The BEST SELLING PPVs in WWE HISTORY!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Before WWE PPVs began airing on the WWE Network for just $9.99 a month, they were sold each month on a PPV basis. The way to determine if a show was a success or not was from looking at the buyrate. Which was the total count of PPVs sold.
WWE Buyrate's are so fascinating to me for so many reasons, because with these figures you can learn so much about the wrestling business and its history, simply by looking at what people wanted to pay for, and what they didn’t
What year was the company the hottest, what year was it the coldest, which wrestlers were actually draws, which were not, which rivalries made money, which didn’t, what PPV was an amazing wrestling show but didn’t have people tuned in and so on,
So i decided to nerd out and go deep into WWE PPV buyrate history from 1985 to 2014 which was when the WWE Network was launched, and in this video we are going to talk about the most successful shows the WWE had in its PPV era,
THESE ARE THE BEST SELLING PPVS IN WWE HISTORY!
wrestlenomics....
My nerdiest video ever lol, please don’t let this flop 😹😹
NERDS UNITE
DORK!
Let's start a nerd chain
GEEK!
Good video
The Armageddon 2000 buy rate is really shocking. I would've assumed that would be one of the highest buy rates because it's literally the biggest stars of the time in a HIAC match of all matches, like how could you not want to watch that and the Attitude Era wasn't even over yet.
I remember being a kid and while not keeping up super close with WWF back then, looking at the 6-way HIAC I went "Oh, you guys are desperate and out of ideas. Why else would you throw every big star inside a HIAC?" If I was thinking that and didn't care, I'm sure other casual viewers weren't drawn in by the potential spectacle of that match.
December buy rates are never high
@@pleaseshutup7053 Unless you're Starrcade 97.
I think there are a couple of things coming together here. December buy rates tend to be low all over the place due to holiday season and people being busy. And the big wrestling boom of the 90es was starting to lose some steam in the fall of 2000. WCW was on its last legs and some angles in WWF like the whole "who run over Austin" were god awful. We also had seen the same like 6-7 wrestlers around the main even for the past 3-4 years, so I think there was a bit of fatigue. Finally, HIAC matches aren't that interesting without good storytelling or all time spots like the Taker-Mankind match. It's screams we're running out of ideas, I remember not being very hyped for it as a kid.
@Edelweiss1102 I'd add that Angle's title reign was beginning to get stale.
Summerslam 2007 had so many buy rates because it had Triple H’s return from his second quad injury
And Rey mysterios too. Plus Cena Vs ortons build. And unfortunately the Benoit tragedy had people watching and waiting to see how they’d react to it.
Two returns really boosted the buyrates
Exactly im surprised he didnt mention this in the video. Cause I remember being a kid and being hyped to see Rey and HHH return! Plus before HHH got hurt he was with HBK doing DX and being a kid seeing all the DX stuff and hype for his return made me excited for a DX reunion down the line.
Pav giving us wrestling history lessons we got to have the biggest flops next
Mania 3 would have had 4 million buys if ppv was widely available. In my home town they showed it closed circuit because ppv was only available in like a third of the town and it cost $50 in 1987
The impact of legends like Hogan,Austin,Rock & Cena can never be overstated...one lead the global expansion,the second two took it to the limit & saved the company while the last guy kept it afloat during a down time in wrestling.
great point about Cena is is the last true star in WWE i.e. he actually legitimately drew money. Nowadays the brand (. mostly) draws the money not the talent themselves although wrestling will always need stars at the end of the day
Cena did not keep afloat stop it. WWE was the only show in town they haven’t been in trouble since 99
@@alexandru5369 I would still argue that as big as cena was by that point vince was burnt by hogan,austin & rock for walking out on him that he made sure to put the brand ahead of the star...same goes for roman.
@@pleaseshutup7053 business wise they were gradually dipping since 01, sure they became the only game in town(not counting TNA) but they had nobody to carry the ball after rock went Hollywood, so even though I hate the revisionist bs they peddle these days about him, I gotta give dude his flowers, he carried the company on his back for almost a decade.
@ cena didn’t carry anything you didn’t watch this video? 2007 when cena got hurt sales went up and ppv. 2010 when cena was pushes as the main guy the first year of super cena the buy rates were horrible they didn’t start to go up until the rock came back since 2011 is when Vince started using legends for big shows. Vince pushing cena and only cena holding stars back hurt wwe
07 Sumerslam being a high buy ppv was DEFINITELY because of their Marketing- THey were SOOOO fucking good that year for summerslam marketing with the whole summer vibes promos with HHH AND Mysterio returning that night helped a lot as well
@@austinburgess7131 and more people were watching the product because of the incident that happen a couple months prior
I wish buy rates still existed. I just wanna see which buffoons wanted to watch royal rumble 2022.
