Embarrassing number of buys for Survivor Series 2009

[Ambiguous Turd]

All I can ask is "What the Hell Happened, here?"

WWE's Survivor Series PPV from November 2009 drew a surprisingly-low 225,000 buys according to WWE's corporate business report released on Thursday.

For comparison's sake:

Survivor Series 08 which was headlined by Chris Jericho and the returning John Cena did 319,000.

Survivor Series 07 which was headlined by Batista/Undertaker inside HIAC did 341,000.

Survivor Series 06 which was headlined by Batista/King Booker did approximately 384,000.

Survivor Series 05 which was headlined by Team Batista vs Team HBK in a Raw/Smackdown feud did approximately 376,000.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on what you felt went wrong here. As you can clearly see, traditionally Survivor Series has held its own in the mid 300,000 range on average. This time, Survivor Series not only dropped to the 200,000 range, but actually dropped to the LOW 200,000 range.

Analyzing the card, the buildup, people just getting sick of a stale WWE with repetitive matches, the economy, and other factors you can think of, what do you think was the biggest contributing reason to such a piss poor and embarrassing number of buys for one of their Top 4 yearly PPV's?

Vince built this card around two Main Event Triple Threat Matches:

Shawn Michaels vs Triple H vs John Cena

and

Undertaker vs Chris Jericho and Big Show


So on a side note, I for one am happy to see a low buyrate in return as I absolutely despise Vince's over-use of Triple Threat matches in his PPV's.



Other matches included (just as a refresher)

Rey Mysterio vs Batista
Team Morrison vs Team Miz
Team Kingston vs Team Orton
Team Mickie vs Team McCool

 

[Dave]

It is definitely a strange situation.

I know it is a terrible excuse to use but I do think that some of the blame has to come from the economy being so bad. Everyone knows that cut-backs have been made in households and we are still in the grips of it right now. Personally, I know that is a poor excuse and I also know that Sidious will say that it is poor stroy-telling and bad angles that made the buyrate so low. However, I think that it is a good card on paper. Triple H, Cena and Michaels can generally pull in a good crowd and it is surprising to see that it went so low. This is especially true when you look at who else was on the card in the main event. People have been crying out to see Chris Jericho and The Undertaker having a match and when it does happen, they don't buy it.

I have no idea why it was so low and I can only speculate.

 

[Coco]

How about the fact that the build was almost non-existent in a lot of matches?

"So, John Cena will be taking on DX in a triple threat match for the title. But instead of building up to the match itself, we're gonna run a thinly veiled parody about how much the fans hate Cena despite how much he likes them and how much the fans love DX despite how much they hate them. Hornswoggle will be involved. Also, we might tease Taker vs. Cena at some point just to fuck with people's heads. Any objections?"

If that isn't the word-for-word pitch somebody gave creative for the build to the main event, I'd be shocked. There was no drama, even if there was a chance of Triple H winning or DX splitting. WWE did a poor job of inviting us to invest or emotion and our money in the match and the event, just like they've done for years. Pure laziness and they pretty much did everything the could to have this show fail.

The build to Jerishow taking on Taker barely involved Show at all. And the build they did do with Jericho and Taker involved giving a payoff match on free TV where Taker proved his superiority before the pay per view and gave people little incentive to open their wallets. Sure, it made a nice SmackDown main event. But they gave away something that could have been major with little to know build in a manner that most people have already forgotten. This is a huge part of the WWE's problem right now. But don't tell that to the higher ups. After all, they're the biggest force in the wrestling business today and can do no wrong. Haven't you heard?

I'd all for building up the midcard but when you feel more effort went into building Orton taking on a guy who looked to be in the undercard for life a month before this show took place, you know something is wrong.

The undercard tag match and the divas match, as usual, felt pointless. WWE just doesn't try to sell us on the total package and it's really a damn shame when something needs to pick up the slack for the failing main event scene.

Oh, and there was Batista-Rey. Which I'd almost forgotten about right now because after the initial turn (which rocked), there was very little going for that feud.

