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Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:06:05 No.19962105 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>19962131 >>19962142 >>19962205 >>19962212

1997 the best WWE year
Also the worst financially

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:21:41 No.19962131 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962105
Thank you Steve Austin and Mick Foley for breathing life into a dying promotion

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:28:08 No.19962142 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962105
Thank you Nash and Hall for saving the business and forcing Vince to put on a decent show

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:30:35 No.19962153 Report

Quoted By:

Thank you Cornette for getting Vince to give us a few years where everything wasn't a nonstop humiliation ritual with occupational gimmicks and everything being based around one guy for years, if not decades.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:52:12 No.19962205 Report

Quoted By: >>19962210

>>19962105
This is just false. WWF’s worst year financially was 95, the company almost went bankrupt. 96 was a little bit better but still bad, by 97 they were doing pretty well again

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:54:49 No.19962210 Report

Quoted By: >>19962235

>>19962205
>can’t pay their world champion and biggest draw so they say you gotta leave
Yeah they were doing real well.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 11:55:32 No.19962212 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962105
There was no WWE in 1997

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 12:06:25 No.19962235 Report

Quoted By: >>19962265 >>19962275

>>19962210
>The Shitman
>Biggest draw
Kek, shitman and sexy boy both never drew shit and that’s why the company was in the tank so bad in the mid 90s. Vince knew Austin was on the rise and by 1997 Shitman wasn’t worth the trouble anymore. That singular decision (which was the correct decision and led to massive business) doesn’t change the fact that the WWF almost went bankrupt in 1995 and they were doing much better by 1997. Attendance and buy rate numbers are all available online, I’m just telling you the objective facts bud.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 12:17:19 No.19962265 Report

Quoted By: >>19962271 >>19962275 >>19962288 >>19962289

>>19962235
WWF Prospectus filed in Oct 1999 with SEC:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1091907/000095013099005812/0000950130-99-005812.txt

May-Apr Fiscal Year - WWF Net Income (Profit/Loss):
1994-95 - $87,352,000 (-$4,431,000)
1995-96 - $85,815,000 ($3,199,000)
1996-97 - $81,863,000 (-$6,505,000)

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 12:22:04 No.19962271 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962265
1994-95 - Bret gigaplummett
1995-96 - Diesel gigaskyrocket
1996-97 - Shawn gigaplummett

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 12:24:07 No.19962275 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962265
Absolutely buried >>19962235
Holy shit!

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 12:36:16 No.19962288 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962265
>1996-97 - $81,863,000 (-$6,505,000)
96-97 fiscal year is May 96-April 97, this number is 8 months of 96 and 4 of 97. May 97-April 98 fiscal year they did over 120M in revenue and over 8M in profit.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 12:37:59 No.19962289 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962265
WCW forced them to up their contracts by a huge amount at that time. They weren't actually running at a loss due to the money coming in that was good, but they at a loss from trying to lock people down. Doing so made the future uncertain as they didn't know how business would do in the future, which is why Vince backed out of Bret's 10 year. The WWF did so well in later years riding off the wave of everything set up in 96 and 97, even as the booking got worse and worse. RA was the same. 2019 WWE showed us the end game of that.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 13:00:39 No.19962346 Report

Quoted By: >>19962372

>push your homegrown new generation shitters = ticket sales and viewership declines
>sign ex WCW and ECW guys like Foley and Austin = sales and viewership skyrocket, ushering in the biggest book period in WWE history
reminds me of ex AEW guys like Cody and Punk coming back to WWE to save it.
It's time to admit WWE can't create stars.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 13:12:57 No.19962372 Report

Quoted By: >>19962570

>>19962346
What about Rock, Kane, Hardys, Edge & Christian, Angle.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 13:15:18 No.19962377 Report

Quoted By:

For a brief moment in time they started booking for a male audience instead of for families

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 13:58:13 No.19962512 Report

Quoted By:

1997 built to 1998, so yeah. Sometimes you gotta break some eggs to make the omelette

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 26 Feb 2026 14:10:09 No.19962570 Report

Quoted By:

>>19962372
all after Austin and Foley saved WWF.
Foley legitimised Shawn, Taker, Hunter, The Rock etc. Austin was getting over huge but once he started working with Foley and McMahon he became a genuine superstar and face of the company.
Imagine what wwe would've become in the late 90s without Austin and Foley.

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