WrestleMania XIX buy-rate DOWN big time

[Guest GameCop]

According to Keller, the WM XIX buy-rate is down 35-40% from last year's extravaganza.

 

Buy-rate for WM XVIII: 850,000 buys

 

Buy-rate for WM XIX: 510,000 - 540,000 buys

 

This is very bad news for WWE.

[Guest dreamer420]

Not really. The WWE is in a down time right now, much like they were from about 95 to late 97. People shouldn't be so paranoid about the WWE folding because it is really unlikely that it will happen anytime soon.

[Guest LatinoHeat]

B...b..bu..but this year's was so much better.

[Guest nikowwf]

This is not impossible, or even unlikely. (that the number is way down) However, 3 to 6 months after events they don't have credible numbers. This is like saying BUSH is leading GORE 80%-20% after 1% of the votes are counting. This is "we have numbers from 2% of the areas, and they are down 35% from last year."

 

Yes, it could be down, and I'd even venture it WILL be down. But the numbers now mean less than shit.

 

niko

[Guest RenegadeX28]

Man, that looks real bad for the WWE. But, like so many others have said, the WWE is on a down period.

[Guest commie_050]

It's Angle-uh. He's not ready-uh for the main event-uh.

[Guest WhenDanSaysJump]

When the Wrestlemania buyrate hits WM13 levels, then it's time to panic... otherwise I wouldn't worry too much.

[Guest dreamer420]

When the Wrestlemania buyrate hits WM13 levels, then it's time to panic... otherwise I wouldn't worry too much.

I agree dude. To me it seems like a lot of people are hoping the WWE will go out of business. I really hope that isn't the case as you shouldn't even call yourself wrestling fans if that is what you are hoping for.

[Guest HartFan86]

WOW...that's fucking bad. I thought it was at least 800,000.

But you have to realize, that's $40.00 a pop for 500,000 buys or whatever the final number is.

[Guest bob_barron]

I'm having a hard time believing this since it's only a couple days after the show and they usually take a long time to figure out

[Guest snuffbox]

I'm having a hard time believing this since it's only a couple days after the show and they usually take a long time to figure out

no shit

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

B...b..bu..but this year's was so much better.

Indeed.

 

 

Everyone is stressing that these are REALLY early reports though. I wish people here could wait for final numbers more often before making threads about them. We see way too many people making overnight ratings threads as well.

[Guest The Tino Standard]

I wouldn't panic over this, but it doesn't mean that WWE isn't panicking. I'm pretty sure they said that if the initial buyrate numbers were low, then HUGE cuts could be made in the annual "spring cleaning."

 

Based on these numbers, I'd be updating my resume if I worked for WWE.

 

The shame of it all is that this year's show was so much better than last year's. It doesn't deserve such a cruel fate.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

It was about this time last year that the WWE was stating they had a huge buyrate for Mania 18...then when the real numbers came out they weren't even close (as in far less) to what WWE was boasting.

 

It's pretty easy to see the show did a shit number...no one was watching WWE leading up to it...and no one tuned in to see what happened on Monday.

[Guest Hayabusa Moleman]

Had I not already had tickets, I wouldn't have watched Wrestlemania to protest RVD not being on the PPV. I hope the ratings do tank.

[Guest AndrewTS]

B...b..bu..but this year's was so much better.

Wrestling wise it was.

 

Booking wise it was shitty. Everyone knew HBK and HHH were going over this year, last year was a bit more unpredictable. Angle vs. Brock was booked horribly and confusingly. Rock-Hogan vs. Vince-Hogan? They both hyped them as much, but what do you think drew/would draw more?

 

RVD was in an IC title match last year while this year he was on Heat. *bps mode off*

 

Plus, WWE has lost more of their fan base since last year.

[Guest RedJed]

I'd take those numbers with a SMALL grain of salt. The WWEs first preliminary estimates usually come in the Friday after a ppv from DirecTV, and even those are very rough estimates from just that provider.

 

Whatever the case, they did a trememdous gross from the live show, so even if it dips down somewhat, its no big thing.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Plus, WWE has lost more of their fan base since last year.

After Meltzer's comments about how everyone at his San Jose, CA taping of SD was wearing shirts from 97 and then on, I was suprised at the number of people at Mania with shirts from the last six months.

 

I think there's still a lot of checkbooks out there, but nobody's buying because they don't like what they see. A good majority of these people tune in when something big happens, see that the show is still the same as when they last checked in, and don't watch next week. Thus these tiny Rating Bumps.

[Guest teke184]

While this show was below even MY conservative guesses a few weeks back (650,000 IIRC), remember that LAST year's show had early projections of 1,000,000+ buys but dropped down to about 850,000.

