10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2013 Facts
1. It Was The Most Bought Royal Rumble In Ten Years
The Rock's presence boosted the Survivor Series 2011 buyrate 15 percent from the year before. His "Once in a Lifetime" duel with John Cena at WrestleMania 28 set WWE's pay-per-view record with more than 1.2M buys. It's no shock that his magic worked on the Royal Rumble as well.
The 2013 Rumble did 579,000 buys, up 31 percent from the previous year's 443,000. It was also the most bought Royal Rumble since 2003, a show that did 585,000 buys. Considering how much the numbers dropped off in the decade since, that's simply astounding.
The Rock's rematch with Punk at Elimination Chamber only did 213,000 buys, but even that was up 20 percent from the 178,000 that the 2012 version did. Love him or hate him, or curse WWE for pushing part-timers to the moon, but there's no question: The Rock is, and will forever be, money.