By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

During today's quarterly conference call with investors, WWE CEO Vince McMahon blamed a "perfect storm" of injuries, retirement, and the Icelandic volcano for poor second quarter 2010 results.

"Basically, we had a lousy quarter," McMahon said in his opening remarks. McMahon noted the expected retirement of Shawn Michaels, the unexpected "retirement" of Batista, and injuries to top talent, Triple H and The Undertaker, affecting PPV and live event revenue.

McMahon said the key for WWE is incorporating new talent into the mix. That's actually been a key for several years, but WWE has been slow to push for newer stars.

"It was the perfect storm we've never had in this business with talent retiring and injuries," McMahon said.

McMahon noted they incorporated Nexus into Raw's key storylines and they believe Summerslam will help reverse the "downward spiral" in PPV business with Nexus involved.

"Looking for Summerslam to reverse the downward trend of PPVs spiraling downward," McMahon said. He noted the recent increase in Raw ratings and it usually taking seven-to-eight weeks for that to translate to increases in other aspects of the business.

"It is going to take a while. I would suggest there's no quick turnaround," McMahon said in reference to WWE losing top talent and business being affected. "You can't wave a magic wand and receive the benefit (of new stars) overnight."

McMahon said Undertaker and Triple H will be returning soon, which he optimistically said should help boost WWE's business mixing top talent with the newer talent they've tried to establish.

During the conference call, WWE reported there was a 19 percent decrease in house show revenue in the quarter. Also, there was a 19 percent decrease in domestic PPV buys.

"So, those two are numbers that were indicative of the lousy quarter in terms of pay-per-view and the lack of attendance, but all of that of course relates to WWE not giving the public the performance in terms of attraction that they want to see," McMahon said.

McMahon optimistically said the company is in a situation where they know what the problem is and how to fix it. He said it's better than being in a position where they don't know how to fix the problem.

"We do know what we're doing and we know how to fix this problem," McMahon boldly said.

Regarding the proposed WWE cable TV network, McMahon said their model is the MLB Network. He said they'll be presenting formal presentations to cable providers in the first of 2011.

"Indications are there is interest - in some cases, a lot of interest," McMahon said. "We'll be pursuing it with formal presentations in the first of 2011."

Caldwell's Analysis: I'm not sure if WWE truly understands the problem with PPV business and how to fix it. Sure, losing top talent impacted WWE's ability to build "attraction events," but trying to sell PPVs with inorganic match stipulations and the "anything can happen" type tag lines doesn't work. Also, the bill came due this quarter on WWE waiting and waiting and waiting to begin establishing new stars when it was clearly necessary five years ago. They delayed a two-or-three-year process until their hands were tied with the loss of Michaels, Batista, Taker, and Hunter for various reasons after WrestleMania 26.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]]

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