10 Fascinating Facts About WWE In 2014
8. WrestleMania XXX Didn’t Help WWE Network
2014 saw the dawn of a dream service for hardcore wrestling fans. WWE Network launched in February across the US, and it'd continue rolling out in other countries over the next year or so. UK fans had to wait until Feb 2015 to gobble up all that content, but it was very much worth the wait.
WWE even included WrestleMania XXX in the price point for the Network, but that dangling carrot didn't do as much for subscriptions as you might expect. Come show time, the service had approx 667,000 subscribers. This was lower than the predicted one million mark, and caused a plummet in stock price by May, but the company obviously turned things around.
The Network became a blessing rather than a financial noose.
It is interesting to note that some still preferred to buy WrestleMania on traditional PPV rather than sign up for WWE's bespoke online service. They did so at a premium, which shows how skeptical people were about online streaming subs even a mere decade ago.