The build earned them this number. Though it's nice to see solid proof that just sticking Cena and DX in the main event won't be able to draw people every time it's done. This in itself is encouraging if it wakes anyone in management or creative up.

 

[klunderbunker]

To me this is simple. Those two matches were designed for kids to like the wrestlers, not the adults. This is fine for television, but there's one problem: kids can't afford PPVs. Cena vs. DX and Taker vs. Jerishow are just boring as hell matches. No one believed that either guy was going to lose his belt and also the lack of anything resembling a build to the match killed it. They were having a friendly contest, not a match for the title. No one cared because we weren't given a reason to care. I've said forever that you need a good build to have a big match, you don't just have one for the sake of having one.

This doesn't shock me at all.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Well, all I can say that if it was The Triple Threat Matches with just shoving a bunch of guys, who mostly have wrestled each other on countless occasions in the past, into Vince's favorite match of all "The Triple Threat Match" ...... then this mistake certainly cost Vince dearly, as it took well over 100,000 buys away from him compared to year's past.

I think we could be seeing a trend here that the PPV buyers are simply getting fed up with seeing everything they have seen before, and are being more selective in how they are going to spend their money on WWE shows in the future. The loss of buys between this year's show compared to prior years is absolutely staggering.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

When ever I order a ppv, I always consider three things:

1-Will the matches be great or ppv quality
2-Chance of shock factor- Is there a chance of something surprising me like at TLC, when Sheamus beat Cena.
3- Are there any epic encounters?

Now usually, if I get can get two of these three, I'll order the ppv. The only two ppvs I'm %100 sure to order every year is Wrestlemania and Royal Rumble.The problem with Survivor Series 2009 was the main events. I'm a huge fan of Triple H and Shawn, but I knew there was no way in hell they would beat Cena. This was just a "fun" match. Like KB said, this match was mainly for the kiddies, and there really wasn't anything else to it.

The Big Show/Jericho/Undertaker triple threat was just really pointless to be on a ppv. This match could've been on Smackdown...there was nothing ppv worthy about it.

While I do think WWE did a nice job in trying to showcase the young guys in the elimination matches, you have to remember, that really doesn't apppeal to the masses.

 

[Mr. TM]

Survivor Series has simply died down over the past while, as we are no longer given the matches that we are excited for. We had a bunch of lowly survivor series matches here, but none in the main event. Survivor Series is now seen no longer as a MUST BUY pay per view, its just a regular pay per view with the same feuds we always see.

Survivor Series used to be an even where feuds could end, or begin, this time it was a place for what? Triple Threats with Cena v. DX? They aren't feuding, they didn't even start a feud. Same can be said about Jerishow and Undertaker.

 

[Chill]

I can't really say much that hasn't been mentioned already but I think one of the main reasons why this year's event drew so low in comparison to other years is because of the poor build up and general lack thereof. In a large number of instances, I think it's the main event (s) which draw in the casual fans becuase it's there that they're going to witness the top stars face off against each other, but when there is little build up for the main events then you already lose people who might have purchased the PPV on those matches alone.

Add to this the fact that the rest of the card wasn't really heavily promoted as "must see", or in this case "must purchase" and the WWE shot themselves in the foot for not creating the feeling that the show as a whole would be unmissable. Something about this year's show had that thrown together at the last minute sort of feel, and while I largely enjoyed it, what with new stars getting a chance in the spotlight, I still don't feel it had that 'big 4' feel to it this year...

 

[Athena]

Although in many other cases it's wrong, I do think the poor economy played a part in the low rate of buys this time. Keep in mind, Survivor Series takes place right around when most people do their Christmas shopping, and to spend $40 on PPV that doesn't have any "must see" matches doesn't make much sense when that money could be used to buy gifts for the family.

