It's not going to sell like previous Manias, but it's not going to be shit selling either. It'll have at least twice the best buyrate any other PPV had in 2008, not counting Mania 24, obviously. I hear all this bitching about how we've seen Orton vs HHH so many times...but who really gives a shit? This is the most intense their feud has ever been, and there's the enormous potential for their greatest match ever, and the possibility of Vince turning on HHH to join Legacy. You cannot tell me that doesn't more than make up for this being a repeat. The Triple Threat is blah, but it's the undercard world title match - it doesn't have to be fantastic. Frankly, mentioning Edge and Cena together in the same sentence should be enough to say "Yeah, that's a good match" and put Big Show in there and you've got a fairly exciting undercard title match. It's not going to be anything spectacular but how many times has the undercard world title match really impressed you at Mania? It was the same thing last year - Orton vs HHH vs Cena, and it was good, but not fantastic. Then you had Edge vs Undertaker, which stole the show, much as Orton vs HHH has the potential to do this year. Shawn vs Undertaker has to be the major seller, here - it's been hyped to all hell, it's not been done in over a decade, and it's still going to be great no matter what condition they're in - they've both proven time and time again they can create fantastic matches at their age (see Shawn vs Jericho and Undertaker vs Edge).
As for the undercard, Hardy vs Hardy seems like a pretty solid match to me, as well, as much as everyone complains about it being underhyped...Matt really stepped up the heel game with his promos over the last couple weeks, and Jeff countered well. Frankly, I'm just excited to see the Hardys really have a proper one on one, heel vs face match, with a real feud behind it. The rest of the undercard is fairly decent - a tag team unification match, which is a nice attraction, the IC title being defended between two big upper midcarders, the Jericho match is just going to be old fashioned fun (remember that? Fun?). Everyone shits on this match, but just think how fun it's going to be - all the Legends hit their finishers, Rourke with a knockout punch, and they all celebrate in the ring. It's not going to be a classic, but hell, it's going to be a fun match and the crowd will love it. The same with the Divas battle royal - people will enjoy seeing the old Divas again, and it's just going to be a 6 or 7 minute fun match. MITB is going to be the same old thing it is every year - a reliable spot fest that gets the crowd excited.
So frankly, if you sit down and think about this card, you've got two classics in the making - Shawn Michaels vs the Undertaker, and Triple H vs Randy Orton. They're going to be great. The rest of it is attractive undercard stuff, but it's not as bad as everyone would like to think. It's a good card. The biggest thing dragging it down is the fact that it's not stellar, and it's smack dab in the middle of the worst economic crisis of all time. No, it's not, but that's what a lot of people seem to be buying into nowadays, and will react as such when they encounter a 55 dollar price tag. I think the card is still going to attract a lot of buys, but will lose it in two areas - smarks who can't get their heads out of their asses and get over the fact that some of the matches have been done before, and people who can't/won't spend the money on it during this recession.
I think it will still sell well, but it's doubtful to break a million - the biggest problem is the economic situation.
