Daniel Bryan: Tied to Stock?

[No Count Pup]

At Payback WWE kept the world title on Daniel Bryan. It may be a hint that Bryan will be cleared to compete sooner rather than later. I would like to propose an alternative possibility: WWE is nervous that a top Superstar vacating the title would be bad for their stock.

WWE stock has been in a delicate situation since its dramatic drop a few weeks ago. WWE had to clot the bleeding by reassuring investors that their company was on the right track. Alone, a wrestler surrendering a title isn't such a seismic event. However, in concert with the Utlimate Warrior's death, the unpopular decision to end Undertaker's streak, CM Punk's departure, sluggish WWE Network growth, the dramatic stock drop, and the disappointing TV deal, WWE may feel that keeping the world title on Daniel Bryan will help to hush any potential Murphy's Law whispers.

It might be better for WWE to keep Daniel Bryan in the public eye with the title rather than to send their top star on the shelf to the dismay of a reactionary fan and investor base. Vince McMahon never likes to show his own weaknesses; perhaps by extension, in these tenuous times, he doesn't want his champion to show any modicum of quit. Perhaps in the WWE corner office, Daniel Bryan's perseverance in the face of adversity is a reflection of WWE's intent to soldier on.

In what ways could WWE's decision to keep the title on Daniel Bryan be impacted by WWE stock?

 

[teampunk]

um, no. wwe stock was simply overpriced. a bunch of dumbass people bought it, and then sold it. just like facebook stock or any other stock that goes up sharply and then goes back to normal.

 

[chicagokmc]

I think most WWE investors know enough about the scripted nature of wrestling to know that its "champion" has nothing to do with the WWE's viability as a company. Short of Vince himself having a real-life heart attack in the ring, I don't think investors would ever look at anything happening in a wrestling match to impact stock.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Yeah, not really. If you take a look at long established main event guys like John Cena and The Rock and how WWE's stock has done with them being so visible or completely off television, then it's easy to see that whomever the champion is has little or nothing whatsoever to do with the stock. Otherwise, given The Rock's status and star power, the stock would've skyrocketed upon his return.

I can't say that I know a ton about the stock market, but the various woes WWE's had the past few weeks are pretty common. In the late 90s to early 2000s, Microsoft's stock was at roughly $120 per share, but it's only worth around $40 a share now. WWE's stock took a nosedive in no small part to investors being underwhelmed with WWE's new television deal. Even though WWE is a ratings winner, many feel that they were simply asking for too much because the image of a wrestling company is one that's known for providing cheap programming that draws. It's an image that's always going to plague pro wrestling no matter how much it irks Vince McMahon. It's not necessarily fair, nor does that low opinion mean that WWE isn't a huge draw for cable TV, but image is hugely important to TV executives. I don't exactly see how the image of Nascar is more sophisticated but, for some strange reason, it is in the eyes of a lot of television executives.

 

[Mustang Sally]

WWE is nervous that a top Superstar vacating the title would be bad for their stock.

I think you're tying a company storyline to stockholders' machinations that have nothing to do with what we see on the air. The ebb and flow of the stock involves other factors: most recently, it was the as yet unrealized expectations of subscriptions to the WWE Network and a huge corporate deal with NBC Universal to rights for Raw and Smackdown. That's what people who buy and sell stocks are worried about. It's highly doubtful that investors who deal with those aspects of business have any concern with what Daniel Bryan is doing with his world championship belt.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm just picturing a fat sweaty smoking unshaved over caffeinated broker talking his wealthy Arab investor off a cliff by explaining that everything with WWE's stock is fine because they are keeping the title on Bryan. Nope!

The fact that they are keeping the title on Bryan is more evidence that the title doesn't have the value some put on it. It is basically being defended through soap opera drama on a PPV rather than traditional main event competition.

Investors don't care who the champ is. It is not how WWE draws in most of it's revenue. The days of seeing a guy's name on an arena marquee that seems ethnically similar to yours and deciding to pay a promoter your weekly income for a a few hours of entertainment are long over. WWE is a much bigger animal. Keeping the title on the guy just means that WWE likes having their title on him, they have faith in the rest of their top stories, and he may not be gone much longer.