WWE tv deal in Mexico

[obsidiana]

Wasn't sure if this went here or not.....
courtesy gerweck.net
MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At a press conference in Mexico City today, World Wrestling Entertainment® (WWE) and TV Azteca announced a new agreement which will see WWE SmackDown® available on Azteca 7.

Beginning October 3, WWE SmackDown will be broadcast to millions of TV households in Mexico on Azteca 7 on Friday evenings at 10:00 p.m. CT.

Exclusive to TV Azteca, SmackDown features a star-studded roster of WWE’s globally renowned Superstars, including Triple H®, Undertaker®, Edge®, Jeff Hardy®, Big Show®, Mr. Kennedy™ and Carlito®. SmackDown is consistently one of the highest rated shows amongst the male demographic in the United States, showcasing all of the action, excitement, drama and great athleticism that have made WWE the most popular sports entertainment property in the world.

“WWE is excited to be bringing WWE SmackDown to millions of TV households in Mexico,” says Shane McMahon, WWE Executive Vice President, Global Media. “This exclusive agreement demonstrates the strength of our business relationship with TV Azteca as a key global network partner”.

“We at TV Azteca are really excited to be the first to bring the successful global spectacle that is WWE SmackDown to Mexican open TV beginning October 3 at 10:00 pm on Azteca 7”, said Rodrigo Fernández Capdevielle, Programming General Manager, TV Azteca. “Offering this type of programming allows us to fulfil our commitment to provide the best on worldwide television to our Azteca 7 audience. We are convinced that the amazing product that WWE brings to the table each week on its program will hook Mexican fans and turn them into huge followers of SmackDown. Azteca Deportes announcers and wresting experts Carlos Aguilar, Francisco González and Rafael Ayala, will add their own distinctive style, as they do with great success for several other sporting events.”



Why doesn't WWE leave Mexico alone? They already ruined wrestling here in the states and now they want to try to take away from Lucha Libre down in Mexico? Nobody can tell me that isn't what McMahon is trying to do. If he had his way everyone would be forced to watch his God-awful programming. That explains why he was trying so hard to get Luchadores from Mexico to go to WWE. It seems a lot of them are pretty smart as I have only heard of two wrestlers interested in going there. Leave the God awful soap opera that is WWE here in the states and please don't taint better wrestling.......

 

[Y 2 Jake]

If WWE takes over Mexico then maybe the Mexicans are ready for a change. What do you think? It's not like any Mexican promotions are raking in money. If WWE comes along and takes over, it's what they must want. If not Lucha will be just fine.

Just think how many jumpy, short wrestlers WWE might push. It could be great.

 

[obsidiana]

If WWE takes over Mexico then maybe the Mexicans are ready for a change. What do you think? It's not like any Mexican promotions are raking in money. If WWE comes along and takes over, it's what they must want. If not Lucha will be just fine.

Just think how many jumpy, short wrestlers WWE might push. It could be great.

LOL yeah I am sure that will happen. I am not to worried because if I remember they did go to Mexico but ticket sales were not that good. The promotions down there are doing very well actually. I am not at all worried anymore. American wrestling is sooooo boring and I believe fans of Lucha will see that. The only reason they would even want to see WWE anyway is because of Rey Misterio jr. If they didn't have him then they wouldn't even have a latino fan base. If he were to ever leave then they wouldn't even have one anymore.

 

[HBK-aholic]

They already ruined wrestling here in the states

You are joking with this statement? I really hope so. Tell me, how many people do you think would watch wrestling without the WWE being there? How many fans would there be in America alone, of the type of wrestling you seem to enjoy? A tiny fraction of fans the WWE has.

The WWE is wrestling. If this company suddenly collapsed, the wrestling world would be rocked in a terrible way.

and now they want to try to take away from Lucha Libre down in Mexico? Nobody can tell me that isn't what McMahon is trying to do.

Yeah, I think I can. Mexico has a big wrestling base. McMahon wants to take advantage of that. He wants to make his business prosper by gaining money from this place. It has nothing to do with him tryint to take down another industry. If WWE is as bad as you like to say, they'll get nothing and Lucha Libre will stay, therefore you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Father:_Polley]

Big deal, so they've got a television deal in Mexico. Not as if they've suddenly bought up every Lucha promotion and suddenly made John Cena champ in every one. It's merely presenting people with the option of watching WWE. If they choose to watch, so be it, WWE earns some money and gives people options. They don't like it, they don't watch, simple as, same as any wrestling fan

The viewers can still watch Lucha, enjoy Lucha, so I think you're way off in saying that Rey is the only interest in Latino population. That's like saying William Regal is the only reason Brits watch WWE. Rey is the guy latinos get behind, same way Brits seem to be the only people Regal can't get to boo him.

