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JoeDirt

10 worst WWF/E buyrates of all time

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12/95 - In Your House #5 - Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog, Owen Hart vs. Diesel, HHH vs. Henry Godwin - .30

 

12/96 - WWF It's Time - Bret Hart vs. Sid, Undertaker vs. Executioner, Owen and Bulldog vs. Fake Diesel and Fake Razor - .35

 

7/96 - WWF International Incident - HBK/Sid/Ahmed vs. Vader/Owen/Bulldog - .37

 

12/03 - WWE Armageddon 2003 - Goldberg vs. HHH vs. Kane, RVD vs. Randy Orton - .40

 

10/95 - WWF IYH #4 - Diesel vs. British Bulldog, Goldust vs. Marty Jannetty, Razor vs Dean Douglas - .40

 

12/97 - WWF Degeneration X - HBK vs. Shamrock, HHH vs. Slaughter, Austin vs. Rock - .44

 

9/97 - WWF Ground Zero - HBK vs. Undertaker, Bret Hart vs. Patriot - .45

 

10/96 - WWF Buried Alive - Undertaker vs. Mankind, Vader vs. Sid - .45

 

5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - HBK vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .45

 

9/96 - WWF Mind Games - HBK vs. Mankind, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .48

 

---------------

 

I guess it's safe to say that December PPV's don't draw well? Sheesh!

 

Any thoughts about the list? It should be noted that #11 on the list would be the Smackdown PPV Vengeance from this past July. I'm not sure exactly what No Way Out got, but it'd probably be pretty close to that as well.

 

So what can we take from this list? Just PPV's that were poorly built to? Times that nobody cared about the WWF or WWE? Hey, things may be bad now...but they're not as bad as they were from 95-97...right?

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5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - HBK vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .45

 

I really really liked this Pay Per View. But if you look at the card it doesn't look too great and i'm guessing most people did just that.

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The whole shows weren't great. But I liked Ground Zero and Beware of Dog...and of course I don't even have to mention how great Shawn and Mankind were at Mind Games.

 

95 and 96 were very bad years for the WWF though

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5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - HBK vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .45

 

I really really liked this Pay Per View. But if you look at the card it doesn't look too great and i'm guessing most people did just that.

Yeah, the PPV was actually decent. Well, the PPV kind of sucked originally because of the satellite going out, but if you get the tape with the collected matches it's not too bad because there's a good Austin/Vega strap match, and everything is pretty decent. But I think it's safe to say that the British Bulldog never really drew. Of course he was in the main event scene in 95 and 96, so who knows.

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While many of the Main Events looked entertaining on paper (especially for the IYH ppvs), there just wasn't any doubt that the champ would retain in most of the matches. I mean who bought Mankind as WWF Champ in 1996? Or the Bulldog? Or even the Patriot?

 

Of all those cards, I'd say the July 1996 IYH (International Incident) looked the least interesting.

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While many of the Main Events looked entertaining on paper (especially for the IYH ppvs), there just wasn't any doubt that the champ would retain in most of the matches. I mean who bought Mankind as WWF Champ in 1996? Or the Bulldog? Or even the Patriot?

 

Of all those cards, I'd say the July 1996 IYH (International Incident) looked the least interesting.

Yeah, the International Incident card pretty much sucked. There was a decent Austin/Mero match, and the main event was a good match, but just not enough to get anyone to buy it when the title wasn't even at stake. (And the tag team match at the start is non title, too!)

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12/95 - In Your House #5 - Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog, Owen Hart vs. Diesel, HHH vs. Henry Godwin - .30

 

12/96 - WWF It's Time - Bret Hart vs. Sid, Undertaker vs. Executioner, Owen and Bulldog vs. Fake Diesel and Fake Razor - .35

 

7/96 - WWF International Incident - HBK/Sid/Ahmed vs. Vader/Owen/Bulldog - .37

 

12/03 - WWE Armageddon 2003 - Goldberg vs. HHH vs. Kane, RVD vs. Randy Orton - .40

 

10/95 - WWF IYH #4 - Diesel vs. British Bulldog, Goldust vs. Marty Jannetty, Razor vs Dean Douglas - .40

 

12/97 - WWF Degeneration X - HBK vs. Shamrock, HHH vs. Slaughter, Austin vs. Rock - .44

 

9/97 - WWF Ground Zero - HBK vs. Undertaker, Bret Hart vs. Patriot - .45

 

10/96 - WWF Buried Alive - Undertaker vs. Mankind, Vader vs. Sid - .45

 

5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - HBK vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .45

 

9/96 - WWF Mind Games - HBK vs. Mankind, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .48

IYH 5 I was actually interested in seeing. On paper, and with the Summer Slam 92 Bret vs. Davey Boy match kept in mind, it looked fun if not overly memorable.