Like everyone has said above, the two World Title triple threat matches only came together because one guy was champion and the two other guys earned the right to face them. There was no animosity between Dx-Cena, since they're both kid friendly faces, and that doesn't make for an entertaining match when you know as soon as it's done, they'll go back to posing for the fans and hugging each other. As far as Jerishow-Taker, the only "build-up" (if you can call it that) was the fact that both Show and Y2J are heels and Undertaker is a face. Maybe 25 years ago that worked, but not in the year 2009.

For one of the Big Four PPVs of the year, Survivor Series had 3 throwaway matches, whereas the other 3 actually involved feuds (if you can call the Piggy James storyline a feud). That's fine if this was a minor PPV, but not one that is expected to be a top draw. GG Vince

 

[AMH]

I would have to say that the reason is a combination of several things. For the past couple of years, I used to get every WWE pay-per-view. But due to the strain on the economy and it's effect on me, I don't get nearly as many pay-per-views as I used to, fearing that the event could disappoint and I'd find myself wishing I hadn't gotten it due to it's seemingly ever increasing price to do so. And I know some of you are saying it's the build-up and that the storylines leading to the event aren't as strong. Which, argueably, could be true, but I don't think it's as much of a factor as some think. For me, I think it's got a lot to do with the repetitiveness of the cards. It always seems to have the same six guys in the loop fighting for the title. Which after a while does grow stale. And that's not saying these guys can't put on a good match. But when you get excited to see Sheamus in a main event instead of your typical main eventers, you know there's a problem. WWE needs to start making new main eventers. I got somewhat sad last Monday when Orton killed the Kofi push. I feel he could've really jump started the main event scene, but I'm sure come Wrestlemania we'll see him on top of the latter with a certain briefcase. It's all about new and fresh. And WWE needs to realize this. Even though, there's no one, NO ONE else, in terms of wrestling company, that even comes CLOSE to the number of pay-per-view buys WWE gets. And yes, that was a shot at TNA. Sorry, I'm only human, afterall.

 

[phlewfy]

I know exactly why Survivor Series did poorly. Guys like me didn't buy it! I am 25 years old and spend my money on TNA pay per views because they are more exciting. I haven't ordered a WWE pay per view in months and other than the Royal Rumble I don't see myself ordering many this year. When I watch WWE pay per views, it doesn't even seem like a pay per view anymore, but another boring weekly WWE show. There is no excitement in the air like there used to be for me. Why am I gonna pay $40 to watch Triple H vs Shawn vs Cena when I know HBK isn't winning? I don't wanna see Cena retain the title for $40. And the rest of that card?YUK!!! I liked the Survivor Series matches being thrown in there, but there wasn't really any compelling stories in the rivalries of those teams. Just a buch of guys thrown on the card. I have since seen the Survivor Series and if that is what WWE is throwing out on PPV, I will continue to spend what little extra money I get each month on TNA!

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I think again this shows what WWE truly thinks of their fans. They think, especially in a time when people are being more frugal with their money, that they can just throw on the same tired matches between the same wrestlers over and over again, and fans will just keep buying because of their wrestling addiction.

They figure as long as they give good matches like Cena vs Triple H or Cena vs Shawn Michaels or Undertaker vs Big Show (which has been done God knows how many times, as well) ... fans will keep buying, just because the matches have the main event stars in them.

I just think that fans are starting to get tired of the same old bullshit.

As others have said, combine stale matches with little to no buildup, and Vince clearly demonstrates what he thinks of his fans. He doesn't even think he has to build the matches anymore. As long as he thinks he puts the key players in matches together, he seems to think that's it ... he feels he's done his part.

I am so glad to see fans being more frugal with their money.

Although Vince raising his PPV prices in 2010 ought to help matters, shouldn't it? But that's for a different thread:

http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=90463

 

[DL23]

All I can ask is "What the Hell Happened, here?"




I'd like to hear your thoughts on what you felt went wrong here. As you can clearly see, traditionally Survivor Series has held its own in the mid 300,000 range on average. This time, Survivor Series not only dropped to the 200,000 range, but actually dropped to the LOW 200,000 range.

