Though pay-per-view revenue was down for the fiscal year and well below the UFC benchmark, WWE got a hint of good news in returns for its Q4 2009 events.
For the three months ending December 31, 2009, WWE's pay-per-view revenue rose from $15.9 million in 2008 to $16.3 million in 2009. Fueling the increase was a surge in buys for three of WWE's four pay-per-views; all demonstrating that WWE's new "gimmick" concept is generating additional interest over their B-show franchise counterparts.
Hell in a Cell for instance, posted 283,000 buys, compared with 261,000 for last year's WWE No Mercy. Bragging Rights was up to 181,000 over 153,000 for Cyber Sunday, while WWE TLC scored 228,000, beating the 193,000 for Armageddon.
The limiting factor on the revenue increase, however, was the fact that WWE Survivor Series totally bombed. Buys fell from 319,000 to 235,000.
redit: F4WOnline.com
- WWE's Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 video game has shipped 3.5 million units already, putting it slightly ahead of UFC's Undisputed game. Still, the number for WWE's game is down from previous years.
- One of the reasons Serena Deeb was brought up to WWE's main roster is because she was the only woman in developmental that was willing to get her head shaved for the storyline with CM Punk. Some of the Divas in FCW who turned the opportunity down did themselves no favors.
Chris Jericho's Fozzy album, Chasing the Grail, failed to crack Billboard's Top 200 chart in its first week of release.
Despite a heavy promotional push which included Martyr No More being used as one of the official theme songs for this year's Royal Rumble PPV, the album sold a mere 2,200 copies in the United States in its first week out.
On a positive note, it ranked sixth in sales on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of the Billboard 200.
Chasing the Grail was released on 1/26 via Australia's Riot! Entertainment.
WWE Chairman/CEO Vince McMahon said on today's quarterly conference call with investors that the Survivor Series PPV will be scrapped in 2010 after WWE determined the concept is "obsolete."
"We think Survivor Series is obsolete," McMahon said. "It worked many, many years ago. It was one of the original four, but it's outlasted its usage."
McMahon added that "Survivor Series" will be re-branded in 2010 and the title will be going away.
"It's one of the PPVs we will be looking at in terms of re-branding. We will no longer have that title anymore," McMahon said.
Survivor Series 2009 was down 26.3 percent compared to the 2008 event. In WWE's fourth quarter, three re-branded PPVs were up in PPV buys, with Survivor Series being the only PPV that was down.
I can not believe Survivor Series is being scrapped. Such a good name for a PPV. It'll be something stupid now like Elimination Tag or something. Its bad enough they've scrapped No Way Out which was an awesome name for a PPV, now they're taking a PPV name away with such lineage.
Well if more people paid for it then maybe this wouldn't happening. I have watched Survivor Series since i was a child but i don't mind seeing it go. For the past 10 years or so it was never a true Survivor Series show anyway, the PPV lived off its name rather than the matches.
- WWE's Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 video game has shipped 3.5 million units already, putting it slightly ahead of UFC's Undisputed game. Still, the number for WWE's game is down from previous years.
- One of the reasons Serena Deeb was brought up to WWE's main roster is because she was the only woman in developmental that was willing to get her head shaved for the storyline with CM Punk. Some of the Divas in FCW who turned the opportunity down did themselves no favors.
Chris Jericho's Fozzy album, Chasing the Grail, failed to crack Billboard's Top 200 chart in its first week of release.
Despite a heavy promotional push which included Martyr No More being used as one of the official theme songs for this year's Royal Rumble PPV, the album sold a mere 2,200 copies in the United States in its first week out.
On a positive note, it ranked sixth in sales on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of the Billboard 200.
Chasing the Grail was released on 1/26 via Australia's Riot! Entertainment.
I'm surprised that CTG sold so few in the US - there were people reporting it selling out at Walmarts and other shops in its first weekend of release!
And as for Serena, good on you girl! The hair will grow back but the opportunity to get the screen time and be part of a decent storyline won't come along all that often. Shows you the difference in intelligence of some the developmental divas!
After the disappointing results of the show this year, Vince McMahon announced today that the Survivor Series has been dropped as an annual event.
