The share price for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a publicly-traded wrestling and entertainment company, fell by 40 percent between Jan. 1 and Mar. 11, the latter being the date on which the World Health Organization officially declared the growing spread of the novel coronavirus a pandemic.

 

At that stage, 28 people had died from the virus in the U.S. according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. having been reported in Washington state in January. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed positive cases in the U.S. had risen to over 1,000.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broadest measure of our economic growth had dropped by 18 percent over the same period from Jan. 1 to Mar. 11. Soon afterwards, our U.S. economy was in shutdown and WWE was considered an “inessential” business in the State of Florida. The WWE was in trouble!

 

The wrestlers could not wrestle. They couldn’t entertain once-paying fans. They couldn’t sell merchandise to those fans, and since they couldn’t entertain, they obviously couldn’t make Pay Per View money. By Mar. 16, the WWE stock price had plummeted 52 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Dow Jones had fallen by 31 percent.

 

But CEO & WWE owner, Vince McMahon, refused to give up. He started recording his shows and selling them to TV stations for broadcast. He even taped his biggest Pay Per View show of the year, WrestleMania, and sold it as well. However, like President Trump says frequently, “No one wants to watch taped sports. They want to watch live sports”.

 

And so, McMahon took further action. He was able to get WWE labelled as an “essential business”, in line with a memo dated Apr. 9 from Florida’s division of emergency management. He then began broadcasting live shows in his privately-owned training area or “performance center” in Orlando. But with no fans able to attend those live shows, the financial bloodbath continued.

 

On tax day, of all days, Apr. 15, the axe came forth! Hall of Fame star, Olympian, and former world champion, Kurt Angle, was furloughed by WWE that afternoon, while 34 members of the main WWE roster and backstage personnel were released from their contracts.

 

These included Rusev, Sarah Logan, Aiden English, Erick Rowan, Epico Colon, Primo Colon, Mike Kanellis, Maria Kanellis, Zack Ryder, No Way Jose, Kendo Kashin, Serena Deeb, Deonna Purrazzo, Aleksandar Jaksic, MJ Jenkins, Drake Maverick, Curt Hawkins, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, EC3, Eric Young, Heath Slater, Lio Rush, Josiah Williams, Dorian Mak and Alyssa Marino.

 

A number of other producers, Lance Storm, Dave Finlay, Shane Helms, Deonna Purrazzo, Aleksandar Jaksic, MJ Jenkins and Ace Steel, were also furloughed along with Angle. In total, 40 percent of the personnel that the WWE had on staff were let go.

 

That night, another former WWE champion, Seth Rollins, who has 3.7 million Twitter followers, went on Instagram to address WWE’s financial situation and the resulting staff cuts. Rollins, himself, was not affected by the cuts. “One thing I am seeing that is a little upsetting to me is all the negativity and hostility towards WWE,” Rollins said.

 

“This is a difficult day for everyone, for all of us, and I think if ever there was a moment for us to unify, for us to kind of band together, and to try to do the best we can to keep this business alive the best we know how, this is that moment. And, I think pointing fingers or saying you should have done this or you should have done that is, I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel like the time or the place for it. I think this is a day for compassion and for empathy, and for understanding, and to try to support each other, you know, to pick each other up.”

 

“And, that’s for everybody. That’s not just for the guys and girls that were let go but for all of us who are fortunate enough at this moment to still be able to have a position where we can collect a paycheck, and we can support those who love us and those around us. I think that we have to take it upon ourselves to, you know, work harder to make sure that there’s a place for all those who, again had it the worst, that they had to come back to,” Rollins added.

 

“As a planet, we can rally around the idea that this is only temporary and those that lost their positions, and who are struggling to figure out what to do next, that they will be able to make it back from this,” he said. “And whether that’s with WWE or with another organization or in a completely new field, you know, this isn’t the end. And, I think that if we start fighting amongst ourselves, it’s only going to make things worse. I just encourage everyone to try to come together over this and to try to unify and to try to support each [other].”

