WWE WrestleMania 28: There Is No Way the Company Did 1.9 Million Buys

First, let me put up a few notes.

1. This is an opinion piece about WWE. These will simply be my thoughts on a recent Twitter post from ESPN's Gus Ramsey.

2. I am a huge, positive-thinking WWE fan. You will get very little "fantasy booking" from me, as I try to stick to logic, numbers and sense. That much is undeniable.

3. WrestleMania on Sunday night was a top notch show.

With that being said, there has been a big uproar over Gus Ramsey claiming WWE received 1.9 million buys from Mania this week. For his part, he said it was not confirmed (just what he heard).

Now, this man is very legitimate. It is not some phony account or no-name. Gus is well-known in the sports world; he is definitely very trustworthy.

However, I just can't convince myself this is true. I just can't. I give this about a one percent chance of being true.

Here are just a few reason why:

1. This came out just two days after the event. Usually, numbers start coming out about a month after the show. By two months, we have a final number.

To get an estimate just 48 hours after the PPV ended is just absurd. Unless he counted every single purchase by hand or knows someone who did, I doubt he would be that quick on the draw.

2. Gus is definitely legitimate in the sports world. He is a wrestling fan, but since when does he break wrestling news? Especially such a huge story.

I think we all remember Rob Lowe claiming that Peyton Manning was retiring. Of course, he later backtracked a little, and now, Peyton is on the Denver Brocnos in the NFL.

Sometimes, outside "sources" do not mean validity.

3. The biggest buy rate in WWE history was WrestleMania 23 in 2007. That garnered 1,250,000 million buys.

Second place was last year's show, with about 1,100,000 million buys. Those are the two top in the history of this company.

To think they shattered the record by nearly 700,000 buys is ridiculous. I believe they got a huge buy for Sunday's show. I can believe that.

However, over 1.9 million buys is an "out-of-this-world" number! That is more than top UFC shows or even many Mike Tyson fights. Even Floyd Mayweather boxing matches!

That buy rate is not just incredible. It is beyond belief in my mind. Again, I give this the slightest possibility of being truthful.

On a final note proclaiming the number to be false, I am just going to assume Gus meant to type in 1.09 million, not 1.9 million. That is my guess. He simply made a typo.

Just under 1.1 million buys is definitely good news and much more believable. Skyrocketing to nearly two million buys (at over $50 each), that is about $100 million in revenue.

Yes, WWE does not get all the profit. Yes, cable companies get about half. In the end, it wouldn't matter. Sunday was a hugely successful night.

For the small, small, small chance it is correct, I only have a few thoughts.

1. The year-long build will continue. If the company really got 1.9 million buys, who can fault WWE for doing another major feud all year? Who will argue with such an earth-shattering number?

2. I think all the talk about The Rock not deserving his spot can officially end. He had one feud, two matches in the past eight years and was barely on WWE TV.

If you can't "get over" in that time, you just aren't as good. Again, stop blaming others. Start looking in the mirror. Nearly two million buys speaks for itself.

3. The Brock Lesnar buzz from the weekend did help. I don't care if you are a UFC or WWE fan. When Lesnar was talked about over the past week, you had to feel excited for Mania.

4. Finally, ratings have been flat over the past month, then jumped up this week. That tells me people knew WrestleMania was on April 1. Fans were already sold on the show.

Raw wasn't going to do anything. Smackdown sure wasn't. Fans knew John Cena vs. The Rock was coming, so they shelled out money to watch Sunday and the next night.

Never forget, UFC would only get 1.0 ratings on Spike TV, yet garner huge PPV buys. Some would even top 1,000,000 on a regular basis a few years ago. Monster ratings do not always equal monster buys. Always remember that!

All I do is caution folks reading "news" on the Internet. Far too many reports come out, people believe and are meaningless or proven wrong within hours.

In this case, I would love to believe WWE got 1.9 million buys. It would be, by far, the most successful show in company history.

However, I just can't see it.

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