Wrestlemania Buys 1985-2013

People are always wondering about Wrestlemania Buys.  Here's my best attempt to provide an estimate from WM1 to WM30.  I've noticed the "source of truth" that I used - usually a combination of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (primary) and Pro Wrestling History's PPV Spreadsheet (secondary).  Some of these numbers were also cross-referenced with posts by Dave Meltzer and John Lister.  I used the "main event" descriptions from Jason Campbell's Pro Wrestling History spreadsheet.  The numbers in yellow are estimated, but I believe these are generally the accepted Wrestlemania figures.  We don't have a full picture of WM30 yet - we know WWE Network Subscribers and estimated US Households.  Historically, the "North America" number was both Canada & United States & Puerto Rico while the International number was all other terriotires.  The big bump at WM21 was driven by adding the PPV in the UK Market.

-Chris Harrington (@mookieghana)

Buyrate = percentage of homes capable of ordering PPV that ordered PPV (where 1.0 = 1% of homes)
CCTV = closed-circuit TV; the major way people saw early WM PPVs
Source = PWH (Pro Wrestling History), WO (Wrestling Observer)

SHOW	MAIN EVENT (from PWH )	DATE	BUYRATE	CCTV	TOTAL	North America	Int'l	SOURCE
WM1	Hogan/Mr. T vs. Piper/Orndorff	3/31/1985	1.10	398	SMALL	SMALL	N/A	PWH
WM2	Hogan vs. Bundy; Battle Royal; Piper vs. Mr. T (boxing)	4/7/1986	7.00	319	250	250	N/A	PWH
WM3	Hogan vs. Andre	3/29/1987	8.00	450	400	400	N/A	PWH
WM4	WWF Title Tournament	3/27/1988	6.50	175	650	650	N/A	PWH
WM5	Hogan vs. Savage	4/2/1989	5.90	N/A	767	767	N/A	PWH
WM6	Hogan vs. Warrior	4/1/1990	4.50	N/A	550	550	N/A	PWH
WM7	Hogan vs. Slaughter	3/24/1991	2.80	N/A	400	400	N/A	PWH
WM8	Hogan vs. Sid	4/5/1992	2.30	N/A	390	390	N/A	PWH
WM9	Bret vs. Yokozuna	4/4/1993	2.00	N/A	430	430	N/A	PWH
WM10	Bret vs. Yoko; Razor vs. Michaels;  Bret vs. Owen	3/20/1994	1.68	N/A	420	420	N/A	PWH
WM11	Bigelow vs. LT; Michaels vs. Diesel	4/2/1995	1.30	N/A	340	340	N/A	PWH
WM12	Michaels vs. Bret	3/31/1996	1.20	N/A	290	290	N/A	PWH
WM13	Undertaker vs. Sid; Bret vs. Austin	3/23/1997	0.77	N/A	237	237	N/A	PWH
WM14	Austin vs. Michaels	3/29/1998	2.30	N/A	730	730	N/A	PWH
WM15	Austin vs. Rock	3/28/1999	2.32	N/A	800	800	N/A	PWH
WM16	HHH vs. Rock vs.  Mankind vs. Show (4-way)	4/2/2000	2.08	N/A	824	808	16	PWH
WM17	Austin vs. Rock	4/1/2001	2.40	N/A	1,040	970	70	2/14/05 WO
WM18	Rock vs. Hogan	3/17/2002	1.68	N/A	860	705	155	2/14/05 WO
WM19	Vince vs. Hogan; Rock vs. Austin; Angle vs. Lesnar	3/30/2003	1.08	N/A	560	431	129	2/14/05 WO
WM20	Lesnar vs. Goldberg; Undertaker vs. Kane; Angle vs. Guerrero; HBK vs. Benoit vs. HHH	3/14/2004	1.59	N/A	1,020	734	286	4/15/13 WO
WM21	HHH vs. Batista;  Undertaker vs. Orton JBL vs. Cena; HBK vs. Angle;	4/3/2005	1.68	N/A	1,085	650	435	4/15/13 WO
WM22	Cena vs. Triple H; Vince vs. HBK  Orton vs. Mysterio vs. Angle;	4/2/2006	N/A	N/A	975	636	339	4/6/09 WO
WM23	HBK vs. Cena; Batista vs. Undertaker; Trump's hair vs. Vince's hair	4/1/2007	N/A	N/A	1,250	825	425	4/6/09 WO
WM24	Flair vs. HBK; Show vs. Mayweather; UT vs. Edge; Cena vs. HHH vs. Orton	3/30/2008	N/A	N/A	1,041	697	344	2/23/11 WO
WM25	HHH vs. Orton; Cena vs. Show vs. Edge; Undertaker vs. HBK	4/5/2009	N/A	N/A	975	605	370	3/5/12 WO
WM26	HBK vs. UT; Bret vs. Vince;  Cena vs. Batista; Jericho v. Edge	3/28/2010	N/A	N/A	885	495	390	3/19/13 WO
WM27	Cena vs. Miz; Undertaker vs. HHH; Rock host	4/3/2011	N/A	N/A	1,124	679	445	3/3/14 WO
WM28	Rock vs. Cena; HHH vs. Undertaker (cell)	4/1/2012	N/A	N/A	1,219	715	504	3/3/14 WO
WM29	Rock vs. Cena; HHH vs. Lesnar; Undertaker vs. Punk	4/7/2013	N/A	N/A	1,104	662	442	3/3/14 WO

WM30

Bryan vs. HHH; Bryan vs. Orton vs. Batista; Undertaker vs. Lesnar

4/6/2014

667,287 WWE Network + nearly 400,000 US Homes + ???

WWE Press Releases

See also:

• Pro Wrestling Only: "A Demand for a Comprehensive PPV Buyrate List"
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
• Pro Wrestling History PPV Spreadsheet
• IndeedWrestling: WWE 2006-2013 PPV Numbers 

Chris Harrington (chris.harrington@gmail.com)