Though WWE has yet to publicly release the WrestleMania 27 buyrate figure, it confirmed to Variety that the tally for this year’s show will cross the one million mark for the first time since 2008.
A notable component of the increase, the Variety story notes, was a significant in the domestic pay-per-view game. Without even finalizing the count, estimates already have the domestic increase at 30%, as compared with a 15% uptick for international orders. Domestic buys are typically more-lucrative for WWE and also reflect on popularity within the global company’s home base.
The timing of the story, of course, is interesting. It is clear a final figure is not yet available, suggesting WWE might have wanted to get the word of early success out to counter Friday’s selling of the company’s stock. WWE’s stock, which closed yesterday at $11.43/share, had dropped to as low as $9.99/share on news that it was cutting its famously-high quarterly dividend.
WWE had made the million mark its goal ahead of this year’s show, enlisting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a host to pull back old fans (and those who look at him as a star from his Hollywood work) and Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi for a match to generate media attention. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin appeared as a guest referee, although he was not promoted to the extent of the other two.