And if WWE in Mexico can bring in the likes of smark gods like Mistico and others to make the programming better, why is this a bad thing?

 

[chrisgod]

Are you serious??? No, I mean... Really???

I do live in Mexico and I can tell you almost all the events for WWE are gates from 75% to sellouts... for sure CMLL and AAA are doing great in tickets and they have been doing so for quite a while... but you have to compare prices... a WWE ring side ticket is $250 dls while a AAA Triplemania (which is like it's wrestlemania) ticket is no more than a hundred bucks... usually tickets for AAA and CMLL house shows are no more than 50 dollars...

During the last 2 years Canal 52 (which is the company that had the cable rights to WWE programming in mexico) got the higest rating for weekends for Cable TV, and these ratings were almost equal to football, so I guess a lot of people want to see John Cena on their TVs (even if you can't see him)...

Also, people love to see WWE style, as it is completly different from mexican lucha. Rey mysterio is quite popular, but I doubt he is more popular here than he is in the US, and his fan base is mainly kids. You just have to see the crowd reactions when HHH, Taker or Cena appear, and mysterio's is not that big...

I think this will help to see more matches between smaller guys, some high fly styles and that's it...

 

[Mexican Geek]

Well, i've been expecting this, and OH BOY! this comes in the right moment.
I was out of the country (in Mexico) and while there I was reading some of the info related to this subject.

Main points being:

-Shane went several times to Mexico trying to get a time slot in the 2 biggest TV companies.
-Both companies turned him down.
-Out of the green, RAW gets a time slot in Televisa (the biggest of the 2)with a rerun Sundays afternoon, A FUCKING WEEK LATER.
-TV Azteca gets Smackdown, giving it the 10pm time slot on Fridays. The SAME FUCKING DAY.

So, my thoughts are:

This move proves that Rey is not the main reason of the Mex-WWE deal, why? RAW gets a rerun a week later. SD gets a time slot almost as a live deal.

SD is being branded as the flagship of the company and whoever said otherwise is wrong.

Now, continuing with the Mex-deal:

this is great news for the company in terms of marketing and revenue. Mexico could be a "third-world" macro-economy, but when the time to spend comes, believe me, average folks there wont hesitate in throwing their paycheck out of the window. That includes tons of WWE merch for their kids and for them too!
Regarding a talent collaboration-developmental deal, WWE could get advantage only and if only Televisa (who has huge TV deals with the two main promotions there, AAA and CMLL) cut ties with one of the companies mentioned in the parenthesis.

Wrestlers like Mistico, Perro Aguayo Jr, Averno, Rey Bucanero and many others wouldn't last long in the WWE, just because they are not US market-material. All are excellent wrestlers, dont get me wrong, but American folks wont find exciting a guy who doesnt speak a word of english, for starters. Second, lucha, as you all folks should know, is a complete different type of wrestling. Is more physical, more technical if you like, definitely more aerial, but most important: is not completely centered in ring psychology and promo-cutting skills. I hate to say it, but it's true: Most Mexican wrestlers SUCK at cutting promos. They are absolutely boring (with some exceptions) and very few can hook the audience into a storyline without get physical.

anyway, this is excellent news in $$ terms for the WWE, great for the mexican audience who gets a solid product and more competition and great for me because i'm leaving the states next year to reunite with my family in Mexico and I wont struggle with fucking streams in order to get my weekly wrestling dose. Hooray for me!!

 

[obsidiana]

Well I think the feeling of the some of the Mexican wrestlers is that they will be given goofy storylines (Like creative wanting the original psicosis to do a Pancho Villa type gimmick after the Mexicools broke up) and they won't be taken seriousley. I just don't want Lucha Libre to start getting watered down like American wrestling. Yeah they may not know how to do promo's very well but thats basically all you get in wrestling here. Every five minutes in TNA its "Lets go to the back!" I watched RAW last week and it was the same as it always is. They had someone come out address the crowd and they got interrupted by twenty different people (this is an exaggeration of course) I can't remember who was talking (thats how memorable it was) but it was the same old stuff. It felt like I hadn't missed anything at all and the last time I watched WWE programming was in July.