Before the WWE Network came along, pay-per-view was probably company's most important revenue source, so close attention had to be paid to the build-up (to drum up buys) and the actual execution of each event (to avoid hurting interest in the next one.) Nowadays, however, traditional PPV is essentially a non-entity to the McMahons. While most cable providers still sell events individually at Rolling Stones prices, the WWE Network has reduced those sales numbers to a drop in a bucket. With viewership now largely driven by Network subscribership, generating large buyrates are no longer the primary goal. Even if you became convinced this was going to be the worst 'Mania ever, who's going to cancel just prior to the 'free' event? In terms of long-term subscription trends responding to the product, that onus is now shared by Raw and Smackdown rather than just PPVs. If subscribers are going to come or go, it's probably not going to be due to any single event. WrestleMania is under no pressure to attract live viewers, and an inability to draw more subscribers is not an overt failure that is unless Vince starts making promises again.
CKUT radio host, underground lyricist, Michael Myers scholar and all-around world-class opiner. Signature move: Irony Bomb. Blood type: chai. Never seen in the same place and time as Logic Johnson, former featured columnist for Bleacher Report.
Hopelessly unfamiliar with Yellow Submarine.
