Source: WrestlingObserver.com
The preliminary buy rate for Judgment Day on 5/18 was 244,000 buys. 154,000 buys were domestic. This is good news for the WWE as last year did 240,000 buys, despite television ratings and WWE.com traffic being better. This year’s pay per view featured the steel cage match between Triple H and Randy Orton for the WWE Title.
The WGN affiliate out of Chicago, the third largest market in the country, is thinking about pulling Smackdown from their line-up and replacing it with “Alf” reruns. This is apparently not confirmed, but it would be a huge loss for the WWE if another station in the market doesn’t pick up the show.
May was a good month in DVD distribution as well for the WWE as they shipped 646,000 DVD’s that month, which is far better than last year. WrestleMania was the primary reason as there were 244,000 units shipped out within the first eleven days. The Austin and Triple H DVD’s were also big sellers that month.
Melina’s broken heel is expected to put her out of action for five months.