2019-mid 2022 WWE buy rates would be interesting to look at
Lmao shit would have been pathetic but it’s weird cause buyrates don’t reflect the quality of the actual show right especially rumble, people going to be excited regardless
But I wonder like what Mania 38 would have done on both nights, Austin’s match / Cody rumours vs Roman vs Brock 👀
@@WrestlinGifs keep going Pav, your doing great!
@WrestlinGifs Real shit man. 💯 I would've loved to see certain ppv buy rates. Also hilarious survivor series stream 🤣
I would have loved to see what Wrestlemania 40’s nitrate would have been. Probably in the top 3.
Pav U gotta do a video abt your favorite episodes of smackdown or raw
Predicting some from this year will end up on it, also premiere on Netflix too
A big reason for 07 Summerslam being high for me is the return of both Rey Mysterio and Triple H.
Consistent pav 🙏
Pav, I’ve been watching your videos since 2020 when I was getting myself driven to the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression Era even more since my mom and aunt introduced 5 year old me to wrestling back in 2006 living in Bangladesh. Your videos about the Ruthless Aggression Era made me know a lot more about those years that I didn’t know back then. Every video of yours never fail to turn back time, and it feels a fresh breath to see you geeked out even more in this video. I wish I could have met you at WM 40 earlier this year. It’s a good day when Pav uploads a video. Cheers!
Summerslam 2007 had the return of Triple H from his second quad injury
Damn Pav chill, we can't handle these consistent uploads lol. (Don't stop it's great)
Bro you’re cooking with these drops
Props for using "You know how we do it (Instrumental)" by Ice Cube, very chill, actually one of my favourite tunes of all time
This was a facinating video. Please more informative videos like this.
I'd love to see you tackle a subject along the lines of something like "Times when WWE were at an all-time low", I feel like that would be a pretty interesting video!
That would be cool. I think 2019 stands out with how badly WWE handled the reaction to AEW's creation. They basically crashed out trying to outdo the new folks. They've more than bounced back but 2019 might very well be the low point of WWE in the years I've been watching. I've been watching since 1999 and lived through the Guest Host Era,but 2019 was just terrible.
I love the numbers! Great video, bro!
Appreciate u bro 🙏🏼
Wrestlingifs giving us a history lesson. Awesome!
I remember Royal Rumble 2010, WM26, & WM28 on PPV.
Me and a distant cousin were watching RR 2010, and we both went nuts when Edge came out. I was so excited when Jericho almost made it to the final lol.
My sister who grew up watching Rock and Austin, and me watching mid 2000s to early 2010s (Super Cena), us on the couch watching Cena Vs. Rock was truly fun and we were both flinching at every nearfall.
I really wish the invasion angle had ALL of the wcw stars- hell, I wish they would’ve continued on with the WCW show and had it on wednesdays or something. It would’ve been very interesting to see.
Biggest missed booking opportunity in history, potential to be the most exciting angle in history but instead was mid
The Rock, Austin, HHH, Undertaker & Kane Vs Goldberg, Sting, Flair, Nash & Hogan….
Just imagine it man.
That would've been incredible
Vince couldn’t wait
They even could have used what little they had better. WCW turned an IC champ, the lowest drawing WWF champion of all time and the star of the previous decade, who many at the time fought was washed, into the hottest and biggest angle of all time, so it's not like you can't do anything. They made DDP job to Takers wife, they had Kanyon and RVD and did jack diddly doo with them until November and had Booker immediately job to a returning Rock.
I think it's pretty obvious that Vince was never interested in telling a great invasion story. He just wanted to get the money to be made with what he had at the time, while still sticking it to the WCW guys, and then move on with his new monopoly.
The amount for No Way Out 2001 Vs Judgement Day 2001 just goes to show you how screwy Austin’s X-Seven heel turn made things.
@@DougieYT all they had to do was have HHH stay face but nooooo
@@WrestlinGifs Right but we just had to get Rikishi who ended up as a face by the time 2001 ended 😭
@@WrestlinGifs also shows how vital Rock was. They had no other babyface that was ready to step into that role as the top guy to face Austin. I don't think HHH would have worked at that point for long as he was still way too entrenched with being a heel and he still would have had Stephanie by his side, drawing in more heat.
The fact that on Wikipedia it says that WrestleMania 23 did 1,250,000 buyrates is wild 😭.
