Top 15 buyrates of all time

[JoeDirt]

Discuss!

 

1. WWE WrestleMania 17 - 950,000 buys - The Rock vs. Steve Austin

2. WWE WrestleMania 18 - 840,000 buys - The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan

3. WWE WrestleMania 20 - 825,000 buys - Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels

4. WWE WrestleMania 16 - 824,000 buys - The Rock vs. Triple H vs. The Big Show vs. Mick Foley

5. WWE WrestleMania 15 - 800,000 buys - The Rock vs. Steve Austin

6. WWE InVasion - 770,000 buys - Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Kane, & Chris Jericho vs. Booker T, Rhyno, Diamond Dallas Page, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley

7. WWE WrestleMania 14 - 730,000 buys - Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels

8. WWE SummerSlam (08/30/98) - 700,000 buys - Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

10. WCW Starrcade (12/28/97) - 650,000 buys - Hulk Hogan vs. Sting

10. WWE WrestleMania 5 (04/02/89) - 650,000 buys - Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage

10. WWE Royal Rumble (01/24/99) - 650,000 buys - The Rock vs. Mankind

13. WWE Backlash (04/30/00) - 625,000 buys - The Rock vs. Triple H*

14. WWE Unforgiven (09/24/00) - 605,000 buys - The Rock vs. Chris Benoit vs. The Undertaker vs. Kane*

15. WCW Bash at the Beach (07/12/98) - 600,000 buys - Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone

15. WWE SummerSlam (08/22/99) - 600,000 buys - Steve Austin vs. Triple H vs. Mankind

 

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

[JoeDirt]

Yeah, I have no idea what the asterisks are for. Maybe someone could fill us in on that. (Maybe signalling that Austin's return for each show was a draw?) And I'm kinda surprised by Unforgiven 2000's position on there.

[Guest Choken One]

Well...Didn't WMXX draw 950,000 AS WELL? Making it the biggest draw of all time?

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Well...Didn't WMXX draw 950,000 AS WELL? Making it the biggest draw of all time?

It's speculated that 950,000 buys could be the max WM XX got. There is no final number yet.

 

 

But damn. WM X-8 did better than I thought.

[Fökai]

Well...Didn't WMXX draw 950,000 AS WELL? Making it the biggest draw of all time?

World Wrestling Entertainment Expects Record-Breaking WrestleMania XX Pay-Per-View to Be Its Highest Grossing Event Ever

 

STAMFORD, Conn.– March 25, 2004–

Pay-Per-View Buys for WrestleMania® XX to Exceed $40 Million

 

World Wrestling Entertainment®, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) announced today that it expects world-wide Pay-Per-View gross revenues for WrestleMania XX to be between $40 million and $45 million, making it the highest grossing Pay-Per-View event in WWE® history. WWE’s net share is expected to exceed $20 million after revenue-sharing with cable and satellite providers.

 

WWE said its first-week estimate of Pay-Per-View buys is 825,000, exceeding Pay-Per-View buys for WrestleMania XIX by 25 percent. WWE expects that final Pay-Per-View tallies, once all information is provided by distributors and their affiliates, will be between 900,000 buys to 950,000 buys. The suggested retail price for WrestleMania XX was $49.95 as compared to a suggested retail price of $39.95 for WrestleMania XIX.

 

The number of buys for WrestleMania XX is an estimate based upon preliminary data available from the WWE’s Pay-Per-View distributors and their affiliates and is subject to refinement as further information becomes available from these distributors over the next several months. The estimate has been posted on corporate.wwe.com in accordance with WWE’s practice of updating the website weekly to reflect certain key drivers of its business including television ratings, pay-per-view buys and live event attendance.

 

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, and London. Additional information on the company can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.

[Guest Choken One]

eh...still pretty damn good though.

[Guest theoldxpac]

Didnt Wrestlemania 3 have the highest buyrate ever?

[1234-5678]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

I thought Jericho's reign as champ was supposed to be a bust? Yet he headlined the most successful Rumble of all time.........

[Use Your Illusion]

Come to think of it, there have been few matches that had the same feel and atmosphere of Rock vs Austin (WMX-Seven) after that show.

 

Rock/Hogan felt big, but not Rock/Austin big.

 

UYI

[Lil' Bitch]

I thought Jericho's reign as champ was supposed to be a bust? Yet he headlined the most successful Rumble of all time.........

 

Well, there's a good thing about it.

[1234-5678]

Come to think of it, there have been few matches that had the same feel and atmosphere of Rock vs Austin (WMX-Seven) after that show.

 

Rock/Hogan felt big, but not Rock/Austin big.

 

UYI

I dunno, I would go with Rock-Hogan, since Rock-Austin had happened several times before.

[Internet Warfare]

Didnt Wrestlemania 3 have the highest buyrate ever?

*sigh*

 

The rule of thumb is that when comparing buyrates, anything before '92/'93 should not be counted. Cable was in it's infancy which mean't less people had cable and were able to order a PPV. So eventhough III got a 8.0 br., or whatever, today more people watch with an ~2.0 buyrate.

 

(Note math is approx.)

[Kahran Ramsus]

Buyrate is the percentage of people that ordered it that had it available to them. The number of buys is the number of people who actually ordered it. Just clarifying for what TokyoX said.

[caboose]

Just for completeness sake...

