The first official buyrate estimate for WWE Royal Rumble reveals that the show, headlined by the first Rock vs. CM Punk match, improved upon last year’s number.
WWE presently estimates the total at 498,000 buys with 322,000 coming from domestic purchasers.
History suggests the final number, which takes into account late buys and also features a more exact count, will break across the 500,000 threshold. Last year’s show, headlined more clearly by the Rumble match (and also CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler), was originally pegged at around 440,000 buys, was reported at 443,000 in WWE’s quarterly earnings report and ended as high as 483,000, according to a report in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Given the significance of the main-event, if the buyrate were to hold at this level, it would be considered a mild disappointment (even noting the increase over last year). But as long as it makes the usual gains in WWE’s final calculations, it will likely reign as a success–and as WWE’s best-performing non-WrestleMania show in years.
