WWE News: Vengeance PPV Draws Second-Lowest Buyrate in WWE History

Since August, the WWE has held five pay-per-view events in SummerSlam, Night of Champions, Hell in a Cell, Vengeance and Survivor Series. 

Some—like SummerSlam and Survivor Series—were very entertaining, while the others were largely forgettable and not exactly worth the money. Much to the surprise of no one, that is generally reflected in the WWE’s PPV buyrates. 

What's more, one of those recent shows, Vengeance, did historically poorly in terms of PPV buys. 

From the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via SEScoops.com): 

"

WWE’s Vengeance pay-per-view event on October 23, 2011 garnered 130,000 buys overall—70,000 in North America and 60,000 overseas.

With the exception of the disastrous December to Dismember pay-per-view event in 2006, Vengeance is the lowest-selling domestic pay-per-view event in WWE history—dating back to the infancy of pay-per-view in the 1980s. December to Dismember, which was branded as an ECW event, drew 55,000 buys in North America...

Vengeance was headlined by Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena in a Last Man Standing Match, Mark Henry vs. Big Show in a World Heavyweight Championship Match, and Awesome Truth vs. CM Punk and Triple H.

"

Wow. That’s absolutely terrible. 

Considering that the card was actually pretty decent, WWE officials might be in panic mode here—and they ought to be. 

The company has to seriously reconsider its PPV philosophy. If the Vengeance PPV proves anything, it’s that its current model doesn’t work. You can’t have five PPVs in a four-month span and still expect people to buy them. 

The economy still isn’t great, people don’t have a ton of money to spend on things that aren’t essential to survival and no one’s going to want to shell out 50 bucks for a B-level WWE PPV. That’s just the way it is. 

I know that Vince McMahon probably doesn’t want to cut down to anything less than 12 PPVs in a year. However, if so many PPVs keep tanking, he might have no choice but to do so.

I think something like eight to 10 per year would work, with the idea that more people will buy the PPVs if they happen less often and are of higher quality. 

I’m just not sure Vince sees things the way I do.