Analyzing the card, the buildup, people just getting sick of a stale WWE with repetitive matches, the economy, and other factors you can think of, what do you think was the biggest contributing reason to such a piss poor and embarrassing number of buys for one of their Top 4 yearly PPV's?

Vince built this card around two Main Event Triple Threat Matches:

Shawn Michaels vs Triple H vs John Cena

and

Undertaker vs Chris Jericho and Big Show


So on a side note, I for one am happy to see a low buyrate in return as I absolutely despise Vince's over-use of Triple Threat matches in his PPV's.



Other matches included (just as a refresher)

Rey Mysterio vs Batista
Team Morrison vs Team Miz
Team Kingston vs Team Orton
Team Mickie vs Team McCool

It's simple, 2006 had a few team vs team matches, None women teams, which are quick and nothing exciting.

Fans want Survivor Series traditional matches, not matches they get on any other ppv throughout the year.

2009 could of been an amazing card, HAD wwe used their inititive which they didn't, who needed to see 2 triple threat matches? the DX/Cena was kind of interguing but failed IMO, DX and Jerishow SHOULD of been in a match together IMO.

The two elimination matches Orton/Kofi and Morrision/Miz teams were excellent they should of added one more with DX and Cena and Jerishow and involved along with Hart Dynasty and Cryme Tyme and Batista and Rey.

WWE dropped the ball big time this year.

 

[InterestingDrug]

WWE several years ago lost the idea of what Survivor Series was... an elimination tag team show. It was a gimmick show from the start.. why not keep it as a gimmick? At least then, we wouldnt have to watch the same matches we see at every other PPV. The show was watered down with no interest at all in the matches. Does anyone really want to see Orton wrestle a midcard guy? Does anyone want to see the tiny ReyRey wrestle a huge 'roided up guy who's just gonna squash him? The six guys in the triple threat main event have been in every main event over the past two years. Where's the excitement? Does any wrestling fan want to see three (out of the six) guys in their 40s wrestle for the championship? No.. I wouldnt pay for this card. I'll see it on RAW or SD for free eventually anyways.

 

[I_AM_AWSOME]

I think it is because of the economy and how a lot people loseing their jobs. Also, most people watch it for free on the internet so i'm not surprised with that number.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I think it has to do with a number of reasons.

1.) A card heavy on tag-team wrestling and tired/undeveloped feuds.

-If it's one thing the WWE has de-emphasized over the last few years, it's tag team wrestling. The fans most likely aren't going to respond to five on five tag team matches, especially when the matches can get quite lengthy. There's no gimmick involved besides the fact that these are elimination tag team matches. The WWE, back in the 80s and 90s made these matches seem like they were a big deal, and that's why the card became a lasting tradition. There were three of these matches on the card, and one of them featured the Divas. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton was the only real major storyline that was featured through these matches, and that feud had just started. The two triple threat matches were a big pile of meh as far as buildup went, and we've already seen Taker/Big Show and Cena vs. HBK and HHH multiple times.

Lastly, the WWE has shown that a loss in a tag team match, in the grand scheme of things, means nothing. With nothing on the line, these are really just meaningless tag team matches.

2.) The economy

-$45 a pop is too much to ask of the fans every 3-4 weeks. I think it's more for the HD broadcast. For a card with all of what I listed, I think it's obvious why a lot of fans sat this one out... especially with Christmas around the corner as well. If the PPV cards were more reasonably priced, or at least gave people they haven't seen before, more people would have bought it.

3.) Bragging Rights

-Bragging Rights, the PPV before Survivor Series, featured a big multi-man tag match. Fans don't want to shell out $50 on that again.

I think the way to fix Survivor Series and get the fans watching is something HHH has been pushing for, and making one major elimination tag in a War Games type format. War Games was always a fun match that they ran in WCW, and fans would really respond to that, especially if they expanded the cage and just made it Hell in a Cell.

Hopefully the WWE takes these low buyrates to heart and really starts to give the fans something new on PPV. The TLC PPV was a step in the right direction in doing that. Sheamus vs. Cena was interesting because it was something new.

