Why the WWE Network Means the End of Wrestling Pay-Per-View

Forgive me for sounding like an advertisement here, but the WWE Network will revolutionize professional wrestling. 

For the first time ever, the WWE will have a 24/7 network that will be dedicated to anything and everything pro-wrestling related, and it will change the business as a whole. 

The WWE Network will features shows that are unlike anything we’ve seen before, live matches, and some classic footage, among a wide variety of new programming. So, needless to say, Vince McMahon is taking a huge risk with this channel. 

He’ll be investing a ton of money into the production of the WWE Network and the promotion of it, and if it fails, he will take a colossal hit to his bank account. 

What will make the WWE Network even riskier is if McMahon decides to move pay-per-views to the network and start billing them as “live specials” instead. PPV buys are a big part of the WWE’s revenue, and taking them away can only be offset through subscriptions to the WWE Network. 

Believe it or not, though, I actually think that the launch of McMahon’s network sometime in the fall of this year will spell the end of wrestling pay-per-views. Maybe not immediately, but at some point down the road. 

There have been a number of varying reports about what the WWE will do with PPVs once the network launches, and no one seems to know for sure how the company’s PPV philosophy will change. 

But I think we can all agree that it will change in some way, and that it may very well be the end of PPVs as we know them. 

It’s no secret that the WWE’s PPV concept is outdated. There are too many PPVs, the PPVs cost too much, and many of them are often “throwaway” PPVs that receive little to no build. 

This was never more evident than in 2011 when Vengeance scored the second lowest buyrate in WWE history and The Rock’s return to the ring had only a minimal effect on the Survivor Series buyrate. 

The WWE seems to have finally realized that it has a PPV problem, and is at least trying to fix it by making a number of changes to the 2012 PPV schedule.  

But if the first half of 2012 comes and goes and buyrates are staying largely the same, I have no doubt that the WWE will be in line for a major PPV overhaul that sees the vast majority of, if not all, pay-per-views move to the WWE Network. 

The success of doing so depends on a lot of factors, but the main key to success is this: The WWE has to find out how many subscribers to the WWE Network it will need in order to offset the loss of revenue without PPVs. 

This is a completely hypothetical situation, but let’s say that the WWE Network costs $15 a month, which translates to $180 pear. Meanwhile, the WWE now has 12 PPVs per year at 50 bucks a pop, which translates to $600 per year. 

Essentially, that means that the company will need roughly three times as many people to subscribe to the WWE Network each month as it has been getting to purchase pay-per-views. Call me crazy, but that seems completely doable. 

I, for one, know that I’d be a hell of a lot more likely to pay 15 bucks a month for the WWE Network and PPVs than I would to drop 50 bucks a month for PPVs only, and I know a lot of wrestling fans feel the same way. 

Obviously, there are other factors involved here, but this is the basis of what the WWE’s dilemma currently is—just broken down into much simpler terms. 

Regardless, I’m confident that the WWE will realize that—assuming the right clearances are in place for the WWE Network—the best way to both please the fans and maximize the company’s profit is to end its current PPV philosophy, move the PPVs to the network and then bill them as live specials. 

Will it be a massive risk? Absolutely. 

But the fact that the current PPV concept just isn’t working, coupled with the launch of the WWE Network and the complaints of the fans, lead me to believe that there will never be a better chance of seeing the end of wrestling PPVs than there is right now. 

Yes, wrestling PPVs as a whole, because if the WWE charges less money for access to the WWE Network and PPVs than TNA does for PPVs alone, TNA will move away from PPVs as well. 

And then, the dominoes will continue to fall. 

So, look for the WWE to explore the possibility of ending PPVs—likely by running a live special or two on the WWE Network near the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013—and based on how that goes, the company will alter its PPV philosophy accordingly. 

And by that, I mean we’ll be saying so long and farewell to PPVs as we know them.

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