 

Reaction to Rollins’ comments on Twitter was not entirely positive.

Big class traitor mood

— Laura 💖💜💙 (@LauraArvidson) April 16, 2020

 

All of the companies are run by union busters

— Arndt We Distant? (@DanArndtWrites) April 16, 2020

Wouldn’t want to have the WWE dip into their $500M reserve when they can save $4M a month by cutting people who can’t work anywhere else at the moment. If I hadn’t already cancelled my network subscription when they decided to keep doing shows after WM, it would be now.

— offy (@offy) April 16, 2020

 

Seth: We need to unify.
Workers: You mean like a union?
Seth: No no no no no no no…

— 🧔🏻 Riker’s Beard @ 🏡 (@BeardOfRiker) April 16, 2020

 

On Apr. 18, Rollins announced, via Twitter, that he would be joining the WHO as part of the One World #TogetherAtHome event to help raise donations for the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Come together as a global community to address the current #COVID19 crisis. Tune in on April 18: https://t.co/FnhDeTw7ld @glblctzn #TogetherAtHome – FYI! GC will be donating net proceeds from merch sale to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the WHO https://t.co/aUUM5lZJIR pic.twitter.com/PMnLnVyYn0

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) April 18, 2020

 

Was it the right move? On Jan. 2, WWE’s share price had closed at $62.02. By Mar. 11, it had fallen 40 percent to $38.72 per share. After the announced job cuts on Apr. 15, the company was trading at $38.90, a gain of 0.004 percent over 34 days [since Mar. 11]. Sound like your job? Sound like your 401K? Sound like your money?

 

While there’s no getting away from the fact that McMahon has still taken a 40 percent net hit to his business since Jan. 1, he was able to get his company into a “coronavirus positive” mode. He recovered 23 percent of his stock price losses, scaling back the worst price drop from 52 percent to 40 percent.

 

Assuming he can keep that 34-day pattern consistent, that plan should translate into a 3.2 percent gain by the end of the year. If so, he can say that he was spared a coronavirus bloodbath, despite experiencing a 40 percent share price drop during the first quarter of 2020, and that he didn’t lose any money in real terms.

 

McMahon is going to have a very rough 2nd half of the year to be sure, trying to recoup that 40 percent drop in the company’s share price. Even if he turns out to have a decent 4th quarter, the economy will be slow to open up and gain momentum from now until the end of the 3rd quarter in September. Welcome to a new America!

 

As former WWE Champion, Hulk Hogan would have said, “Eat your vitamins and say your prayers!”. Ladies & Gentleman, the rest of the year is going to be a hell of a ride.

 

Professor Anthony Rivieccio, MBA PFA, is the founder and CEO of The Financial Advisors Group, celebrating its 24th year as a fee-only financial planning firm specializing in solving one’s financial problems. Mr. Rivieccio, a recognized financial expert since 1986, has been featured by many national and local media including: Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, The New York Post, News 12 The Bronx, Bloomberg News Radio, BronxNet Television, the Norwood News, The West Side Manhattan Gazette, Labor Press Magazine, Financial Planning Magazine, WINS 1010 Radio, The Co-Op City News, The Bronx News, thisisthebronX.info and The Bronx Chronicle. Mr.  Rivieccio also pens a financial article called “Money Talk”. Anthony is also currently an Adjunct Professor of Business, Finance & Accounting for both, City University of New York & Monroe College, a Private University. You can reach Anthony at 347.575.5045. 

 

Editor’s Note: For balance, it should be noted that, as reported by Sports Illustrated, epidemiologists highlighted the risk of continuing with the WWE live shows, even without a live audience, given that the shows’ participants and crew fly into Florida from a number of states across the country and therefore have the potential to carry the virus with them.

 

As of Apr. 20, 3,842 people were being hospitalized for the virus across the state. As of Apr. 22, the number of positive COVID-19 cases in Florida is 27,791, and 927 people have died. In Orlando itself, the latest total number of positive cases for residents stands at 1,197, with 29 deaths. The median age of all positive cases is 45.