Was WWE SummerSlam 2011 a PPV Success? Results (and Analysis) Are In

SummerSlam 2011 has come and gone and, for posterity's sake, will be remembered for Randy Orton soundly defeating Christian in a barbaric no-holds-barred match, as well as the surprise aftermath of the CM Punk vs. John Cena contest for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

While the 24th installment of the annual tradition may have been an immediate live-event success, selling out Staples Center with 17,404 raucous WWE fans, and grossing over $1 million (setting a Staples Center record), results, however, indicate a different story.

Bluntly stated, WWE officials cannot be pleased, as the 2011 edition of SummerSlam saw a 14 percent decrease from the previous year, according to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com.

To put it in numerical terms, this year's "biggest event of the summer" garnered only 301,000 buys, 127,000 of which were domestic, leaving the remainder of 174,000 from the international marketplace.

For perspective, last year's show, headlined by The Nexus versus Team WWE, attracted 350,000 purchases. The year before, SummerSlam 2009, with the main selling points being the return of Degeneration-X, Cena vs. Orton and a Punk-Jeff Hardy TLC match, earned 369,000 orders.

So, what can be attributed to this year's drop of 49,000 buys from the prior year?

Since there are no more ways to gain access to an illegal PPV stream compared to just one year ago, technology cannot be blamed for the discrepancy.

Moreover, the public viewing places (sports bars, restaurants) licensed to show WWE PPV events have not considerably increased either, to the point where the ratio of PPV orders to viewers is still relatively the same.

Consequently, only two causes can be attributed to the decrease: 1) The lack of promotion for matches other than those involving title belts, and 2) The mishandling of the Punk-Cena storyline, which also saw the interjection of Triple H.

The former is a more than valid point, because the full card was not announced ahead of the event, an anomaly for a major WWE PPV.

Underscoring this fact are the lack of awareness for Cee-Lo Green's performance, as well as the minimal to nonexistent marketing of the Bryan-Barrett and Mysterio/Morrison/Kingston-Miz/Truth/Del-Rio matches.

The latter is also a pointed issue, as many would argue the WWE rushed CM Punk's return, undermining anticipation for the eventual undisputed match.

Arguably, the feud became contrived when Punk and Cena took turns pandering to the crowd at the end of one RAW episode, to the tune of dueling theme music.

Compounding the flawed build-up was the sudden reappearance and reallocation of the spotlight on the new COO and special referee, Triple H.

What do you think was the reason?

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