Friday, February 12, 2010

Who will survive? Apparently not the Survivor Series

Here's a quote from Vince McMahon yesterday regarding the Survivor Series, one of the original big four PPVs created back in 1987.

We think that Survivor Series is obsolete, as far as that title is concerned. It was something that worked many, many years ago, in terms of a creative standpoint, various teams competing. That really is not advantageous as the consumer now looks as what actually they are buying. And it's such a broad ... Survivor Series yes, many years ago, was one of the original four pay-per-views, but it's outlasted its usage and it is one of the things in terms of rebranding, this year and going forward, that will be rebranded. No longer will we have that title, Survivor Series.

This comes after PPV buyrates for the fourth quarter were revealed showing that the Survivor Series had less buys this year in comparison to the previous year, while all the other off month shows that had changed to those gimmick PPVs (Bragging Rights, Hell in a Cell, etc.) had gone up.

This is depressing for several reasons. First, I hate to see the end of one of the big four, especially that show since I loved the original concept for the show. While it hasn't been booked very well in recent years, I still believe the concept could work. Second, that buyrate data is not only disappointing, but I believe misleading. A show featuring multiple Hell in a Cell matches sounds appealing, but was terrible in its execution. Plus there was two PPVs in October, people could have been tapped out financially, resulting in many people not buying the Survivor Series in November. This is just a bad business move all around and indicates the WWE is heading in the absolute wrong direction with how to present PPV shows.

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