Simple question....I think a majority of people agree that WM 27 is at least in the lower third of the nearly 30 Manias. I've also read from many sites that having the Rock host WM didn't really effect the buy rate (I have no idea if it did or not). Let's just assume it didn't really do a whole lot for the actual buy rate for the sake of this thread. There wasn't a whole lot to look forward to or special attractions going into this Mania so it was the die-hard fans who bought the ppv, so why not just not promote a "host" for the event (which could have prevented lots of spoilers) and just open Mania with the Rock coming out as an un-promoted "hosts". Just go back and watch the Raw where they announced he was going to be the hosts and just imagine that promo as the opening (and completely un-expected) opening segment for a WrestleMania. Since it was a forgettable WM it would have at least had the most amazing opening segment of any Mania ever and something to remember it by. I mean, we got a year long build to Cena-Rock at 28 anyway, did they really have to add the 2 or 3 weeks before 27 to the hype (which looking back only made the main event of 27 more predictable before you even bought the ppv?). Does anyone agree with this or was it worth it for the extra half-million buys for WM 27?
The Rock and WM 27
- Thread starter Killercam
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shooter_mcgavin
Mid-Card Championship Winner
Let's put it this way .... I was in the Indianapolis during WM27 week for work. I was so close in going to WM that year (yes there were still tickets available a week or two before WM). The only thing that held me back is that I couldn't make it in time to my work on Monday. After what I saw ... I was glad I didn't attend.
WM27, for all it's intensive purposes, was used to build up WM28. Cena/Miz was just a means to book Cena/Rock the next year, and Taker/HHH would have a rematch the year after in the superior HIAC.
As for The Rock being announced as the guest host (I think that is your question), I would say it was worth it. If you look at the strength of WM27 as a card it was very weak considering the 3rd or 4th highest match on that card was Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole. The PPV needed The Rock and I am sure the WWE was relying on these special appearances throughout (Austin and Trish Stratus).
WM27, for all it's intensive purposes, was used to build up WM28. Cena/Miz was just a means to book Cena/Rock the next year, and Taker/HHH would have a rematch the year after in the superior HIAC.
As for The Rock being announced as the guest host (I think that is your question), I would say it was worth it. If you look at the strength of WM27 as a card it was very weak considering the 3rd or 4th highest match on that card was Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole. The PPV needed The Rock and I am sure the WWE was relying on these special appearances throughout (Austin and Trish Stratus).
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HHH vs Undertaker is worth the price of the DVD alone in my book. And CM Punk vs Randy Orton was a very well built, and executed match. Plus there are plenty of fun moments throughout the show. Certainly not the best Mania, but certainly not the worst.
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Even if the end result was no significant spike in buys due to Rock being known to be the special guest host beforehand, naming his as such in the buildup to the event was the right call. I think everyone here would agree that involving Rock at Mania after a near decade that he spent away from the company would be good for business. So it only makes sense to promote his involvement. While they may have not gotten the amount of extra sales they wanted, I'm sure they didn't lose any business by announcing Rock's return.
The Rock did spike the rating though. Wrestlemania 27 topped the 1m mark where as Wrestlemania 26 only drew 885,000. It is also the third highest selling Wrestlemania ever after Wrestlemania 28 (1st place) and Wrestlemania 23 (2nd).
Given that the card was somewhat lacklustre I think the majority of that buyrate sits on the Rock's shoulders to be honest. The reason you couldn't have the Rock just come out at Mania is because you've lost yourself about 100 to 200k buys by not having it on Raw. That's a huge drop for a publicly traded company like the WWE. WWE felt a bit stale at the time and I honestly think Vince hit the panic button in January and called Rock with a sack of cash to come in to spike the rating as he was worried it might dip below 800k for the first time since Wrestlemania 19
Given that the card was somewhat lacklustre I think the majority of that buyrate sits on the Rock's shoulders to be honest. The reason you couldn't have the Rock just come out at Mania is because you've lost yourself about 100 to 200k buys by not having it on Raw. That's a huge drop for a publicly traded company like the WWE. WWE felt a bit stale at the time and I honestly think Vince hit the panic button in January and called Rock with a sack of cash to come in to spike the rating as he was worried it might dip below 800k for the first time since Wrestlemania 19
I do believe that announcing the guest host prior to Mania definitely prevented the PPV numbers from falling in comparison to the year before. I know from personal experience that had they not announced Rocky as guest host I wouldn't have purchased the PPV and would've resorted to watching the PPV via "other avenues." Having The Rock back at Mania 7 years after his last appearance definitely drew viewers in. As good as Miz may have been during that heel run, no way was a mania main event with him going to draw over 1M on its own... (Same reason why Angle didn't headline mania 17 and same reason 19 had a lower than expected buy rate.)
