— WWE.com has removed the “Industry News” section from the front page of the website, thus ending a one and half year run. Replacing the section is a tab promoting the company’s international endeavors.
When the section was launched in late February 2008, stories reported on websites such as Rajah.com were frequently cited. Coverage was also given to wrestling promotions not affiliated with World Wrestling Entertainment such as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Ring of Honor. It would appear that a decision was made last May to stop acknowledging entities not affiliated with the company as May 15, 2009 was the last day in which an outside wrestling website was acknowledged on WWE.com, as well as TNA. In recent months the section was being updated much less frequently with the website opting to focus on mainstream media pieces on the company and its talent.
The initial thought process behind the section was that WWE would make its website the primary destination for all things wrestling with the idea that it would increase site traffic by including “insider news,” thus preventing fans from visiting other wrestling websites. Unfortunately for WWE, the section had little to no effect on site traffic. In fact, traffic to WWE.com actually dropped in the months following the launch of the section.
— The Chicago Tribune ran the following note today announcing that a few WWE Stars will be on hand signing autographs during next Wednesday’s Chicago White Sox game at U.S. Cellular Field: “WWE teams up with White Sox: A few WWE superstars will be signing autographs at Wednesday’s White Sox-Oakland Athletics game, including ECW champion Tommy Dreamer, Dolph Ziggler and Hornswoggle. Dreamer will throw out the first pitch and present Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski with a replica ECW Championship belt. Fans can purchase discounted tickets by going to whitesox.com/wwe and entering “WWE” as the promo code.”
— WWE returns to the Jaffa Shrine Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania on November 28th, 2009. Go to http://sportsentertainmentevents.tk or http://prowrestlingevents.webs.com for info about upcoming wrestling shows worldwide. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
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