WWE released its second quarter earnings report earlier today (Aug. 1, 2013) and that means official numbers for the three pay-per-views (PPV) that took place during that time frame: WrestleMania 29, Extreme Rules, and Payback.
When the initial number was hinted at for WrestleMania this year, it was reported to be "much lower than expected."Then, WWE reported a mildly disappointing number of 1,048,000 buys for the show that took place on April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The latest number from WWE is even worse: 1,039,000. That's down from the 1,217,000 done by WrestleMania 28. Both shows were headlined by The Rock vs. John Cena, though this year's version was for the WWE championship and also featured CM Punk vs. Undertaker and Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H.
It was originally expected that this year's event would be the highest grossing show ever, and while it was easily the most financially successful of any event in WWE history, it couldn't live up to the hype at the box office.
As for Extreme Rules, that number, initially reported at somewhere between 225-250,000 buys, settled at 231,000 buys. That is, of course, a good number, though it's somewhat disappointing considering the 2012 edition did 263,000 buys. That show featured Lesnar vs. Cena in Brock's first match back in WWE in nearly a decade while this year's show saw the blowoff match in the near year-long feud between Lesnar and Triple H.
And, as reported earlier today here, Payback did 186,000 buys, down from last year but up big from 2010 and up slightly from 2011.
Overall, the second quarter this year saw WWE sell 1,551,000 PPVs while last year the company sold 1,897,000, though it should be noted last year featured an extra show, Over the Limit.