 

It's Time was garbage. Taker in a gimmick match vs. some guy we've never seen wrestle (at least not with the mask). Owen & Davey vs. two guys the fans crapped on the moment they appeared on TV. Yeah, that's how to draw.

 

International Incident looked watchable on paper. Austin vs. Mero in somewhat of a revenge match for Austin going over at KOTR, as well as Mero busting him open during the match which required stitches. Jake the Snake vs. Mankind. The 6-man tag, though enjoyable, wasn't a good draw on paper which I think obviously takes the blame for the buyrate.

 

I had zero interest in Armageddon 03.

 

IYH 4 looked watchable. HBK vs. Douglas, Diesel vs. Davey Boy (2 months of buildup and with Bret doing commentary), Goldust's TV debut.

 

I think the blame for DX's poor showing had something to do with backlash over the Montreal Incident. Yeah, not the greatest card but I for one wasn't too thrilled with the WWF over the situation with Bret.

 

Ground Zero needed more buildup. In retrospect, it was basically a throw away PPV that built to the much more solid Badd Blood.

 

Buried Alive was watchable. Vader vs. Sid was disappointing; I would have much preferred Vader squash Sid and then squash HBK at MSG.

 

Beware of Dog had some solid build to it. Most of the bouts on there had about 2 months of backstory, if not more - Austin vs. Mero, Vader vs. Yoko, Triple H vs. Mero, etc.

 

The only real draw for Mindgames, for me (and I'm speaking at the time of the show, not now), was the tag title match. I really wanted to see Owen & Davey walk out with the belts. But other than that I wasn't too enthralled with the line up.

 

I would be interested to see how the PPVs following these shows did in terms of buyrates. I think in most cases, these PPVs ended up being more memorable than people anticipated and they ended up buying the next show as a result of what occured at these events (I guess aside from Mindgames / Buried Alive in which both tanked).

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Ground Zero needed more buildup. In retrospect, it was basically a throw away PPV that built to the much more solid Badd Blood.

I hope you're talking about just HBK & Taker, because Badd Blood was horrible except for HIAC and a fairly decent flag match. I like Ground Zero much more as a whole just for HBK vs. Taker, Bret vs. Patriot, and the tag title match (Yes, it wasn't very good, but I marked out when the Headbangers won).

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'95 was a down year for wrestling in general

 

In late '96 the nWo concept vaulted WCW and allowed it to kick WWF's ass all over the place

 

Not sure how to explain away the other three, save for maybe the DX PPV tanking because of the Montreal incident

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It's Time was garbage. Taker in a gimmick match vs. some guy we've never seen wrestle (at least not with the mask). Owen & Davey vs. two guys the fans crapped on the moment they appeared on TV. Yeah, that's how to draw.

I think I only have seen ONE terry Gordy match when he was the Executioner in the WWF on RAW. It was during SSeries & Its Time vs. Freddy Joe Floyd I think. Too bad Gordy was in the shape he was at the time.

 

Back to the topic, all those PPV's pretty much looked like crap. How was Vengeance #11?! I thought the card had 2 **** or near that matches, a SHOCKINGLY good Cena/UT match, Gowen/McMahon in a watchable match, and a enjoyable and brief APA Invitational, with some great bumps from Spanky & The Easter Bunny.

 

On that list, I ordered 5 of the 10, meaning the show was either hit or miss for me.

 

The ones I did buy...

 

IYH 5: Great Main Event, completely forgetable under-card.

 

International Incident: Ditto. Too bad Roberts was too drunk to show up and job to Mankind.

 

Armageddon: Not as bad as everyone says, but definitely nothing spectacular.

 

IYH 4: Ho-Ho-Horrible...wait, this wasn't christmas. Oh Well, Happy Ha-Ha-Holy Crap this sucked!!

