10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Money In The Bank
9. Money In The Bank 2013 OUT-DREW Money In The Bank 2011
On the eve of WWE Money In The Bank 2011, a rare, even unprecedented buzz swept through the wrestling fandom: CM Punk had articulated the feelings of every disillusioned fan and promised to be their guy. And then, in Chicago, in a seminal match - quite possibly the loudest in the history of the promotion - he became it. He defeated John Cena for the WWE title.
Virtually everything that followed brought fans back to life with the ugly thud of a Cena hurricanrana, but WWE hadn't yet conditioned fans to expect them to f*ck up all of the time. In 2011, there was hope, which you might have expected to inform the buy rate. This only happened to an extent, in that the PPV buy amount jumped from 2010's 162,000 to 195,000 - but then, the same amount of people purchased TLC 2010. People were equally excited about Wade Barrett's push, which dented Punk's case as Cena's replacement.
Shockingly, given that A) the hype was nowhere near as rampant in hardcore circles and B) WWE was in general decline in the PPV arena, hence the plans to switch to the Network model, Money In The Bank 2013 drew a slightly better buy amount (199,000). Much of the hype was driven by the other great promo of the early 2010s: Mark Henry's retirement speech fake-out.
Is it simple as Mark Henry being a bigger draw than CM Punk?
In 2011, Henry as World Champion had a far greater impact on SmackDown numbers than post-Pipebomb Punk had on Raw's, too...
Salmon jacket = bigger leap.