I honestly thought the main event of WM27 was going to be Rock vs Miz vs Cena for the title (with Rock going over) and that Cena was finally going to turn heel (for the second time in his career for those who say he never turned) after they became buddy buddy and at maybe like SS the original matched teased Rock,Cena,Austin,Taker,HHH fought Punk,Truth,Nash,Miz with Cena hitting AA on Rock the next night on Raw they brawl they Cena AA Rock thus setting Rock vs Cena 1
It was actually pretty good just bad card unlike 'Mania 29 Almost Perfect Card but terrible show
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As far as Wrestlemania 27 goes, I loved it! but that could be because I was there haha.
Anyway, I would have marked out way more if I didn't know Rock was going to be there, but I think saying he was going to be there was the right call because it could have drove in more ticket sells and surely bought up a lot of the PPV buys because I can look at it and as much as I enjoyed it I can say the card was lack luster and I wouldn't have really bought that PPV if I wasn't already going to it. So honestly that's one thing you didn't want to keep under wraps.
Now maybe who the guest ref for the Cole and Jerry match, that could have just been kept under wraps until the PPV, don't even announce it will have some kind of guest ref either until the night of the PPV, just before the match have the GM Laptop thing go off and be like I've took it upon myself to hire a guest ref for this match, and some other crap in the email and then the glass break, that could have been cool, but not really a moment worth talking about.
Anyway, I would have marked out way more if I didn't know Rock was going to be there, but I think saying he was going to be there was the right call because it could have drove in more ticket sells and surely bought up a lot of the PPV buys because I can look at it and as much as I enjoyed it I can say the card was lack luster and I wouldn't have really bought that PPV if I wasn't already going to it. So honestly that's one thing you didn't want to keep under wraps.
Now maybe who the guest ref for the Cole and Jerry match, that could have just been kept under wraps until the PPV, don't even announce it will have some kind of guest ref either until the night of the PPV, just before the match have the GM Laptop thing go off and be like I've took it upon myself to hire a guest ref for this match, and some other crap in the email and then the glass break, that could have been cool, but not really a moment worth talking about.
Let's face it: WM 27 was probably going to underwhelm with or without the Rock. Without him would have just plain sucked. And I feel this event gets a lot of flack (HHH/Taker was a routine awesome performance from the vets, Punk/Orton went well and Rey/Cody + Edge/ADR were solid show openers), but I can't deny it wasn't good enough. I mean honestly, look at it this way:
-Miz, no matter how much momentum he may have had at the time, should not have main evented that show with Cena when Punk had already been feuding with him and could have easily fit into the picture better than Miz ever could have. Instead, Miz gets overshadowed and Punk gets fed to Orton because Randy would otherwise have had nothing to do. Furthermore, the Miz v. Cena match could have main evented a RAW, but damn sure not a WM
-Corre vs. Nexus gets ditched in order to waste Big Zeke's/Wade Barretts push by letting Show and co. squash them. Already mentioned how they wasted Punk.
-Why is the WHC (supposedly on par with the WWE title) opening the show?
Now imagine all that without the Rock, and this is a fresh-off-a-seven-year-break-to-finally-return Rock with all the hype in the world. First of all, no one would have bought the show, and even if, no one would have cared to finish watching it had there not been any closure to Rock/Cena.
-Miz, no matter how much momentum he may have had at the time, should not have main evented that show with Cena when Punk had already been feuding with him and could have easily fit into the picture better than Miz ever could have. Instead, Miz gets overshadowed and Punk gets fed to Orton because Randy would otherwise have had nothing to do. Furthermore, the Miz v. Cena match could have main evented a RAW, but damn sure not a WM
-Corre vs. Nexus gets ditched in order to waste Big Zeke's/Wade Barretts push by letting Show and co. squash them. Already mentioned how they wasted Punk.
