being the Undertaker DVD (best selling individual wrestler DVD in history) and Bret Hart DVD as well as a huge increase in Shop Zone. Domestic live attendance was up in December and in particular, January, due to the Edge-Cena program, which also delivered the biggest TV ratings Raw has done in four years. I can't believe Taker has the highest selling wrestler DVD ever. That suprised the hell out of me.
March 2, 200619 yr Author comment_4594965 Domestic live attendance was up in December and in particular, January, due to the Edge-Cena program, which also delivered the biggest TV ratings Raw has done in four years. ...and Edge is now in the mid-card feuding with Foley and the WWE has beaten the fans over the head with Edge being a transitional champion who got lucky. BRILLIANT~!commercial guys>
March 3, 200619 yr comment_4596093 Damn... Was just talking with Helmet the other day and had said "You know that Mike Graham will only sell those tapes over his dead body." Looks like someone better call the coroner in Tampa.
March 3, 200619 yr Author comment_4596115 I hate having WWE in control of almost all wrestling footage, but Graham wasn't doing shit with it. Better WWE owns it and gives us a shot of seeing some of this stuff.
March 3, 200619 yr comment_4596324 Graham was putting out DVDs of footage through a low-end distributor, although the WWE will probably do far more with it. They probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse considering that the upcoming Dusty Rhodes DVD will probably use a lot of Florida footage, such as the feud with Kevin Sullivan and his band of Devil-worshippers.
March 3, 200619 yr comment_4596349 1 million dollars is far from "an offer he couldn't refuse." I would've held out for more, I'm almost absolutely positive he would've gotten it. A mil ain't nothing in 2006 and STOOPID CHEAP for what he was holding on to.
March 3, 200619 yr Author comment_4596387 Graham was putting out DVDs of footage through a low-end distributor, although the WWE will probably do far more with it. They probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse considering that the upcoming Dusty Rhodes DVD will probably use a lot of Florida footage, such as the feud with Kevin Sullivan and his band of Devil-worshippers. The first volume they put out was good, the second was just CLIPTASTIC~! Even with a low end distrib, they did shockingly little with the mint they were sitting on.
March 3, 200619 yr comment_4599915 The Turnbuckle Memories sets sucked. Hey, I love seeing those old squash matches in the right context, but why not release some of the Battle of the Belts shows or something along with them instead of some random TV episodes? Or at least do the episodes in order or something. Normally the news of Vince buying footage disturbs me, but I can't say this one does.
March 7, 200619 yr comment_4617358 Graham was putting out DVDs of footage through a low-end distributor, although the WWE will probably do far more with it. They probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse considering that the upcoming Dusty Rhodes DVD will probably use a lot of Florida footage, such as the feud with Kevin Sullivan and his band of Devil-worshippers. The first volume they put out was good, the second was just CLIPTASTIC~! Even with a low end distrib, they did shockingly little with the mint they were sitting on. One hour episodes of Championship Wrestling from Florida The Good: Dusty Rhodes Terry Funk Keiji Muto as the Ninja Barry Windham Kevin Sullivan The Bad: Edited to hell 60 minute dvds Mike Graham looks like Jeff Jarrett King Iaukea, Purple Haze, the other stupid gimmicks
March 8, 200619 yr comment_4618115 1 million dollars is far from "an offer he couldn't refuse." I would've held out for more, I'm almost absolutely positive he would've gotten it. A mil ain't nothing in 2006 and STOOPID CHEAP for what he was holding on to. In situations like this, you're really at WWE's mercy. You aren't going to find any other buyers willing to pay a million, you aren't going to make a million selling FCW DVDs to the internet wrestling fans, and it's not like WWE really needed that footage. If Graham tried to play hardball, they probably wouldn't have very many reservations about walking away from negotiations. Besides, wasn't WWE's first offer to Kevin von Erich for the WCCW library $50,000? I'd say Mike got a pretty good deal.
