10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2005 Facts
1. The Buyrate Was Up 15 Percent From The Year Before
It was something of a surprising turnaround for the Royal Rumble. The 2004 editions of SummerSlam and Survivor Series were down dramatically from the 2003 versions (Survivor Series, especially), but the Royal Rumble signaled a noticeable U-turn.
The 2005 Rumble pulled in 575,000 buys, good for seventh most in the history of the event. That was up from the 500,000 that the Rumble did the year before. In all, each of the Big Four pay-per-views in 2005 would rise considerably from their 2004 counterparts.
For the next seven Royal Rumbles, only two of them (2006 and 2008) would top the 500,000 buy mark. The year 2005 was really one of the last years where pay-per-views outside of WrestleMania would do monster business, and go figure: that was the year they pushed two new stars to the forefront, with 'Mania coronations, to boot.