• by Wayne Friedman , June 14, 2006

Body-slammed by a steep drop in TV advertising revenue had World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. crying uncle as its fourth-quarter profit fell 35 percent versus a year ago.

The quarter ending April 30 had the company's net income at $10.6 million, compared with $16.1 million a year ago. Revenue declined to $114.3 million from $118.3 million in the year earlier period. This fazed Wall Street a little. Analysts were expecting WWE to get to 13 cents a share; and WWE got to 15 cents a share in net profits. Still WWE's stock sank 4.5 percent to $16.23.

WWE said live and televised entertainment revenue was 10 percent lower to $92.3 million from the lack of domestic cable advertising revenue. National advertising revenue on USA Network, sank 82 percent to $2.2 million due to a restructured USA Network-WWE program distribution agreement.

Analysts say WWE has failed to establish well-known popular characters--such as "The Rock"--of years ago.