Minor PPVs that don't deserve a thread *Spoilers*

[Kamran]

WARNING - RATINGS CHAT 

The SNME ratings are in:

Quote

For the second-half of their Saturday double-header in Atlanta, WWE had Goldberg challenge their World champion Goldberg in a match that was widely understood to be the Hall of Famer’s last. The episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event didn’t face a ton of competition on regular television, but it was going head-to-head with the main events of AEW’s All In Texas PPV for most of its runtime on July 12.

That led to the least watched SNME of the four that WWE’s put on since bringing the brand back last year. But it was also the top rated program on broadcast and cable last Saturday night.

Per Programming Insider, the July 12 SNME watched by 1,425,000 viewers and did a .33 rating among 18-49 year olds. That’s a 27% smaller audience that May’s Logan Paul & John Cena-headlined show, and a 39% decline in the demo. But it beat both FOX’s Major League Baseball game of the week (which had the night’s largest audience at 1.99 million, but finished second with a .31 rating) and the UFC prelims on ESPN (.19 in the demo from 661,000 total viewers) to win the night.

(Source: CagesideSeats)

They're down over 500,000 viewers from the last SNME episode, I doubt that's due to All In but probably moreso with the poor card (the previous one had Cena, Punk, Rollins, Logan Paul etc) plus going head to head with the baseball can't have helped either.  I saw some headlines about how WWE were going to continue with their counter-programming going forward, it will be interesting to see if they do. 

Edited July 16, 2025 by Kamran

[tiger_rick]

I'd love to know if that big decline in the "younger" viewers is because the heavily promoted match was an old man retiring. Feels like we've been saying the reliance on nostalgia and old acts is going to bite them for about 15 years. I wonder if it's coming home to roost?

I'll never not be astonished by how few people watch TV now. The last of the original SNME run, which had been bumped to FOX in 1992 was apparently watched by 10.6m viewers. The official number for this one is 1.4m. Less than 10% viewership. And that Fox rating was enough to get them cancelled, and now they're making money hand over fist. Astonishing change in TV landscape in less than half our lifetime.

Edited July 17, 2025 by tiger_rick

[d-d-d-dAz]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNlvB8Myf-i/?igsh=ODRoM2FmeWNuMWll

Wrestlepalooza anyone?

[DavidB6937]

Name sounds familiar. Where did they nick it from?

[Kamaras-Tash]

33 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Name sounds familiar. Where did they nick it from?

ECW 

[Supremo]

After years of fans clamouring for them to bring back some of the classic, prestigious, legacy pay per views, we finally see the return of…*checks notes*…Wrestlepalooza?!

I guess it’s at least fitting with the current climate. Modern WWE is nothing if not Paul Heyman, with his smug head up his own arse, OD’ing on the smell of his own farts. Brock Lesnar headlining Wrestlepalooza! That’ll definitely win an Emmy!

I’ll never forgive Tommy Dreamer for bottling it.

It’s one of the more fascinating things about this Lesnar run. I’ve accepted that they’re in the Fuck All Matters Era, where they think it’s acceptable to bring him back and neither Slim Jim or ESPN are going to complain about their association with a man implicated in an ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit. I’ve made peace with John Cena being a soulless robot who’s happy for his final run to be trivialised and weaponised in a daft, “war,” against AEW, gladly agreeing to this shit.

What’s most interesting at this point is how emboldened and outwardly awful they’ll be, and how far up their own arse these horrible wankers will take it. Helmsley’s Razor. When given a choice on how to script his fiction, the smuggest, wankiest, most meta route is the one he’ll likely take.

Who knows where they’ll draw the line. After CM Punk’s Saudi Summer, there doesn’t appear to be a limit to how much they want to have their cake and to eat it. Would you be shocked if Cena makes reference to the lawsuit in storyline? Is Vince’s music hitting at the end of the pay per view that far out of the question? I can almost already hear Michael Cole’s fake shocked voice shouting, “but whose side is he on?!”

[BomberPat]

the Wrestlepalooza name is currently owned by F1RST Wrestling, so Arik Cannon might be about to get a big payday from WWE. If I were him, I'd be getting Tony Khan on the phone asking if he wants to bankroll a lawsuit.

[TheBurningRed]

He should sell it to Khan for a fiver to be really petty. 

[Kamran]

I saw some people complaining online about the cost of tickets for WrestlePalooza, they are almost $5,000 for the ringside area in the pre-sale. WWE seem to be doing record-breaking gates/crowds everywhere, so I don't think they'll be any issues selling the tickets by showtime however I do wonder how much longer they can maintain the high prices. 

I thought it was funny how they've announced that all the WWE PLE's in the USA will be moving to ESPN so fans will need to get a subscription,...but have now just announced that Saturday Night's Main Event is going to be exclusive to Peacock. For fans in the US, I can't imagine many keeping up with all of this.

Below is taken from the Wrestling-Online website:

Quote

RAW
United States: Netflix – Starting price from $7.99 a month

SMACKDOWN
United States: USA Network – Starting price from $45.99* a month

NXT
United States: The CW – Free with over-the-air antenna

EVOLVE
United States: Tubi – Free via Tubi app

SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT + NXT PREMIUM LIVE EVENTS + WWE VIDEO LIBRARY
United States: Peacock – Starting from $10.99 a month

PREMIUM LIVE EVENTS
United States: ESPN – Free** or $29.99 a month

* Cheapest streaming option with USA Network per Suppose.TV using Sling.
** Check your cable/streaming service agreement with ESPN

 

Edited August 21, 2025 by Kamran

[Kfogg1991]

What a fucking abysmal name for the ppv Jesus Christ the plummet is shocking even Vince is shocked.

[FUM]

3 hours ago, Kfogg1991 said:

What a fucking abysmal name for the ppv Jesus Christ the plummet is shocking even Vince is shocked.

It’s not just been made up now. It was an ECW show name.

[simonworden]

2 hours ago, FUM said:

It’s not just been made up now. It was an ECW show name.

Isn't the only ECW Wrestlepalooza that was on PPV considered one of their worst outings?

[theringmaster]

Think I might 'log off' the week of the show, there is going to be so many subtle digs at aew and the absolutely second aew respond they are going to act all innocent and be crying about how aew are picking on them?

[RedTwoster]

15 minutes ago, theringmaster said:

Think I might 'log off' the week of the show, there is going to be so many subtle digs at aew and the absolutely second aew respond they are going to act all innocent and be crying about how aew are picking on them?

I don’t think that’s likely. Although they counter-programme, part of their strategy seems to be to pretend that’s not what they’re doing and they don’t outwardly acknowledge the competition. You’ll get tribal fans going back-and-forth on the usual social media channels, but that’s about it.

I’d like to enjoy both companies if I can, but WWE has begun to feel pretty grubby again, and not because of the counter-programming; although I don’t like that.

[DavidB6937]

If I do watch the shows, I don't particularly see much on either side with digs or whatever. Apart from the scheduling, all the arguments and tit for tat seems to exist on X and terrible Facebook pages. All I really use is this place and a couple of news/recap social accounts if I'm not in the mood to watch everything. Absolutely no interest in getting involved in people's stupid arguments and bullshit one sided opinions.