-Why is the WHC (supposedly on par with the WWE title) opening the show?
Now imagine all that without the Rock, and this is a fresh-off-a-seven-year-break-to-finally-return Rock with all the hype in the world. First of all, no one would have bought the show, and even if, no one would have cared to finish watching it had there not been any closure to Rock/Cena.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. WrestleMania 27 was just a build up show for WrestleMania 28. The only thing memorable about that Mania was the Austin/Rock face off backstage, THAT'S IT. Obviously one of the worst WrestleMania's of all time, if that's someone's favourite, they need a reality check.
I personally would have had The Rock face Cena at WM27 in a regular singles match. Basically, their WM28 match a year earlier. A problem may have been that he wouldn't have had much training and may struggle to put on match. The Miz would have faced John Morrison for the WWE title. It would have been solid match with a decent story behind it so there are no problems there.
It would have been a waste having The Rock show up unadvertised. However, I absolutely love the idea of The Rock interfering in the main-event between Cena/Miz completely unexpected. Can you imagine, ref is down; Cena waiting to hit the AA on The Miz then The Rock comes out and hits The Rock Bottom. Incredible WM moment right there. Instead we were treated to a rather unspectacular match and ending.
It would have been a waste having The Rock show up unadvertised. However, I absolutely love the idea of The Rock interfering in the main-event between Cena/Miz completely unexpected. Can you imagine, ref is down; Cena waiting to hit the AA on The Miz then The Rock comes out and hits The Rock Bottom. Incredible WM moment right there. Instead we were treated to a rather unspectacular match and ending.
I have Wrestlemania 27 on DVD, and I've watched the show in its entirety a few times since I bought it a while ago. Rock's promo pumped up the crowd, but on the flip side, he really ate up a lot of time.
As for the Rock Bottom on Cena, you had to know it was coming. Rock was going to get his revenge for the AA on the previous Raw, and Rock costing Cena the title in the main event of Wrestlemania was the sweetest form of revenge. A Rock run in was going to happen no matter what, and I guess you could say WWE had to do something to justify the hype and the "it's never been done before" aspect of having a host at Wrestlemania, so they had Rock override whatever decision the anonymous GM made.
The only one, who really suffered in that match was Miz, because he was nothing more than a fall guy. WWE Champion or not, if you're name wasn't John Cena or The Rock going into that match, you were going to be overshadowed no matter what. Everything went downhill for Miz after that match. He was exposed because he plateaued too early, he started jobbing left and right, and he lost a match to Alex Freakin' Riley of all people.
Plus, let's not forget Wrestlemania 27 is the same card that featured the abomination of Michael Cole VS Jerry Lawler and Snooki. The show could've been far worse without Rock.
As for the Rock Bottom on Cena, you had to know it was coming. Rock was going to get his revenge for the AA on the previous Raw, and Rock costing Cena the title in the main event of Wrestlemania was the sweetest form of revenge. A Rock run in was going to happen no matter what, and I guess you could say WWE had to do something to justify the hype and the "it's never been done before" aspect of having a host at Wrestlemania, so they had Rock override whatever decision the anonymous GM made.
The only one, who really suffered in that match was Miz, because he was nothing more than a fall guy. WWE Champion or not, if you're name wasn't John Cena or The Rock going into that match, you were going to be overshadowed no matter what. Everything went downhill for Miz after that match. He was exposed because he plateaued too early, he started jobbing left and right, and he lost a match to Alex Freakin' Riley of all people.
Plus, let's not forget Wrestlemania 27 is the same card that featured the abomination of Michael Cole VS Jerry Lawler and Snooki. The show could've been far worse without Rock.
The Rock was one of the only two good things about that show. Him being there helped excite the fans. The opening promo, while so long that it cost us time that could have gone to a match, was an excellent way to start the show. The only other positive on this show was the Triple H VS Undertaker match which was extremely awesome. Other than that match and The Rock being there, it's in the bottom tier of Wrestlemania events. Without The Rock it would have been even worse; probably not worse than 9 or 11 though. Those are the only two Wrestlemania events that I rank lower than 27, and it would take losing the Trips VS Taker match for it to be worse than them.
Take a look at the card. If The Rock had not been advertised do you seriously think it would have gotten as many purchases as it did?
