April 30, 2007 Observer Newsletter: WWE Italy tour disappoints, UFC 70 recap

Napoleon had his Waterloo. Hitler had the Russian winter. And WCW had its Tacoma (the night on Raw where everything WCW related was booed so heavily that Vince McMahon canceled all his plans about keeping WCW as a separate group and giving it the Monday Night Raw time slot).

And WWE’s idea of expanding to five brands and running three or more different overseas territories (see 3/5 issue) this past week may have had a Russian winter of its own. Or an Italian spring.

After several years of doing monster business overseas, particularly in Europe, the current 22-show tour that started on 4/14 has been a box office disappointment due to the performance of the shows in Italy, and a lesser extent, Germany. The U.K. has continued sellout business, but when it comes to establishing a full-time European territory, which was a goal talked about for 2008, it’s a very bad sign.

Subscribers can read this issue here.