Report: WWE's Top Merchandise Sellers

[Sweettre15]

- In regards to WWE’s top merchandise movers, John Cena is still far and away at #1 while CM Punk is far and away #2 overall. Punk is the #1 seller on WWE’s shop website. Daniel Bryan is said to be the #4 highest seller. Two names that are near the top of the merchandise sales right now are Sin Cara and The Ultimate Warrior, whose stuff is selling well at events and online.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter/Dailywrestlingnews


So if we're to take this report at face value then the most clear cut guesstimation would come down to this as the top 5 with Merch


1. Cena

2. Punk

3. Ultimate Warrior

4. Daniel Bryan

5. Sin Cara

Ultimately though it's good to see that guys like Daniel Bryan have moved the needle in merch enough to be in the top 5...Which is good BUT I have a feeling that WWE wont truly capitalize until he's NUMBER 1. Which can easily happen but they need to sell merch for Bryan that is a lot less cheesy because honestly, Who in their right mind would want to be caught dead wearing a Goat shirt?

Anyway, Thoughts?

 

[closet_fan]

I'm guessing the "Fear the Beard" shirt is a pretty hot seller. I know there was a time Punk merch was outselling Cena, but it didn't last long. I'm kind of surprised Bryan is outselling Orton not because of what's been going on storyline wise, but because Orton has some pretty awesome t-shirt designs.

 

[Ol'Canucklehead]

It's all about the kids. Where most fans buy a t-shirt and maybe something else. Kids will buy the entire John Cena outfit (Hat, shirt, 2-3 wristbands and sometimes 2 foam hands). Not to mention they do it again when he changes colors. I'm surprised they haven't started selling jorts. I understand why they keep him a face but kids are impressionable. Could they not fill that gap with someone else. Cena is soooooo stale to adults. He needs to either turn heel or evolve.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

I'm kind of surprised Bryan is outselling Orton not because of what's been going on storyline wise, but because Orton has some pretty awesome t-shirt designs.

2 theories:

1) They look too much like wannabe Ed Hardy and Tapout shirts and those brands are played out.

2) A lot of people buy wrestling t-shirts as souvenirs, not as something they are going to make a part of their wardrobe. They buy the shirt of their favorite wrestler, even if its not something "cool" that they'd wear in public. Because the fact that its a wrestling shirt makes it uncool to begin with.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

2 theories:
2) A lot of people buy wrestling t-shirts as souvenirs, not as something they are going to make a part of their wardrobe. They buy the shirt of their favorite wrestler, even if its not something "cool" that they'd wear in public. Because the fact that its a wrestling shirt makes it uncool to begin with.

That's partly true I do have a couple of Wrestling Shits and unless it has a nice design where people will like and not notice it's wrestling I won't wear it.

Example is Carlito's shirt the Yellow one, it's a very well designed shirt (strange enough it's been 9 years since I bought it and still in great condition). It has a pic of an Apple saying "Do you spit or swallow" now most people won't know it's a wrestling shirt but love the suggestive joke.

CM Punk's shirt is also very nice. It's got a nice design fits me well, and has a tag line that everyone can relate to.

Off topic creepiness
Speaking of shirts I remember wearing a Chris Benoit shirt the day he died. No one knew he died yet but Night of Champions was showing that day so I went to a movie theater (showing NOC live) wearing a Benoit shirt saying "Chris Benoit 1985 - 2005". Of course those years represented the time he first wrestled to the date the shirt was made. But it looked like the year he passed away.

Creepy indeed

 

[GeneralKarim]

WWE dont give a crap about merch sales unless its John Cena or unless the other guy is out selling Cena by 1 billion dollars.CM Punk was above Cena in the "Summer of Punk" and instead of capitalizing on it they ended it with Triple H and his golden shovel.

I agree with you that for Bryan to go to number 2 or 1 he needs less cheesy merchandise.Cause his fans are not just kids.He's the most loved dude in the company so that means a lot of males 18+ are into him, meaning they are grown up dudes and grown up dudes dont wear goat t-shirts, hat say YES YES YES on them.They need to be more creative with them.Its like they dont even put a little bit of thought into it before they put those bad boys out.

 

[FlairFan2003]

It's all about the kids. Where most fans buy a t-shirt and maybe something else. Kids will buy the entire John Cena outfit (Hat, shirt, 2-3 wristbands and sometimes 2 foam hands). Not to mention they do it again when he changes colors. I'm surprised they haven't started selling jorts. I understand why they keep him a face but kids are impressionable. Could they not fill that gap with someone else. Cena is soooooo stale to adults. He needs to either turn heel or evolve.

Fact is ALL MERCHANDISE is about kids!!! How many grown adult 30 year olds stock up on WWE toys, posters, and T-Shirts ???

The exception is the retrospective DVDs, obviously when Ric Flair, Brett Hart, and HBK sets sell well (not too mention the "Best Of Cage Matches", "Best of Ladder Matches", and various "Best Of..." different events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Starrcade, Monday Nitro, etc) they are being purchased by older fans. Not only are there not many grown adults buying action figures and posters but there aren't many 11 year olds buying anything with Brett Hart or HBK's face on it.