Stumbled across your channel the other day, keep up the good work brother
Rumble 02 had so much hype. HHH came back as a face after missing 01’. Flair and Vince was something we’ll never see. And it was rumor the NWO was supposed to come out but they held off for the next month for no way out ppv
As someone who bought Rumble 02. The build was astronomical even though in hind sight we should’ve seen Triple H winning and they promoted the returns of Mr.Perfect, Godfather, Goldust, Val Venis. Ric Flairs first match on PPV back in WWE against Vince. The Rock vs Y2J for the belt. Plus 2000/2001 were some of the best rumble years ever so it seemed right. Plus without the internet back then you never knew which former ECW and WCW guys could appear at the rumble. I miss that wrestling unpredictable excitement
12:53 can we talk about that SummerSlam box set in cooler box? Creative, I like it
I think the royal rumble match itself is so unique and entertaining and there’s always rumors surprise entrants.
And yeah I had Summerslam 2005 on dvd and it’s one of the most stacked cards ever it could have been a wrestlemania.
The drop off outside of mania is insane, makes me reconsider how much I hated the way Vince booked. Not that I ever wanna go back, ever
The reason why the 2006 Rumble would’ve done well was all Edge and Cena.
Edge did huge business for WWE in 2006 in that 3 weeks he was WWE champion.
Edge had a short 3 week WWE title reign in early 2006, but they crammed everything in those 3 weeks, Edge did more in those 3 weeks for WWE than some WWE champions have done since then.
Can't wait to hear about December to Dismember
I love this channel sm
Seeing the president of the United States take a stone cold stunner will never not be wild 😂
Secretary of Education took one too
So did the Mayor of Knocksville
@@Asheto320c and they were the two worst stunners of all time.
bro just casually dropping banger videos very often 🔥
I went to Mania 28 and summerslam 98 and 07 and i am from the UK. Most highest ppv sale events. 07 summerslam did high cos triple h returned again from a quad tear.
Yeah I understand but still, it was against Booker T, wasn’t even that big of a match
People want to deny triple h is a draw
Don't forget that Rey Mysterio was coming back as well
Great video as always Pav, I think its appropriate you should do the WCW PPV next. Hope you interested to make it
No Mercy 07, my favorite poster
I love content about buys and views and stats!
Always special when Gifs posts, but even more special when it’s on my birthday 🙏🏼🤘🏽
You were 2 during invasion ppv and 9 for 07 mercy. It's cool that you went back and looked at the history.
WrestleMania 23 in 2007 I believe was the highest selling PPV on home video (DVD) in WWE history.
The Mania 23 DVD sold extremely well, as well as the PPV buyrate.
I remember at the time Mania 23 did huge business back in 2007.
Say what you want about Trump, but the guy draws attention.
I got the DVD as a gift from my uncle, never had cable tv growing up so I never saw a ppv event until I got older and bought it to heal my inner child lol
I love your videos pav
Loved the video brother 🩵🩵🩵
Pav definitely stole something from perc angle's medicine cabinet because I'm not use to him dropping stuff on a weekly basis
I'm not complaining tho...I love this channel🎉
Loving The Consistency. Now Give Us The Christmas Gift And Upload The Storytime With Mama Pav & End The Year On A Good Note. 🤙🏽
I got u brother
We have been waiting for you our Tribal Gifs
Seeing all the ppv buys it shows Cena and The Rock are big 2 WWE superstar
More like the rock is the big 1
Pav with another W upload
Thank u so much.
I love this video
@@omegafire616 sequel dropping either tonight or tomorrow ❤️
Never really bought any PPV's. But my uncle and grandpa got some good ones, like WM25 AND Bragging right when Batista turned heal on Rey
Commenting for the algorithm so we can get more of these typa videos
@@tyrique8619 appreciate u
if i had to make a guess why Invasion did so well, people probably thought a few big WCW names were going to show up
That WM3 number is insane shows how hot Hogan was at his peak. Also no surprise for 27 ( unfortunately) and and 23
Its wild to me that out of the top 10 wrestlemanias i only like 5 of them only 2 are in the top 5. Mayb im outta touch or sumthin idu why alot of these are popular at all
Which Manias are they?
Imagine how bad some of those buy rates would have been in the late 2010s early 2020s
Stomping Grounds 2019… 70,000 buyrates max
as a well educated university proffessor once so wisly said.....the numbers dont lie.
Oh we love that bro😂
Batista was the man! Glad you brought that up
This could easily have a part 2
VIDEO IDEAS
BEST CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH OF EVER TITLE IN WWE AND NXT
I don’t think anybody has ever said The Rock isn’t a draw 😂 He is the biggest in the game by some considerable distance.
Armageddon 2000 doesn’t shock me since everything else on the card looked meh like who wants to see Right to censored be on the majority of the card? as great as that main event is would’ve passed on it too
Another excellent video!
