WWE News: Pay-per-view sales down 23 percent, Survivor Series shows promise, three other events see a sharp decline

WWE pay-per-view events were down 23 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same quarter in 2009, according to the financial report released on Thursday. WWE made $13.8 million in the 2010 fourth quarter, down from the $16.3 million they earned for the prior year quarter.

-October's Hell in a Cell did 210,000 buys, which is down from the 283,000 buys for the same event in 2009.

-October's Bragging Rights pay-per-view did 137,000 buys, which is down from 181,000 buys for the same event in 2009.

-November's Survivor Series pay-per-view scored 244,000 buys, up from the 235,000 buys the same show did the previous year.

-December's TLC drew 195,000 buys, which his down from the 228,000 buys for the same event in 2009.

Powell's POV: I guess this means Vince McMahon is unlikely to scrap the Survivor Series name, as he spoke about doing after last year's numbers were down. What he's not saying is that the 2009 event faced stiff competition from a UFC show the same weekend. However, Survivor Series is still down dramatically from the 319,000 buys the show did in 2008.

UFC came into play for the Bragging Rights pay-per-view this year, as Brock Lesnar fought the night before the show. Worse yet, Bragging Rights went head to head with a loaded Sunday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.

It's worth nothing that the pay-per-view now called Bragging Rights was previously known as Cyber Sunday back in 2008 when it drew 153,000 buys. Likewise, the December pay-per-view was previously known as Armageddon. The TLC show this year was barely up from the 193,000 buys that Armageddon did in 2008. It appears that whatever positive effect that WWE's gimmick pay-per-views had initially has already faded.