In an article that appeared in today’s Stamford Advocate analyst Dennis McAlpine of McAlpine Associates noted that the incident in Indonesia “won’t hurt the company’s performance nor its ability to seek growth abroad.”  WWE anticipates a successful resolution that will allow Indonesian viewers to see WWE programming again in the near future.

WWE Downplays Indonesia incident
Stamford Advocate
By Julie Fishman-Lapin Staff Writer
5 December 2006
Copyright 2006 Stamford Advocate

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. may find itself pinned to the mat in Indonesia but industry analysts say the company’s troubles there shouldn’t affect its ability to grow abroad.

The WWE in a written statement over the weekend said the latest protest depicted by an Associated Press photograph is “contrived” and organized by local activists “trying to fuel the fire.”

The Stamford company is denying allegations that a 9-year-old Indonesian boy died several weeks after friends threw him to the ground imitating a popular WWE wrestling move they saw on TV.

The company said the boy’s father waited a week after the incident occurred to seek medical care for his son. The boy died a month later. The family which blames WWE would not allow an autopsy because of religious reasons.

Indonesian authorities have said the boy’s death had nothing to do with WWE.

But under pressure from parents and educators an Indonesian television station pulled all WWE programming off the air.

“We anticipate a successful resolution that will lead to our programming being back on the air as soon as possible ” WWE spokeswoman Kate Cox said.

The incident in Indonesia may be a blow to the WWE but it won’t hurt the company’s performance nor its ability to seek growth abroad said Dennis McAlpine a WWE analyst for McAlpine Associates.

“It is a relatively small marketplace (for the WWE) to begin with and their penetration of it was relatively small so I think it will have minimal impact ” McAlpine said. “If they got kicked out of China or Japan that would be far more important. It’s not that Indonesia isn’t an important market but it isn’t the biggest thing in the world.”

David Meltzer publisher of the Wrestling Observer newsletter agreed.

“When you have hundreds of countries to choose from it is not going to make or break the company ” Meltzer said.

However the flak the WWE is facing in Indonesia is disappointing he said. Cox said the WWE has been in Indonesia for six years and reaches millions of viewers.

“We value Indonesia as it is part of our global expansion into Asia ” she said.

Over the past few years the WWE has targeted overseas markets McAlpine said.

“Certainly the current business in the United States is on a downswing ” he said.

Europe is still a hot market for the WWE but other markets such as Japan and Australia are slowing down in terms of growth Meltzer said. Indonesia has shown great promise. A recent live event in Jakarta by a Japanese professional wrestling business drew more than 10 000 people.

“As far as a viable market to go into I think they would go in gang busters ” Meltzer said predicting that WWE can overcome the incident. “It’s a stub in the toe — nothing more than that.”