The event, the second oldest annual event in company history, dating back to Thanksgiving of 1987, did 235,000 worldwide buys this year as compared to 319,000 the year before.
McMahon blamed the decline on the idea the team concept is obsolete, was good for its time but no longer resonates.
In reality, the decline from being one of the bigger events of 2008, was because of poor television build-up of the main events, and secondarily, coming one day after a UFC event.
The team concept has not even been a major part of the selling point of the show, but the name and history of it being a "big four" event has kept it among the bigger sellers most years. The elimination matches have usually been promoted as more along the lines of a high mid-card match, with the focus being on championship matches, this year being three-ways for Raw and Smackdown. The HHH vs. John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels buld up was heavily reliant on comedy, and that, more than the name of the event, was the reason for the major decline.
Obviously the company will do a new November event this year, with a new name.
I'm surprised that CTG sold so few in the US - there were people reporting it selling out at Walmarts and other shops in its first weekend of release!
And as for Serena, good on you girl! The hair will grow back but the opportunity to get the screen time and be part of a decent storyline won't come along all that often. Shows you the difference in intelligence of some the developmental divas!
With the serena thing, I think its because she genuinely wants to be in the industry ect. She came from the indy scene whereas other girls in fcw are former models who were approached.
Comments
Though pay-per-view revenue was down for the fiscal year and well below the UFC benchmark, WWE got a hint of good news in returns for its Q4 2009 events.
For the three months ending December 31, 2009, WWE's pay-per-view revenue rose from $15.9 million in 2008 to $16.3 million in 2009. Fueling the increase was a surge in buys for three of WWE's four pay-per-views; all demonstrating that WWE's new "gimmick" concept is generating additional interest over their B-show franchise counterparts.
Hell in a Cell for instance, posted 283,000 buys, compared with 261,000 for last year's WWE No Mercy. Bragging Rights was up to 181,000 over 153,000 for Cyber Sunday, while WWE TLC scored 228,000, beating the 193,000 for Armageddon.
The limiting factor on the revenue increase, however, was the fact that WWE Survivor Series totally bombed. Buys fell from 319,000 to 235,000.
redit: F4WOnline.com
- WWE's Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 video game has shipped 3.5 million units already, putting it slightly ahead of UFC's Undisputed game. Still, the number for WWE's game is down from previous years.
- One of the reasons Serena Deeb was brought up to WWE's main roster is because she was the only woman in developmental that was willing to get her head shaved for the storyline with CM Punk. Some of the Divas in FCW who turned the opportunity down did themselves no favors.
Chris Jericho's Fozzy album, Chasing the Grail, failed to crack Billboard's Top 200 chart in its first week of release.
Despite a heavy promotional push which included Martyr No More being used as one of the official theme songs for this year's Royal Rumble PPV, the album sold a mere 2,200 copies in the United States in its first week out.
On a positive note, it ranked sixth in sales on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of the Billboard 200.
Chasing the Grail was released on 1/26 via Australia's Riot! Entertainment.
WWE Chairman/CEO Vince McMahon said on today's quarterly conference call with investors that the Survivor Series PPV will be scrapped in 2010 after WWE determined the concept is "obsolete."
"We think Survivor Series is obsolete," McMahon said. "It worked many, many years ago. It was one of the original four, but it's outlasted its usage."
McMahon added that "Survivor Series" will be re-branded in 2010 and the title will be going away.
"It's one of the PPVs we will be looking at in terms of re-branding. We will no longer have that title anymore," McMahon said.
Survivor Series 2009 was down 26.3 percent compared to the 2008 event. In WWE's fourth quarter, three re-branded PPVs were up in PPV buys, with Survivor Series being the only PPV that was down.
I'm surprised that CTG sold so few in the US - there were people reporting it selling out at Walmarts and other shops in its first weekend of release!
And as for Serena, good on you girl! The hair will grow back but the opportunity to get the screen time and be part of a decent storyline won't come along all that often. Shows you the difference in intelligence of some the developmental divas!
I look forward with interest to see what its new name is going to be
With the serena thing, I think its because she genuinely wants to be in the industry ect. She came from the indy scene whereas other girls in fcw are former models who were approached.