There were only 3 matches on the advertised card that I was interested in. Other than that I remember thinking to myself wondering if the creative team had lost their minds in thinking this was Wrestlemania-worthy. Alberto VS Edge looked good going in, and this was before it became the opening match. I had zero interest in Cody VS Rey as well as Santino's team VS The Corre. Why couldn't it be Nexus VS The Corre? Oh, right, they killed off the best stable in years (Nexus) to further the Orton VS Punk angle, which I honestly wasn't interested in either.
Then we have the abomination of Cole VS Lawler. Where do I even start!? This was NOT Wrestlemania material. Why couldn't Swagger work the match against Lawler? That would at least have made it tolerable. Undertaker VS Triple H was the main match I was interested in, and it ultimately saved the show. I wanted to see Sheamus VS Bryan for the US Championship, many fans got disappointed with the decision to not have it on the main card. That was the perfect choice for the opener. The Snooki match made no sense and I was not interested, despite Trish Stratus teaming with John Morrison. Morrison and Ziggler should have gotten their own match with Trish getting a Divas Championship shot. Snooki could have been guest ref or something. Then we have the main event of The Miz facing John Cena for the WWE Championship. We have some posters who will inevitably defend this match, but I had been dreading it from the moment it was announced. Cena deserved better and so did the Wrestlemania brand. This might be the first time ever that I did NOT want to see a Cena match. I blame whoever decided to let Miz be champion for so long.
3 matches out of the entire advertised card (1 of those 3 didn't make the card) were the only ones I was remotely interested in. The advertised card was awful for Wrestlemania standards and I fully believe that the show would not have gotten anywhere NEAR the purchases it did without The Rock. His being there played a big part in my purchasing the event and I doubt I am alone in that opinion. I never miss Wrestlemania. Ever. 2011 almost became the first year I skipped it. It's also the only time I have ever apologized to my PPV party guests for wasting their time with a low-quality show, and the only time I have ever felt I wasted my money on a WWE product. The Rock being there helped. Losing a lot of time for his promo was worth it as the show would have been horrendous without him; although it honestly still was garbage in the end anyhow.
Take a look at the card. If The Rock had not been advertised do you seriously think it would have gotten as many purchases as it did?
There were only 3 matches on the advertised card that I was interested in. Other than that I remember thinking to myself wondering if the creative team had lost their minds in thinking this was Wrestlemania-worthy. Alberto VS Edge looked good going in, and this was before it became the opening match. I had zero interest in Cody VS Rey as well as Santino's team VS The Corre. Why couldn't it be Nexus VS The Corre? Oh, right, they killed off the best stable in years (Nexus) to further the Orton VS Punk angle, which I honestly wasn't interested in either.
Then we have the abomination of Cole VS Lawler. Where do I even start!? This was NOT Wrestlemania material. Why couldn't Swagger work the match against Lawler? That would at least have made it tolerable. Undertaker VS Triple H was the main match I was interested in, and it ultimately saved the show. I wanted to see Sheamus VS Bryan for the US Championship, many fans got disappointed with the decision to not have it on the main card. That was the perfect choice for the opener. The Snooki match made no sense and I was not interested, despite Trish Stratus teaming with John Morrison. Morrison and Ziggler should have gotten their own match with Trish getting a Divas Championship shot. Snooki could have been guest ref or something. Then we have the main event of The Miz facing John Cena for the WWE Championship. We have some posters who will inevitably defend this match, but I had been dreading it from the moment it was announced. Cena deserved better and so did the Wrestlemania brand. This might be the first time ever that I did NOT want to see a Cena match. I blame whoever decided to let Miz be champion for so long.
3 matches out of the entire advertised card (1 of those 3 didn't make the card) were the only ones I was remotely interested in. The advertised card was awful for Wrestlemania standards and I fully believe that the show would not have gotten anywhere NEAR the purchases it did without The Rock. His being there played a big part in my purchasing the event and I doubt I am alone in that opinion. I never miss Wrestlemania. Ever. 2011 almost became the first year I skipped it. It's also the only time I have ever apologized to my PPV party guests for wasting their time with a low-quality show, and the only time I have ever felt I wasted my money on a WWE product. The Rock being there helped. Losing a lot of time for his promo was worth it as the show would have been horrendous without him; although it honestly still was garbage in the end anyhow.