FanPost

WrestleMania 29: WWE Raises The Price

Editor's Note: This FanPost has been mildly edited for promotion to the front page and various sections within Cageside Seats for your enjoyment, Cagesiders!

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Today, (Mar. 21) it came to my attention that WWE is increasing the price to watch WrestleMania XXIX. I'm not talking about the usual price increase from a normal pay-per-view (PPV) up to WrestleMania, which is typically $10.00(USD), if my memory serves me correctly.

Usually, I stream the PPV's from WWE's website for $44.99 each which would make 'Mania $54.99. This year however, the cost is being increased to $59.99 for standard definition, while an HD stream will cost $69.99. This new total could potentially gain WWE an estimated $3 million in new revenue, should the buy-rate reach the projected 1.2 million.

WWE believes that should more people opt-in for the HD stream, which has become more desired over the years, they could bring that figure up to an additional $900 thousand in new revenue. WWE has also branched out to stream the show on more services, like Samsung Internet-enabled TV's and the Xbox Live platform.

Personally, I am pleased that I can stream the show from my Xbox, as the Microsoft servers will be more reliable, thus offering a steady stream, while the WWE.com streaming servers tend to chug along and change quality throughout the show. It may be safe to conjecture that at least part of the additional cost may very well be to supplement their added cost of paying Microsoft a heavy percentage of the price when fans choose to use the Xbox option.

One issue for me however, is that while I believe $60.00 is a fair price for an HD stream, $70.00 is a bit much, even for the biggest show of the year.

Obviously, I will still get it.

But fellow CageSiders, I ask you this, "How much is too much to watch a 4 hour wrestling program that will no doubt be filled with several segments devoted to product placement?" I remember several segments during WrestleMania 28 that made me feel angry that I paid so much to watch a commercial. With the added cost to order the show, this will likely serve to aggravate me even more.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.