Television ratings–particularly those for WWE RAW–have been abysmal in recent weeks, but pay-per-view news should continue making WWE executives smile.
Preliminary estimates show that Night of Champions, headlined by John Cena vs. CM Punk, drew in the neighborhood of 200,000 buys, which marks a slight increase over 2010 and 2011.
After getting off to a slow start for Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, WWE delivered big numbers for the WrestleMania showdown between John Cena and The Rock. Thanks to Brock Lesnar’s involvement, WWE Extreme Rules also delivered the company’s best marks in three years.
Over The Limit narrowly lost to the 2010 show but handily beat the 2011 number, while No Way Out was up considerably over both. Money in the Bank was down from 2011, although that was to be expected given the failure to replicate last year’s CM Punk title storyline.
The company rebounded for Summerslam and Night of Champions, however. Both drew better than the respective 2011 and 2010 shows.