 

Buried Alive: Decent from top to bottom with a good UT/Mankind Main Event.

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5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - HBK vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .45

 

Wasn't this the Casket Match with the gold casket or am I thinking of another PPV? And who won the match at BoW?

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5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - HBK vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Goldust - .45

 

Wasn't this the Casket Match with the gold casket or am I thinking of another PPV? And who won the match at BoW?

Yeah, that was the match. Goldust won when Mankind popped out of the casket and pulled Taker in with the Mandible Claw, I believe.

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It should be noted that of the ten worst buyrates ever, Shawn Michaels main evented half of them.

 

The guy really couldn't draw at all.

Hmmm at least next time some idiots say "HBK drew like a Mo fo for WWE", I have proof he's even WORSE of a draw than Diesel, who only Main Evented 1 of the 10.

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I would be interested to see how the PPVs following these shows did in terms of buyrates. I think in most cases, these PPVs ended up being more memorable than people anticipated and they ended up buying the next show as a result of what occured at these events (I guess aside from Mindgames / Buried Alive in which both tanked).

Here's how the PPV's following them did:

 

--------------

 

12/95 - In Your House #5 - .30 - NEXT PPV: Royal Rumble 96 (Rumble, Bret vs. Taker) = 1.1 (Which is better than the 94, 95, 97, and 98 Royal Rumbles)

 

12/96 - WWF It's Time - .35 - NEXT PPV: Royal Rumble 97 - .70

 

7/96 - WWF International Incident - .37 - NEXT PPV: Summerslam 96 = .58 (Worst Summerslam buyrate ever, I believe)

 

12/03 - WWE Armageddon 2003 - .40 - NEXT PPV: Royal Rumble 2004 = .90

 

10/95 - WWF IYH #4 - .40 - NEXT PPV: Survivor Series 95 - .57

 

12/97 - WWF Degeneration X - .44 - NEXT PPV: Royal Rumble 98 = .97

 

9/97 - WWF Ground Zero - .45 - NEXT PPV: IYH Bad Blood = .60

 

10/96 - WWF Buried Alive - .45 - NEXT PPV: Survivor Series 96 = 1.30

 

5/96 - WWF Beware of Dog - .45 - NEXT PPV: KOTR 96 = .60

 

9/96 - WWF Mind Games - .48 - NEXT PPV: Buried Alive - .45

 

Vengeance in July of 2003 got a .49 buyrate...Summerslam 2003 a .94

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Oh, and maybe the scariest buyrate of all.

 

Wrestlemania 13 - .77

 

Yikes.

What was WM VII buyrate? I remember Monsoon saying it was the largest PPV Audience, so Im guessing more people had PPV access for the show than before.

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Oh, and maybe the scariest buyrate of all.

 

Wrestlemania 13 - .77

 

Yikes.

What was WM VII buyrate? I remember Monsoon saying it was the largest PPV Audience, so Im guessing more people had PPV access for the show than before.

Yeah, the audience and number scale is different when you go back that far. The official number is 2.8...no idea what exactly that would corralate with "today's" buyrates. But in comparison, WM6 got a 3.8, and WM 5 a 5.9. The 91 Rumble got a 3.1, so I'm guessing the WM7 buyrate was slightly a disappointment.

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Other notes, because I'm bored!

 

From Good Friends Better Enemies (4/96) to No Way Out of Texas (2/98), the WWF only had one PPV crack the 1.0 buyrate scale - Survivor Series 96, which got a 1.30, way more than anything else they got at the time. (Bret's return, I'm guessing?) That's 22 out of 23 PPV's under a 1.0

 

Conversely, from Royal Rumble 2000 - Wrestlemania 17, all WWF PPV's got over a 1.0 - that's 15 straight PPVs over 1.0. Not bad at all.

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Other notes, because I'm bored!

 

From Good Friends Better Enemies (4/96) to No Way Out of Texas (2/98), the WWF only had one PPV crack the 1.0 buyrate scale - Survivor Series 96, which got a 1.30, way more than anything else they got at the time. (Bret's return, I'm guessing?) That's 22 out of 23 PPV's under a 1.0

 

Conversely, from Royal Rumble 2000 - Wrestlemania 17, all WWF PPV's got over a 1.0 - that's 15 straight PPVs over 1.0. Not bad at all.

