Wrestlemania #23: Will #28 Break Its Record?
Wrestlemania 23, really headlined by Vince vs. Trump, did 1.2 million buys. Do you think Rock vs. Cena will break that?I think so. Last year with Rock in the undefined role of Host, they did over a million. With him vs. Cena, I don’t see how they couldn’t. adding in the Cell and the other celebrity stuff, I can’t picture it not happening.
Thoughts?
I know this off the point, but I find it really concerning that the old guys are still headlining wrestlemania. What are they going to do when Triple H and Undertaker a long break, Chris Jericho leaves after the summer and the Rock will probably only wrestle once a year. So with that in mind Dolph Zigger and co have got to step up their game or the future for WWE looks awful.
I think if they had done things differently, this could have been a record-breaking ‘Mania. A year ago, before this main event was announced, it would have seemed absurd to guess that a WrestleMania headlined by Rock/Cena could do poorly. But here we are, the week of WrestleMania 28, in The Rock’s hometown, for The Rock’s second match ever in 8 years, against the biggest star of the last 8 years, John Cena…and I do not see the buys breaking the 1 million mark. Again, if you had asked me one year ago, I would have said “Yes, of course,” in a heartbeat. But over the last several months, Rock and Cena (especially Cena) have done nothing but tear each other down and make each other look like immature little children.
This WrestleMania should be bigger than it is. This match should be bigger than it is. I think the event will still do very well, but not as well as it could have. If done right, this could have easily broken some records. As it stands now, my official prediction is between 900,000 and 1,000,000. A safe bet would be 950,000. Which is less than WrestleManias 27 & 25, but more than WrestleMania 26.
A shame, really.
I invite all of you to Follow me on my brand new Twitter account, where I talk nothing but wrestling. https://twitter.com/#!/WrestlingwWords
My prediction is that it won’t even come close. Wrestlemania 23 was the last pre-Depression Wrestlemania. The economy has been down across the board in recent years and PPV buy rates are no exception.
A large reason for my pessimism is just how bad Wrestlemania 27 was. If you hadn’t watched wrestling in a few years because of how much Cena sucks and you spent $60 (or whatever they charge) to see The Rock and got that awful show, you aren’t going to be very interested in spending more money on a WWE PPV event. It may just be me, but I’ve thought that pretty much every WWE PPV for the last year has been awful (and I don’t remember the shows from the previous year being that bad).
Raw this past week drew a 3.04 rating. At its best, Raw this year has drawn ratings far worse than last year. Given that WWE is barely drawing above a 3 in Wrestlemania season, I fear just how bad the ratings for Raw will be when September rolls around and they’re going head-to-head with Monday Night Football.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wrestlemania 28 did a buyrate of around 750 to 800 thousand. That would still be twice what a typical Jon Jones (one of UFC’s best draws) fight does and around level with Anderson Silva and GSP’s typical numbers. The recent Brock Lesnar fight did 800 thousand buys, but that wasn’t a title fight. Lesnar’s last 2 title fights did a 1.1 and 1.0 million buyrate respectively.
Predictions of 1.2-1.5 million are absurd. Wrestlemania 27 had more buzz and WWE was doing better TV ratings a year ago. In the past year, UFC’s buyrates have fallen significantly. The buyrate for the Royal Rumble dropped from 446 thousand to 438 thousand. Based on WWE’s Q1 financial reports, the Elimination Chamber buyrate can be estimated at 180 thousand. Last year’s Chamber drew 199 thousand. When WWE’s TV ratings are down, WWE’s buyrates are down and PPV buyrates are down in general, it is ridiculous to predict that Wrestlemania will draw a record buyrate.
While the Depression is a valid excuse for the low buyrates, it is not a valid excuse for WWE’s TV ratings woes. That is a result of their decision to go PG and their decision to keep pushing Cena as the top face even though it is plainly obvious that he has been a disaster (spin it however you want, but a wrestler who receives “go-away heat” from half the fans should not be pushed as the top face). Cena’s promo on Raw is just another example of how WWE still doesn’t get it. The Rock was once a face who got a mixed reaction. The difference was that WWE turned him heel and changed his character, which actually got him over.
You couldn’t be more wrong. The WWE was PG in the Attitude Era, explain that. Cena makes the WWE MILLIONS of dollars a year, how is that hurtful to the WWE? Cena hate is stupid (he doesn’t deserve the hate he gets) as he is actually entertaining but people just refuse to admit it. Ratings have been in the 3s for years (usually falling to high 2s or low 3s during MNF). PPV buys are in the range for what they have been doing for a while. This trend set in after the wars ended (around 2002-2003 thus making wrestling less popular because there is no war anymore and the wrestling bubble popped) and not because of Cena.
You blaming this all on Cena and a tv rating (which pg means that if a little kid watches wrestling, his mom or dad a should watch it with him and tell him to not copy the stuff the wrestlers do) is just pure stupidity.
Rock vs Cena has a good chance of breaking it, but overall I don’t think it’ll happen.
My guess is between 1.2-1.5 Million.
If last year’s crap fest of a Mania can, there’s no way this one WON’T.
I’m guessing somewhere between 1.25-1.5 million buys for this one.