Appreciate you bro! 🙏🏼
I did not think that WrestleMania 23 sold that much at all, I always thought it was one of the more underrated WrestleManias.
@@TheSuperCenaFan nice to see u on here 🙏🏼
@@WrestlinGifs thanks bro
I mean Summerslam 07 also got a lot of buys cause of HHH returning, could also be a factor
A cool video idea could be the worst buy rates but ended being a very solid show
Batista in 2005 was by far the biggest star the company, he was bigger than Cena at that time.
When went wrong for Batista was he got injured at the worst time, in January 2006, during the start of the Edge and Cena stuff.
So Batista got injured and was out for 6 months, that really hurt Batista’s stock, as by the time Batista came back in July 2006, Cena was then full on the biggest star in the company.
Oh if you would’ve told fans in 2005 that Cena would be the bigger name of the two you would’ve been laughed at, as Batista in 2005 was so fucking over and the biggest name in the company in 2005.
I wonder how the numbers look on the network like what’s the biggest ppv people go back to
Probably WrestleMania 17
Summerslam 2002 also up there
I would have been shocked if Mania 28 wasn't number 1 because there was nothing more hyped than that. I remember everyone talking about it (everyone in my house wanted The Rock to win, I was the only one wanting Cena to win lol) and when I got the Mania 28 magazine for the show, it said for Rock Vs Cena that "the world is watching" and they didn't lie.
Notification squad!!🎉🎉🎉
🔥🔥vid
Do a video on mark henry's 2011 run
As someone who barely watches WWE these days I can confirm that the only 2 PPVs I care about are Wrestlemania and the Rumble
My favorite channel
Appreciate you
I misread this as best storytelling ppvs that would be a good idea for a video too
12:52 you should make a video showing your WWE dvd collection
You should also do maybe most watched raws and smack downs or the most bought ppvs outside of wwe
yeah most watched raws/smackdowns would be cool!
Lol it’s all from 98-2001
@@pleaseshutup7053 well i was born 02 so i would appreciate a video breakdown 🤣
Plus it's basically all
Rock/Steve Austin stuff @@pleaseshutup7053
This proves that just because a PPV/PLE has great buy rates the actual event itself doesn't have to be great like the aforementioned Royal Rumble 2014
WrestleMania 23 did 1,250,000 that’s the biggest! Wrestlenomics has it on there.
Another W vid 🗣️
Invasion 2001 is the biggest non Mania PPV buyrate in WWE history
WrestleMania 28 is my favorite WrestleMania in the 20s I was so happy to see my favorite wrestler The Rock return for a match against John Cena and I was so happy when The Rock won
Now this is very interesting
SumerSlam 2005 would’ve done well because it was Hogan vs Shawn
I'm so surprised that MIB 2011 not being in the list
sadly it’s on the next one😭
We need another STORY TIME with PAV
Can you do top streamed ppvs of all time
@@DeejoPeejo no way to get that info :(
@ had a feeling 💔
@ can we get another episode of the iwc back in the day. Or can you do week by week rundowns of feuds or storylines ?
I think if people ever doubt the star power of Rock "The Dwayne" Johnson, just show him these numbers. That WM 27 number was basically him walking off the street and helping to draw in that many people for what was an absolute 💩 card! I'm also not surprised how well the Invasion ppv did cause people forget how anticipated that event was and that go home Raw did a great job in drawing in interest with the return of "The Real" Stone Cold.
WM 22 might be the most slept on Mania and I'm glad it did that well, that was in the middle of that Mania Hot Streak of quality shows from 17 to 24.
Pav can we get your 2025 WWE predictions?
Now im interested in the lowest buyrate ppvs
@@Wheresmyvape11 dropping tomorrow
I remember begging my mom and doing a shit ton of chores so she would order WM23 for me 😂😂😂😂😂
Them ppv was expensive for it's time 34.95 equilvant in 2024 would be around $120 for its time
PAV HAS RETURNED....OH HAPPY DAY 😊
Another Wrestlin Gif's Upload Les Gooooooo🎉
Here in India we do not have ppv system and wwe is very famous....these ppv numbers don't do justice to the actual number of people who watch wrestling
Are we ever getting "What made WrestleMania 20 so ___?"
It's been four years :(
Aye, Gifs! What's happenin' !! 🔥🔥🔥
"If you think rock is overreated Just look at these numbers" so sad those numbers doesn't reflect anymore in the teathers 😂
What you mean?
@@jeevanpb3479 he’s hating on the rocks acting career
@@pleaseshutup7053 box office wise having some underwhelming projects wont cause that much problem for him because of his impeccable longevity and track record success which indeed leads to having some failure affordable because he is that high and big stature
9:58 Put some respect on my man Henry's name, chief