Other than the retrospective DVDs, the vast majority, overwhelming majority, of merchandise is the toys, posters, T-Shirts, etc and they are purchased by kids (or parents for their kids). We've seen before that WWE can have a lot of individual success selling a "Best OF..." DVD but for day to day operations what makes money merchandise wise is what the kids consume because they will buy much more than adults will.

When Hulk Hogan was selling merchandise like mad in the mid 80s it was almost exclusively to kids.

 

[Ol'Canucklehead]

Not only are there not many grown adults buying action figures...

Not sure how your post is much different than mine... but I kinda disagree with the above. They have action figures geared to nostalgic adults. I can't see too many kids playing with a Terry Funk action figure. I don't collect but even I couldn't resist when Demolition and the IC title holding Ultimate Warrior came out.

 

[TheBottomLine]

Fact is ALL MERCHANDISE is about kids!!! How many grown adult 30 year olds stock up on WWE toys, posters, and T-Shirts ???

Um, well here in Ireland, for the four quarterly big PPV's, a group of say maybe 500-1000 wrestling fans rent out a pub for the night and watch the PPV's there. Obviously to attend you must be over 18 which is the legal drinking age here. Not only that but 90% of people wear wrestling t-shirts! And although you said 30 year olds, the demographic of people who attend would range between 18-35, although there is a lot of old guys whop attend too, I'm talking 40/50 year olds, and they too wear wrestling shirts!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

One reason why Cena & Punk are in the #1 & #2 slots is because WWE has treated them like long term, main event talent. Initially during Punk's run as WWE Champion starting all the way back during the "Summer of Punk", his segment son Raw weren't huge draws nor was his merchandise selling like crazy. Once he started getting booked prominently and strongly, such as after winning the WWE Championship from Alberto Del Rio at HIAC, as a long term main event guy, all that started to change.

Fans can be reluctant to embrace new faces in the main event picture at first, even if it's someone that's popular, because they're not sure how long they'll be there. As I pointed out, ppv buys with Punk helping to headline and his segments on TV didn't start drawing huge until fans were shown that he was going to be in a top spot in the long run. Bryan's merchandise sells well and his segments are already among the most watched on Raw, so IF WWE gets solidly behind him as a top guy, there's a good chance of him making even more money for the company.

 

[Tyler44]

So, doesn't this confirm that the "Bryan doesn't sell" lingo is false?

He is behind the biggest star in WWE (John Cena) and the 2nd biggest in recent years (CM Punk who is now gone). So shouldn't Bryan essentially jump to 2nd place (once the older fans get their fair share of Ultimate Warrior merchandise), meaning he'd be the 2nd biggest current seller at arenas? (without even being the main-event stud for a long term timeslot)

If fans are buying his merchandise, that means people are into him. And if Twitter explodes every ppv he doesn't win the title and the IWC is all about him, then doesn't that mean people would tune into Wrestlemania to watch him? Because according to some people here, Daniel Bryan in a title match won't sell ppv buy-rates because "people want Orton vs. Batista".

This is my way of tackling recent propaganda from some of you.

Or, should all of this topic be irrelevant because Sin Cara sells #5 in the company? I'm sorry I haven't watched an episode of RAW in years because it bores me but this DB hype has led me to this site again, but has Sin Cara wrestled a match in the last 3 years? If I'm wrong, yell at me.

 

[jameyt2003]

I hope they keep the Sin Cara character. He looks like a really well developed character. He has a fashionable mask. That is a bigger deal than some may think. I enjoy the lights during his matches. If he takes off, the lights will disappear. but idc if they don't. I have 3 Sin Cara shirts and 4 John Cena shirts. I only wear them when I sleep. With nothing but my t- shirt on.

 

[ASKane]

The only reason Cena is best seller is because he has tons of options that appeal to his fans whereas Daniel Bryan who is far more popular but has very few pieces of merch and they do not appeal to his fans because they all have stupid Goat faces or Beard if he had a T-Shirt which said I'm A Wrestler on the front and YES YES YES on the back he would destroy Cena's numbers

 

[Sweettre15]

Yeah honestly, if Bryan had

A. #Yes Movement shirt

B: Shirts that share the Dragon designs on his trunks

C: Those Dragon jackets he used to wear

D. An "I'm A Wrestler" Shirt

His sales would be number 1 at the moment instead of number 4 because those shirt designs would have a more broad appeal.

Cheeseball Merch can only sell so much and it's telling that Bryan moves as much Merch as he does with such Shitty looking Merch.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

It's interesting that Warrior is so high on the list. I think a lot of that has to do with the internet and youtube. Most of these kids can go back and watch all of Warrior's stuff on youtube.

I dunno, I'm still surprised by it though considering that he sells even more than Rock, Stone Cold, etc.

I'm assuming that they've put out a lot of Warrior stuff after the HOF announcement and it's selling like crazy, so that plays into it. A year from now, will Warrior's merch still be that hot?