There was two previous entries on this blog that considered World Wrestling Entertainment. Whether or not this is a sport is open to debate but I thought it may be due some attention in light of WWE’s flagship event 'WrestleMania' taking place last week.
The chart below shows the buy rate data for the four key wrestling pay per views: WrestleMania, Survivor Series, Summer Slam and Royal Rumble from 1985 to 2013. Demand has increased for WrestMania since the late 90’s. Only twice over this time period was WrestleMania outsold by another event - in 1997 Survivor series had slightly more buys and in 2003 the Royal Rumble had slightly more. Demand for the Royal Rumble grew from the mid to late 90’s and has remained relatively constant. Summer Slam and Survivor Series are however trending downward since the late 90’s.
Demand for these WWE PPV events has increased significantly since the late 1990’s - this could relate to WWE’s acquisition of competitors WCW and ECW