 

[Karnuj]

I think coming off of bragging rights that wwe should be thankful for what they got. the build up sucked ass. plain and simple. the only things that got real build up were kofi and orton as well as rey and batista.
By taking orton out of the title picture at bragging rights wwe shot themselves in the foot, bringing us two triple-threat tag team vs champion title matches, really!? the tag champs with straps in tow are vying for more gold and you put them in the same match?DX may have to fight eachother to get their paws on yet another title reign?(ok so that one wouldnt have been that bad if it were taker they fought just my opinion.) personally id have split them up because the chance of the tag champs taking the top honors respectively for their brands sounds like its more of a sell on a show, than the implosion of diesel and Shawn pt 2.(just saying.)

im off topic sort of. my answer is Survivor series buyrate for this past SS sucked because the creative team and the bookers were exposed (via how last minute this ppv felt) as having their heads in their asses. the sound you heard at the beginning of survivor series was not pyro it was the echo of how creative dropped the ball at bragging rights.

 

[justinept]

While I agree with many that say the buildup for the event sucked and that no teen/adult viewer wanted to see the triple threat matches- I don't think the economy can be blamed enough for this disaster.

The fact is that the WWE has put on a number of worse ppvs through the years with far less buildup and have gotten a much better response in terms of expected ppv buys to actual ppv buys.

Now, everyone bitches that the WWE has gone PG. But the truth is that kids have more purchasing power than your typical 25-year old male.

25-year old males are usually just getting their footing in life, moving out of the house, paying bills, and most have very little disposable income. The disposable income they do have - the few entertainment dollars they spend - will not go to a wrestling ppv that had the prospects of this past year's Survivor Series.

Your 7-12 year old kid doesn't care about the prospects of a ppv. He doesn't know that Shawn Michaels has no chance in the match. Hell, he probably wants Cena to win the match. The kid wants to see Undertaker retain the belt over guys like Jericho and Big Show - and watches with "hope" that Big Show and Jericho will cause each other the match. So these kids ask, beg and plead with their parents to buy these ppvs. They try to sell them as the best thing in the world. And more often than not, parents are willing to buy these things for their kids if they think their kid wants it bad enough.

The problem with Survivor Series may have been that a number of parents didn't want to purchase a $40 ppv with the Christmas season right around the corner. So the parents held their ground and that led to fewer buys.

Of course, couple the kids losing purchasing power with the teen/adult crowd not wanting to "waste" their money on that card, and you get a record low of buys for one of the WWE's biggest ppvs of the year.

All that said, it was a shame since HBK/Cena/HHH put on one of the better triple threat matches in a long, long time!

 

[Suneeboy]

Children don't buy PPV's and adults are slowing shewing the WWE away from a PPV perspective. Why spend $40 bucks if you know you aren't going to be surprised at all? No swerves, no returns, and most likely no title changes?

Fact is like everyone said there are no builds to any feuds, and there is no character depth anywhere on the roster anymore. I am surprised that 200,000 people wanted to see this PPV.

 

[justinept]

Children don't buy PPV's and adults are slowing shewing the WWE away from a PPV perspective. Why spend $40 bucks if you know you aren't going to be surprised at all? No swerves, no returns, and most likely no title changes?

Fact is like everyone said there are no builds to any feuds, and there is no character depth anywhere on the roster anymore. I am surprised that 200,000 people wanted to see this PPV.

Children do too buy ppvs. Any adult on this board with kids knows that. And most parents don't care what happens so long as their kid watches...

 

[DL23]

WWE has far to many PPV's they need to scale back to about 8 I'd rather the less say 5 and use the old method what worked back in the day.

cost is to expensive, and considering we've seen most of what we're being fed it's surplus, why pay when you can buy 1 PPV in 3 and you'll get everything from that show as you would if you watched 3 PPV's.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

See, Vince's PG rating's backfiring on him. It's been mentioned before, but kids can't buy PPV's. They can only ask their parents to do that. And despite their new attitude as far as catering to kids, many parents grew up during the attitude era and that gives some parents that bit of doubt as to whether the programming's really kid friendly.

