Daniel Bryan & Summerslam Buy Rate

[Lockard 23]

I thought the build and everything going into the PPV was fantastic, so I'd be hard-pressed to blame the lower-than-expected buyrate on that. Maybe some disagree, but really, what else could they have done better to build and promote the double main event? The fans chose Daniel Bryan loud and clear (literally) as the guy they wanted to see challenge Cena for the championship. They showcased Brock Lesnar as the indestructible monster and Punk as the "never say die" babyface who was determined at all cost to bring "The Beast" down and defeat him. They crafted a brilliant underdog story for both matches really well. If all of that wasn't enough to get people to order the PPV, then I doubt anything they could have done would have been with these same two matches.

Maybe Bryan being shoved into the main event immediately had something to do with it. Popular or not, he went from wrestling in tag team matches to main eventing with Cena. Maybe audiences didn't buy into Punk as a threat to Lesnar and/or Brock's drawing power is already starting to wane a bit.

Of course, there's the easier way of looking at it, which is dismissing both Bryan and Punk as vanilla midgets. After all, Summerslam 2011 (centered around Punk) did just over 300,000 and this year (centered around Bryan and Punk) did below 300,000. The two lowest Summerslam buyrates since 2004 (which had another vanilla midget, Chris Benoit, in the main event) and before that, 1997.

It's almost futile trying to debate why the PPV flopped. Casual fans can be pretty hard to figure out at times. It was still one of the greatest Summerslam events the WWE ever produced IMO.

 

[the_hoff]

HORSE CRAP. D-Bryan being blamed for the low buyrates? Alright Vinnie Mac, I'm callin' you out. You, me, face to face. C'mon. I'm SICK and tired of you blaming him for this and that. Pick on someone your own size OLD MAN. You done hassled the hoff.

 

[Farooq]

There's the heat for Cena for this? In the buildup, a lot of the Bryan/Triple H stuff was designed to get the internet fans interested, while Cena's part of the storyline was more appealing to the casuals who are more likely to buy the show

MAybe trying to get people who are interested that would free stream a show, rather than pay for it like a mark is part of the problem...

 

[Jeremy]

What bigger guy would have brought the buyrates up? That's what I'd like to know.

 

[Leo C]

It's hard to predict. There's no way to know if going with a bigger guy was going to to better. The PPV was built very well, the DB storyline made it great, could've been worse or better with someone else on the ME. No way to know for sure.

 

[BrockLesnarFanForLife]

Vince needs to realise Daniel isnt to blame its the shitty product and the fact that fans watch PPV's by streams now as the PPV isnt worth all that money to pay for

 

[Action Jackson]

PPV is a dying market. Buyrates don't mean what they did 5 years ago. That's why WWE is moving towards selling PPV's over the internet, through Smart TV's, and gaming consoles.

 

[Cloud]

I thought the build and everything going into the PPV was fantastic, so I'd be hard-pressed to blame the lower-than-expected buyrate on that. Maybe some disagree, but really, what else could they have done better to build and promote the double main event? The fans chose Daniel Bryan loud and clear (literally) as the guy they wanted to see challenge Cena for the championship. They showcased Brock Lesnar as the indestructible monster and Punk as the "never say die" babyface who was determined at all cost to bring "The Beast" down and defeat him. They crafted a brilliant underdog story for both matches really well. If all of that wasn't enough to get people to order the PPV, then I doubt anything they could have done would have been with these same two matches.

Maybe Bryan being shoved into the main event immediately had something to do with it. Popular or not, he went from wrestling in tag team matches to main eventing with Cena. Maybe audiences didn't buy into Punk as a threat to Lesnar and/or Brock's drawing power is already starting to wane a bit.

Of course, there's the easier way of looking at it, which is dismissing both Bryan and Punk as vanilla midgets. After all, Summerslam 2011 (centered around Punk) did just over 300,000 and this year (centered around Bryan and Punk) did below 300,000. The two lowest Summerslam buyrates since 2004 (which had another vanilla midget, Chris Benoit, in the main event) and before that, 1997.

It's almost futile trying to debate why the PPV flopped. Casual fans can be pretty hard to figure out at times. It was still one of the greatest Summerslam events the WWE ever produced IMO.

Agree but that builds TWO matches not the rest of the card. Thats the issue for me random matches and matches with no point. At least throw me a bone and give a pathetic reason for lower card matches.

 

[Lockard 23]

Agree but that builds TWO matches not the rest of the card. Thats the issue for me random matches and matches with no point. At least throw me a bone and give a pathetic reason for lower card matches.

I thought the under card for this year was pretty good. A couple of the matches had terrible build (i.e Del Rio/Christian, etc.), but no matter, nothing done in the midcard was gonna have a big effect on buys anyway. The main event is always the main attraction, hence the term Main Event (and why a high or low buyrate is always accredited towards whoever is wrestling in the top match(es) of the card.) There's been PPVs before that have done huge even with a mostly shitty card just because people were drawn in by the main event.

 

[Cloud]

I thought the under card for this year was pretty good. A couple of the matches had terrible build (i.e Del Rio/Christian, etc.), but no matter, nothing done in the midcard was gonna have a big effect on buys anyway. The main event is always the main attraction, hence the term Main Event (and why a high or low buyrate is always accredited towards whoever is wrestling in the top match(es) of the card.) There's been PPVs before that have done huge even with a mostly shitty card just because people were drawn in by the main event.

True but I think a continued build of the undercard could help sustain PPV buys as it wouldn't become a one man show it'd be an event! With lots of unique and intertwining storylines like a tv series that then gets a film.

 

[Snowman1]

Agree but that builds TWO matches not the rest of the card. Thats the issue for me random matches and matches with no point. At least throw me a bone and give a pathetic reason for lower card matches.

As Kevin said, they did a better job than usual to build the rest of the card (not saying much). There was some intrigue with Kane and Bray, Rhodes vs Sandow had nice build, there was the Ziggler/AJ breakup which was something I guess. Looking at the card the only match with bad build was Christian/ADR (Maybe the divas, but nobody cares anyway.) which is so much better than pretty much any PPV you get nowadays.

I totally agree with you man. Ever since then the lower card matches have been so horribly pointless that it hurt the shows in a big way... and really that's what I blame for the low Raw viewership, just them not having enough content to stretch across 3 hours. If you build towards the lesser matches, that makes Raw more interesting, and should help your PPV numbers as well.

 

[Cloud]

SS was better undercard wise than recently but even so they need to sort that crap. Kane was kidnapped at SS returned and wait for it climatic ending became a corporate stooge with no mention of it? Wtf? Its happening to often an for me its why i lose interest i looked forward to the Kane payoff and got squat.

 

[the_hoff]

Vince needs to realise Daniel isnt to blame its the shitty product and the fact that fans watch PPV's by streams now as the PPV isnt worth all that money to pay for

The_hoff hasn't paid for a PPV in God knows how long. Stream stream streaming is the way to go imo. The only PPV the_hoff would consider buying that would be worthwhile is WM, but considering the price, yeah no.

 

[Cloud]

The_hoff hasn't paid for a PPV in God knows how long. Stream stream streaming is the way to go imo. The only PPV the_hoff would consider buying that would be worthwhile is WM, but considering the price, yeah no.

WM is always overhyped imo. Better with RR.

 

[Cloud]

Backing my WM comment lets see a buyrate with no Taker. Will be interesting.