WWE Conference Call: WWE 24/7, Brand Split, Cena, WWE Films, TV Deal, More

Linda McMahon covers a ton of topics....

WWE held their conference call for the 3rd quarter results that were released today. Chief Executive Officer Linda McMahon did most of the talking. Below are highlights from the conference:

- Said DVD/Video sales numbers will be different this year due to the WrestleMania DVD being released in a different quarter.

- Said they have many titles that are/will be released exclusively for Wal-Mart, which means they will have lower sales figures.

- Put over the success of "The Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD.

- Spoke about the three WWE Films projects, "The Marine" starring John Cena, "Goodnight" starring Kane, and "The Condemned" starring Steve Austin.

- One of the Wal-Mart exclusive DVDs will be one focusing on WWE's trips to Iraq.

- Linda put over the success of their recent tour of Japan and overseas tours in general.

- WWE plans to release a new line of classic merchandise to go along with the launch of WWE 24/7.

- Superstar Billy Graham, Chief Jay Strongbow and other former stars have been signed to help promote the channel at live events and ticket onsale events.

- Linda said the current WWE TV deal with Spike TV expires in September/October of 2005 and that they are in talks with Spike TV, as well as other networks, about a new deal. She said negotiations are going fast and she expects a deal to be reached soon.

- Linda stressed that even though Viacom is working closely with WWE, the Spike TV and UPN deals are totally separate.

- Linda said it is still up in the air whether their lawsuit against Jakks Pacific will go to court or end up being settled.

- When asked about creating new stars, Linda McMahon put over John Cena and said he would be a star and merchandise leader for Smackdown.

- She said that no release dates have been fixed for "The Marine" or "Goodnight" but that the editor's cuts for both films will be done by March.

- Linda said they plan to run more co-brand international tours featuring back-to-back TV tapings (like the Japan tour). She did note that WWE likes the international market but does not want to burn it out.

- Linda put over merchandise sales in Italy.

- Linda said that they are happy with how the brand split is going, but stressed that only 20% of their fans watch both shows.

- When asked if wrestlers will appear on both shows more to draw in viewers who only watch one show, Linda said that would be up to the creative team.

- Linda said WrestleMania XX had over 1 million buys once international buys and replays were counted.