The buyrate's a bad sign. Survivor Series is a Big 4 PPV along with the Royal Rumble, Summerslam, and Wrestlemania. For that show to have such a bad buyrate has to sound an alarm off for Vince and the rest of the WWE brass. Unless they're content with having a low buyrate on their PPV's. Highly doubt that though.

 

[ThePh3nomonal1]

Like many have already said 3 quarters of the matches were obvious to everyone older than 8 who actually believed that there was no way Cena could beat DX and Undertaker couldnt beat JeriShow. Also like someone said in a different thread that neither of these matches had any build up whatsoever i dont even think that the match was announced until the week before the PPV.

In fact heres an example from a different thread
See Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels 2008.

Backlash 2008 - Shawn vs Batista- Jericho is the special ref and witnesses Shawn's possible fake knee injury.
Judgement Day 2008 - Shawn def Jericho- both shake hands at the end
Night of Champions 2008 - Shawn distracts Jericho and costs him the IC belt vs Kofi
Great American Bash 2008- Jericho destroys HBK and match ends when Shawn cant continue (my 2008 match of the year)
Summerslam - Shawn annouces retirement / jericho accidently punches HBK's wife.
Unforgiven 2008 - HBK vs Jericho in an unsanctioned match
No Mercy 2008 - they wrestle in their blow-off - World Title Ladder match.

All that led to a great match here is the survivor series main event
Raw 2009 - DX get sued by Hornswoggle
Raw 2009 - DX pedigree Hornswoggle
Raw 2009 - DX team with Cena against Jerishow and someone else i cant remember= after the match the SS main event announced
Raw 2009 - Promo between DX and Cena about beating each other
Survivor Series - Cena wins
Raw 2009 - Everyone continues with the career like it didnt happen

I wouldnt buy this PPV with that storyline!

 

[Toroc102]

This was kind've obvious, I mean I think this whole forum called it as soon as we saw Cena and D/X chumming around backstage. I mean I can't remember a single moment of tension between them(if there was, its wasn't memorable). I pretty much assign most of the blame to the terrible build-up and thrown together matches, they essentially treated Survivor Series as a throwaway PPV.

I think other factors such as PG, Guest Hosting, and the economy probably just contributed to people's decisions.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I am surprised that the buyrate was so low. Survivor Series is one of the "big 4", and should do decent because of that unless the card happens to be really bad, or something. I honestly thought the card for this year's Survivor Series was pretty good, thus why my friend and I ordered it. The biggest problem was the lack of proper buildup. All of the Big 4 (and Night of Champions too) should have a lot of buildup because they are the biggest shows of the year, or rather they are "supposed" to be.

Neither of the Triple threat world title matches had sufficient buildup. The raw one just felt like Cena and DX were put together for the simple reason of them being established stars. Smackdown's was even worse as it lacked buildup and didn't even look that great on paper. The Cena/DX one ended up being good in the end, but come on! Make it look like any of the 3 could win it, and make the fans think it's every man for himself! Looking back on Wrestlemania 24, THAT is how a triple threat match's buildup should be like. All 3 guys looked like they could win it. It's bad enough with one triple threat match not being built up, but TWO?

The situation looks even worse when you bring the "traditional survivor series matches" into the picture. When was the last time one of these actually had buildup? Better yet, when is the last time one of these matches actually got put together with teams that made sense? In 2006 you had matches like "Team DX" VS "Team Rated RKO". That was the last great "traditional survivor series match" that I recall. Ever since then the teams have made so little sense than it makes me wonder if someone is sitting there with a WWE roster in a numbered list and a "random number generator" to find out who makes the teams.

I blame the lack of sufficient buildup for the low buyrate of Survivor Series 2009 because a show with that much history deserves more effort to be put into it, which means actually building it up! I thought it was a good show, but the people who chose to not ordered it might have been more likely to do so if WWE had done a better job on the buildup. Hopefully this will be fixed for next year's show.