10 Compelling Pieces Of Evidence That Prove Wrestling Is Worse Than It's Ever Been
3. Pay-Per-View Is Dead
Once a huge source of revenue for the business, the wrestling pay-per-view industry has been killed off and the murderer was World Wrestling Entertainment.
With the launch of WWE Network, the largest company in the world started to provide their previously costly events at the price of only (say it with me) $9.99 per month. Amazingly, they then mocked fans on television who stupidly paid $50 for an event when they could subscribe to the Network instead.
Not only did that action single-handedly kill WWE's pay-per-view business, it instantly devalued events like Hell in a Cell, Night of Champions, Elimination Chamber, and the other "B-shows" that fans perceived as important because they were pay-per-view. Now, they essentially are Raw episodes with only slightly less talking and backstage nonsense.
WWE likes to claim that the pay-per-view business is dying and that their company is simply ahead of the curve. Floyd Mayweather proved that was 100% untrue by drawing a mind-boggling 4.4 million buys for his fight against Manny Pacquiao. The UFC's golden boy, Conor McGregor, drew over a million buys with his last fight.
WWE may very well be ahead of the curve by embracing streaming for its events but it unnecessarily killed off a revenue stream early by asking fans to pay less money its for product and then making fun of them for not doing it.