October 18, 2004 Observer Newsletter: WWE leaving Spike TV, Pat Patterson resigns from WWE, more

It was a wild week for World Wrestling Entertainment, as it had its biggest house show week in company history, a Hollywood Reporter story broke regarding its attempt to up its rights fees and possibly leave Spike TV, and behind-the-scenes creative problems led to the resignation of the No. 2 man on the creative side from the original expansion period, Pat Patterson.

The company’s 12-show European tour grossed an estimated $7.4 million, by far the biggest week when it comes to live shows in company history. Even with lackluster business elsewhere, it virtually guarantees a strong quarter. The company played to sellout crowds on nine of the 12 shows, including both Smackdown shows on 10/7 and 10/8 in Belfast, Northern Ireland playing to full houses and grossing about $1.1 million on the two nights. The company topped $1 million for the Raw taping and was expected to come close to that number for the Smackdown tapings in Manchester. They also did nearly $950,000 for a sold out Raw show on 10/8 at Wembley Arena in London.

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