Highlights from 2009 WWE Annual Shareholders Meeting

The 2009 WWE Annual Shareholders Meeting was held on Friday morning (May 1st). Here are some of the newsworthy items from the meeting: Kevin Dunn missed the meeting due to an illness & may have been hospitalized. Vince McMahon said that he is not interested in running an MMA promotion. Vince McMahon said that WWE is looking into creating a Wednesday night TV program. He feels that it would not be overexposure due to the huge number of TV stations available & that being on TV every weeknight would make it easier for the fans to follow along with the storylines or catch up if they miss any of the TV shows. A shareholder requested the creation of a WWE affinity program. Vince McMahon agreed to look into possibly doing that. Donna Goldsmith said that WWE has major marketing plans for Summerslam 2009, including a huge party leading into the event. Vince McMahon predicted that Summerslam 2009 will sell out. Donna Goldsmith said that WWE has upcoming meetings with the USA Network & CNN regarding marketing. Vince McMahon said that Playboy wanted to work with WWE again this year, but Vince turned down the offer because of WWE's new "PG environment". Vince McMahon announced that WWE has signed a deal with Pepsi. Vince McMahon said that WWE was planning a tour of China, but ran into some problems. He feels that China will be a big part of WWE's future. Vince McMahon said that WWE is considering canceling it's tour of Mexico in late May due to the swine flu outbreak. He also announced a Mexican tour for October of 2009. Vince McMahon partially blamed the decline of pay-per-view buys on more fans choosing to watch pay-per-views with each other rather than individually ordering the pay-per-views. A shareholder asked if "Mr. McMahon" could be the person who ends the Undertaker's WrestleMania undefeated streak. Vince McMahon said that him ending the streak would probably anger a lot of people, so it's unlikely to happen. Vince McMahon said that both him & his wife will be participating in all of the upcoming earnings conference calls. Vince said that him appearing in a movie would be a bad idea due to his lack of patience & time. Vince McMahon said that holding WrestleMania overseas would be difficult because it would have to air live in North America. He mentioned that Summerslam 1992 from London, England aired in North America on a tape delay & it ended up being a bad business decision. The entire meeting can be viewed online, here.