8 Wrestling Records That Will Never Be Broken

3. Most Pay-Per-View Buys (1,253,000)

In the late '80s, pay-per-view emerged as another source of revenue for pro wrestling companies.

By the mid-1990s, WWE and WCW were running major shows on PPV every month, and when the product was hot, those shows were huge moneymakers. The WWF's pay-per-view business peaked between 1999 and 2001, but WrestleMania itself continued to grow well after other buyrates fell. The show's pageantry had something do with it - moving the event to a stadium and making it look more important than every other PPV hammered home just how special it was. Many people considered the show must-see - even fans who had long since given up on following the product regularly.

Those lapsed fans played a huge part in the success of WrestleMania 28, which boasted the intergenerational dream match of The Rock versus John Cena as its main event. The Rock had long since left WWE for Hollywood, with many fans assuming he was gone forever. When he announced the night after WrestleMania XXVII that he would take on Cena in one year, fans were shocked and delighted. The company built the program up well leading into the show. All the hard work paid off. The show recorded 1,253,000 buys on pay-per-view, a record for a wrestling show. Not only did the number exceed any buyrate that came before it, it will never be matched - WrestleMania 29 fell short, and by the time XXX rolled around, the WWE Network was up and running.

Today, fans can see major events for free with a Network subscription. Pay-per-view is almost a non-entity, at least when it comes to pro wrestling.