WWE News: WrestleMania to Be Offered for Free?

WrestleMania is, without fail, WWE's most revenue-grabbing event of the fiscal year, and a lot of that has to do with the number of PPV buys it garners, often in excess of one million.

However, according to Larry Csonka of 411mania.com, who recently became privy to a fan survey, the new WWE Network, which is set to be launched in 2012, will not only exclusively feature WrestleMania, but the other three "BIG" extravaganzas in Summerslam, Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble.

These events are (tentatively) set to be offered to those who subscribe to the WWE Network, which will also present a mix of past archival wrestling footage and new programming. Fortunately, as fans would be happy to read, the monthly fee will come at a very affordable price, ranging between $7-$12.

Essentially, this Big-4 event offer would save fans oodles of money—over $200 annually if they were to purchase these very same events on PPV. Actually, one way of looking at it is that these four events would essentially be free perks rewarded to those who subscribe.

The good news doesn't stop there, as the WWE Network is also slated to feature two new live in-ring shows, in addition to RAW and Smackdown and will also have in-studio daily updates throughout the day similar to ESPN's Sportscenter format.

Certainly, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the WWE is going the extra mile to entice viewers, via financially feasible means, to become loyal patrons of the WWE Network.

From a business standpoint, though, it remains to be seen if the elimination of the big-4 events from the PPV schedule, to be featured as essentially gifts to subscribers, would accrue, or at least offset, the revenue to be gained if they were still PPV-exclusive. Undoubtedly, the WWE is banking on fans to run to the new network in droves.

Will you?