Lane mentions that WWE’s ticket sales for the Elimination Chamber PPV were poor last week, forcing them to offer a “buy one get one free” promotion. Gilbertti thought ticket sales for the event were strong, and he’s surprised to hear otherwise. Lane adds that fourth row tickets for the event were over $400, which makes Russo and Gilbertti gasp. Gilbertti points out that if tickets were that expensive, no wonder they were “buy one get one free”.
Lane mentions that WWE reportedly plans to revert to dual branded PPVs after WrestleMania. This news doesn’t surprise Gilbertti or Russo. Lane points out that the brand split appeared to help Smackdown early on because the viewership numbers went up, but Gilbertti counters by saying that the show’s numbers went up because John Cena was on the show.
Gilbertti thought the John Cena/Seth Rollins portion of last Monday’s Gauntlet match was very good. He thought it resembled a 1990’s style match with good timing and selling, and he was impressed by it. Lane mentions that Raw’s ratings went up last week, increasing to 3.5 Million in the first hour and that held strong into the second hour.
Due to this increase in ratings, many pundits have argued that wrestling fans want longer matches but Gilbertti thinks it’s crazy to draw that conclusion from last week’s show. He admits that fans might like it once and a while, when most of WWE’s main-event workers are facing off against each other in a special match like last week, but he thinks it’s ridiculous to argue that 2-hour matches will draw in casual viewers long-term.