 

Appearances on the list:

 

8 - The Rock

 

6 - Steve Austin (8 if you count the * as Austin)

 

4 - Hulk Hogan

 

3 - Triple H, Mick Foley, Undertaker

 

2 - Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, DDP

 

1 - Sting, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Kane, Rhyno, The Dudley'z, Randy Savage, Dennis Rodman, Karl Malone, The Big Show

[Guest Fook]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

I thought Jericho's reign as champ was supposed to be a bust? Yet he headlined the most successful Rumble of all time.........

Remember who returned at that show, and probably took the credit for the success?

[deancoles]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

I thought Jericho's reign as champ was supposed to be a bust? Yet he headlined the most successful Rumble of all time.........

Remember who returned at that show, and probably took the credit for the success?

Goldust

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Rock/Austin was probably the greatest main event in WM history, and had pretty good build up.

 

 

But Rock/Hogan had that aura around it, that made you know it was something special. It didn't need great wrestling. Hell, most of the match was punching probably. The build-up was so-so. But overall, it was Icon vs. Icon in a historic match that will be remembered for years IMO.

 

I find it ironic that about a month or so before Hogan returned, WWF Magazine coincidentally published a Fantasy Warfare between Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock. I'm assuming they knew they'ed have Hogan in for WM and was already scheduled to face Rock, so this was an early teaser.

[1234-5678]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

I thought Jericho's reign as champ was supposed to be a bust? Yet he headlined the most successful Rumble of all time.........

Remember who returned at that show, and probably took the credit for the success?

Goldust

Personally, I was watching for Mr. Perfect.

[Drury37]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

I thought Jericho's reign as champ was supposed to be a bust? Yet he headlined the most successful Rumble of all time.........

Remember who returned at that show, and probably took the credit for the success?

Goldust

Personally, I was watching for Mr. Perfect.

Man, you beat me to it. That's alright.

Thanks.

[bob_barron]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

 

This was HHH's first PPV since coming back and the Rumble match has always proven to be a big draw. Plus it also had Ric Flair's first match in 10 months and I'm sure that also helped spike up the buyrates. Rock v. Jericho was still very hot at the time and of course...

 

Everyone knew Regal was going to win the title.

[The Tino Standard]

Holy shit, I can't believe InVasion was that high on the list.

[pochorenella]

9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock

 

This was HHH's first PPV since coming back and the Rumble match has always proven to be a big draw. Plus it also had Ric Flair's first match in 10 months and I'm sure that also helped spike up the buyrates. Rock v. Jericho was still very hot at the time and of course...

 

Everyone knew Regal was going to win the title.

So you're saying that the UNDERCARD actually matters when it comes to ordering a PPV and not just the Main Event alone? [/sarcasm]

 

So many people on this board seem ready to point the guilt to whomever was featured as the Main Event on a particular low-buyrate PPV **cough**ShawnMichaels**cough** and forget that the undercard is also highly important. I mean, of course certain people have proven to draw no matter what, but we can't give absolute praise or guilt to a single wrestler for the success or failure of a PPV.

Hogan, Austin, Rock, Flair, those people are draws no matter what. For most other wrestlers I'm sure it helped to have a strong overall show.

[Lil' Bitch]

Not to mention Chris Jericho main evented the 2nd most successful WM ever. Okay, so most of the buyrates happened mainly because of Rock / Hogan...but still.

[Austin3164life]

Wrestlemania 17 was the absolute peak of everything the WWE is all about. It was the peak of the Attitude era and the peak of Wrestlemania (capped off with a timeless classic).

[deancoles]

Imagine the Buyrate if WCW had done Hogan/Sting at say Bash of The Beach 97(a year after the nWo started) without the 9 month period between Sting attacking Hogan at Uncensored 97 and the match taking place.

[bob_barron]

So many people on this board seem ready to point the guilt to whomever was featured as the Main Event on a particular low-buyrate PPV **cough**ShawnMichaels**cough** and forget that the undercard is also highly important. I mean, of course certain people have proven to draw no matter what, but we can't give absolute praise or guilt to a single wrestler for the success or failure of a PPV.

Hogan, Austin, Rock, Flair, those people are draws no matter what. For most other wrestlers I'm sure it helped to have a strong overall show.

 

Well I think the main event DOES matter. Royal Rumble 2002 happened to have two big main events (The Rumble with HHH's return and Jericho v. Rock) that easily sold the show. I'm sure Ric's first match in 10 months helped as well.

 

I think the main event is the main selling point of the show for the most part. There are several exceptions like the ones that Dave asteriked that had Austin's return

[Kardo]

The asterix mean that the real draw was the return of Stone Cold. Which is a bit ridiculous in the case of Backlash where the main event was very hyped and not just due to Austin.

[Kardo]

The asterix mean that the real draw was the return of Stone Cold. Which is a bit ridiculous in the case of Backlash where the main even t was very hyped and not just due to Austin.

[Perfxion]

It is odd because it was reported by Metlz in 01 that WM7 got a little over a 3.0 which would be over a million buys. Odd that WM20 got so close to that.

[Guest TDinDC1112]

Not to mention Chris Jericho main evented the 2nd most successful WM ever. Okay, so most of the buyrates happened mainly because of Rock / Hogan...but still.

The main event is not the last match on the show. It's the match, or situation that was used to promote the show and get people to buy it. Rock and Hogan got all the promotional stuff for WM18, not HHH-Y2J. Rock vs. Hogan was the main event. It sold, or didn't sell the show.