 

To put this in perspective, the Rumble got 500,000 and it's typically the #2 or #3 show of the year. If Mania got only 530,000 buys, it's either a bad sign for the size of the PPV-buying audience or it means that the questionable booking decisions didn't pay off (putting HBK, Rock, Austin, Vince, Hogan, and the oft-injured Trips on top of the biggest show of the year while leaving off guys who carried the fed from week to week like RVD, for one.)

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

leaving off guys who carried the fed from week to week like RVD, for one.)

WTF?

 

You could make a case for Mysterio, Benoit, or Eddie Guererro carrying the fed as they putting on great matches time and time again, but RVD? Gimme a break.

 

RVD is really, really over. This much is true. His matches have not carried the fed, his angles have been nonexistant since July with the exception of the one good "GRR! I'M MR MUSCLE AND FITNESS!" promo, and there's no proof he could carry the ball even if they gave it to him.

 

RVD is really easy to like and get into, but he hasn't carried the fed. Sorry.

[Guest creativename]

Whatever the case, they did a trememdous gross from the live show, so even if it dips down somewhat, its no big thing.

There is no comparison between the live gross and the PPV buys. The live gross is only a few million, whereas the PPV revenues are in the tens of millions ($22 million at 550,000 buys).

 

And I don't see why everyone is so shocked at this. I was expecting 600,000 buys. The Royal Rumble got 500,000, and Mania has been getting about 25% more than that the last few years. So that puts it at 625,000. I figured it would do less than that since the fanbase is constantly shrinking. Yeah, anything below 550,000 is an absolute disaster for the company. Just a complete fucking disaster. However, it shouldn't be surprising. So what if these are only preliminary numbers? The real ones are unlikely to be any higher.

[Guest Austin3164life]

I didn't expect a huge buyrate considering that the night after WM pulled a 3.7 rating, with supposedly "The Man Everyone Wants to See" being on it. Looks like they don't want to see him. Plus the ratings heading into it were at high threes.

[Guest Midnight Express83]

Well....

 

1: These numbers do not mean shit until atleast Sat when the Direct TV prelem numbers are out.

 

2: RAW got a low rating because well, the last 8 weeks of RAW have been fucking boring except for the little bit of Rocky that was around.

 

3: Goldberg does NOT COUNT IN THE RATINGS OF RAW THIS WEEK. He wasn't hyped to be on it, so most people wouldn't know.

 

4: profit wise, at 550,000 buys that is 22 million. At 860,000 it is 34.4 million. So either way they make a nice sum of money. Just not as much as they like

 

5: This does not spell doom for the WWE, it is a weak product right now, so their ratings are weak. But it isn't going to go belly up by December they are still making a profit.

 

6: Until Meltzer speaks on this, I don't really care since PWtorch and 1Bob have an anti WWE spin that makes everything sound like the company is going to die this very second.

 

7: for all of the WCW fuck ups, the company is still going to make a profit, not a large one but still a profit. WCW couldn't even do that.

[Guest nikowwf]

These numbers are total bullshit. Again, im not arguing they are wrong because they are low. I'm arguing because, at best these can only be a small sample from a one source, and you can't just interpolate the whole fucking buyrate from it. Again, my example above - its like saying who won an election after counting 1% of the vote.

 

niko

[Agent_Bond34 0]

When the Wrestlemania buyrate hits WM13 levels, then it's time to panic... otherwise I wouldn't worry too much.

What was the buyrate for WrestleMania 13?

[Guest humongous2002]

leaving off guys who carried the fed from week to week like RVD, for one.)

WTF?

 

You could make a case for Mysterio, Benoit, or Eddie Guererro carrying the fed as they putting on great matches time and time again, but RVD? Gimme a break.

 

RVD is really, really over. This much is true. His matches have not carried the fed, his angles have been nonexistant since July with the exception of the one good "GRR! I'M MR MUSCLE AND FITNESS!" promo, and there's no proof he could carry the ball even if they gave it to him.

 

RVD is really easy to like and get into, but he hasn't carried the fed. Sorry.

The reason is because WWE won't even give him a chance to carry the ball, just like the saying goes:"How do you know if the food tastes bad, if you haven't tried it yet?", give RVD a real push and real feuds instead of wasting his talent with Kane. RVD might not be Benoit but when he is on , he is on, just watch his matches with Jerry Lynn,Eddy, Jeff Hardy and Dreamer, those matches had the fans at the edge of their seats, but i bet none of this matters to you b/c RVD is not one of your favorite wrestlers,hey, to each their own.

On another note Wrestlemania buyrates are down b/c of poor storylines and the Hogan/Vince match, the ppv felt like it was a bad Starrcade.

[Guest Downhome]

Blah, no suprise, even though it IS bad news.

[Guest bob_barron]

WM13 did a .77.

 

These numbers mean nothing

[Guest Rob Edwards]

Hogan Vs Vince was the match they pushed it on therefore this is hardly surprising

[Guest bob_barron]

These numbers don't mean jack squat- Let's wait until the final numbers come out