WWE News: Vince McMahon ducks out of the conference call, WWE COO cites injuries and retirements as issues that affected the financial numbers

The following is our live coverage report on the conference call hosted by Vince McMahon to address the third quarter financial report. The call took place on November 4, 2010. You will need to hit refresh for the latest updates.

-WWE COO Donna Goldsmith announced that Vince McMahon was unable to join them today.

Powell's POV: Weak. Is he following the Brad Childress "duck and run" handguide?

Goldsmith read through the financial numbers and cited talent issues and a weak economy as detractors. She mentioned the retirements of Shawn Michaels and Dave Batista, and injuries suffered by Undertaker and C.M. Punk, and noted that Chris Jericho has been out for a while. She spoke about the young talent that has stepped up.

Powell's POV: Punk and Jericho's absences had zero affect on the third quarter numbers since they are both rather recent. It was nice to hear her mention the young talent that has stepped up, as Vince failed to do that when he cited retirements and injuries during the last conference call.

George Barrios took listeners through the earnings report. He noted a 16 percent decline in pay-per-view buys. He said it was mitigated by the $5 price increase that occurred in 2011. He also spoke about Smackdown moving to the Syfy network and how that helped strengthen their relationship with Universal.

Barrios noted that WWE NXT moved from Syfy to the WWE website. He chalked it up to the company expanding its programming to various platforms.

Powell's POV: Really? So I guess the move isn't because NXT is a lousy show that Universal passed on renewing and no other networks signed on.

Barrios noted the declining print media numbers, and noted that they sold one less special issue, which had an adverse effect on the numbers. He also spoke about the new business model for WWE Studios releases. He believes the new model will lead to increased revenue.

Once Barrios finsihed taking listeners through the quarterly presentation, they opened it up to questions callers.

The first caller brought up the pay-per-view buys "inching closer" to what they did the previous year. Barrios pointed out that a couple of the pay-per-view revenue was up in a couple of cases and cited the price increase.

The caller also asked about the WWE Studios plan. Barrios said "Legendary" was released at the end of the third quarter, and they will see the actual results in the fourth quarter. He said "Knucklehead" will also bring in fourth quarter revenue.

Goldsmith noted that "Knucklehead" was released in six or seven theaters, but it will have a wider initial DVD release than "Legendary." She noted that Wal-Mart had the quarter exclusive on "Legendary," and said both films will be released on DVD internationally.

Goldsmith said the merchandise sales for The Nexus merchandise have increased since John Cena was "forced" to join. She touted some of the other young talent.

A caller praised the company for trimming expenses fromt he budget. The same caller asked about the WWE cable network plans. Goldsmith said they will still speak with potential partners after January 1, 2011 and will then finalize their plans.

Another caller asked about the Mattel deal and how WWE felt it would play more to children rather than collectors. Goldsmith said children and collectors are both very important. She said the collectors will always want the newest and hottest product, whereas kids are more fickle.

Goldsmith said Mattel is marketing the new merchandise during WWE programming as well as children's programming. "Our numbers have been so good already that if they continue at the pace they are, I will be very happy with that," Goldsmith said.

The caller asked about how the company lowered the prices for live events and wondered if they would do the same for Mattel merchandise. Goldsmith said they always look at the price points and do have a mix of lower price points and higher price points - the latter cater to the collectors. This concluded the conference call.

Powell's POV: This was a very uneventful conference call due to the absence of Vince McMahon. Although I doubt we'll hear anything, I hope he has a legitimate excuse for dropping out of the call, because it looks really bad for him to drop out of what should have been a newsworthy conference call given the numbers, the Stand Up For WWE campaign (which was never mentioned), and the election that took place two nights ago.