Didn't Invasion pop a monster buyrate even though the card sucked.

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Other notes, because I'm bored!

 

From Good Friends Better Enemies (4/96) to No Way Out of Texas (2/98), the WWF only had one PPV crack the 1.0 buyrate scale - Survivor Series 96, which got a 1.30, way more than anything else they got at the time. (Bret's return, I'm guessing?) That's 22 out of 23 PPV's under a 1.0

 

Conversely, from Royal Rumble 2000 - Wrestlemania 17, all WWF PPV's got over a 1.0 - that's 15 straight PPVs over 1.0. Not bad at all.

Didn't Invasion pop a monster buyrate even though the card sucked.

Yep. Leading up to Invasion:

 

Backlash 2001: .90

Judgment Day 2001: .84

KOTR 2001: .96

Invasion: 1.63

 

And after...

 

Summerslam 2001: 1.32

Unforgiven 2001: .81

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Looks like the best Non-Big 5 Buyrate I've seen.

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Looks like the best Non-Big 5 Buyrate I've seen.

Yeah. Some other good ones are:

 

No Way Out 2001: 1.6

Unforgiven 2000: 1.5 (Wasn't this a shitty card? It outdrew Summerslam, which got a 1.4. Was it Austin's teased return?)

 

And the best...

 

Backlash 2000: 1.65 (HHH vs. Rock with Austin in Rock's corner)

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Other notes, because I'm bored!

 

From Good Friends Better Enemies (4/96) to No Way Out of Texas (2/98), the WWF only had one PPV crack the 1.0 buyrate scale - Survivor Series 96, which got a 1.30, way more than anything else they got at the time. (Bret's return, I'm guessing?) That's 22 out of 23 PPV's under a 1.0

 

Conversely, from Royal Rumble 2000 - Wrestlemania 17, all WWF PPV's got over a 1.0 - that's 15 straight PPVs over 1.0. Not bad at all.

I found another site that says Survivor Series 96 did a .58...so I guess now I have no idea. :)

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Other notes, because I'm bored!

 

From Good Friends Better Enemies (4/96) to No Way Out of Texas (2/98), the WWF only had one PPV crack the 1.0 buyrate scale - Survivor Series 96, which got a 1.30, way more than anything else they got at the time. (Bret's return, I'm guessing?) That's 22 out of 23 PPV's under a 1.0

 

Conversely, from Royal Rumble 2000 - Wrestlemania 17, all WWF PPV's got over a 1.0 - that's 15 straight PPVs over 1.0. Not bad at all.

I found another site that says Survivor Series 96 did a .58...so I guess now I have no idea. :)

I'm pretty sure I read on some websites it was 1.30 for SSeries 96.

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Looks like the best Non-Big 5 Buyrate I've seen.

Yeah. Some other good ones are:

 

No Way Out 2001: 1.6

Unforgiven 2000: 1.5 (Wasn't this a shitty card? It outdrew Summerslam, which got a 1.4. Was it Austin's teased return?)

 

And the best...

 

Backlash 2000: 1.65 (HHH vs. Rock with Austin in Rock's corner)

- (WWF UNFORGIVEN 2000):

Dudley Boyz & Acolytes vs. Right To Censor

(Strap Match): Jerry Lawler vs. Tazz

(Hardcore Title): Steve Blackman © vs. Al Snow vs. Crash Holly vs. Test vs. Saturn vs. Funaki

Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac

(Tag Titles; Cage): Edge & Christian © vs. Hardy Boyz

(Intercontinental Title): Eddie Guerrero © vs. Rikishi

Triple H vs. Kurt Angle

(WWF Title): The Rock © vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kane vs. The Undertaker

 

 

Ew..Main Event is ***, HHH/Angle is disapointing, Cage Match is pretty good, and everything else is Bad-Decent. Plus RAVEN RETURNED!

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Ew..Main Event is ***, HHH/Angle is disapointing, Cage Match is pretty good, and everything else is Bad-Decent. Plus RAVEN RETURNED!

Err, you know that buyrates are not reflective of the actual quality of the finished event, right?

 

HHH-Angle was built like a mother, disappointing end aside

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