WWE News: Pay-per-view numbers are in for Money in the Bank, SummerSlam, and Night of Champions

By Jason Powell

WWE announced that pay-per-view revenues were $13.6 million in the third quarter of 2010, which is down from $14.5 million in same quarter in 2009.

-July's Money in the Bank pay-per-view did 165,000 buys, which is down from the 267,000 buys that Night of Champions drew in the same month last year.

-The August SummerSlam event did 350,000 buys, which is down from the 369,000 buys the same show did in 2009.

-September's Night of Champions pay-per-view did 165,000 buys, which is down from the 169,000 buys earned by the Breaking Point pay-per-view in 2009.

Powell's POV: The July numbers look especially bad, but the other two pay-per-view events were reasonably close to what events drew during the same month the previous year. However, the company has to be alarmed by the trend the pay-per-view buys continue to drop, and their price increase isn't making up for it in total revenue.

I believe the company has priced out a number of viewers with the current pay-per-view cost, but I suppose a case could be made that the price increase is offsetting an expected drop in buys. I don't subscribe to the second theory, but I am curious to know what company officials would say in response to questions about whether the price increase is partially responsible for their declining numbers. Hopefully one of the analysts that is permitted to ask questions will bring that up during the conference call this morning.