Backstage Details On Recent Surge In WWE Survivor Series 2024 Buys

Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer recently noted a peculiarity surrounding WWE's last pay-per-view offering, Survivor Series, back on November 30. The replay of the event reportedly saw a huge uptick in purchases during the week of Christmas, despite Survivor Series taking place nearly a month earlier. 

On "Wrestling Observer Radio," Meltzer said he had never seen anything like it. He confirmed that this bizarre surge, occurring just days before the calendar flipped, has officially made it WWE's second biggest pay-per-view of 2024, behind only WrestleMania.

"It was unbelievable," Meltzer said. "It went from, like, the [sixth] WWE pay-per-view of the year to number two. Beat Bad Blood, beat SummerSlam. This is pay-per-view. Not streaming. So for whatever reason, it's people, whatever, wanted to watch pay-per-view."

While Peacock subscribers can stream WWE pay-per-views at no additional cost, events can also be purchased through a market's cable or satellite provider, usually up to a month after its initial airing. Meltzer said these new numbers were double-checked to ensure accuracy and appear legitimate. He noted most of these buys came from rural parts of the United States, and speculated it was families wanting to watch something together besides football.

"All in rural areas. It was a crazy thing," he added.

2024's Survivor Series was anchored by a much-hyped men's WarGames match, which featured both divisions of The Bloodline squaring off in a dual-ring, double-cage structure. The match was given a boost by a returning CM Punk, who had been off TV selling injuries from his match with Drew McIntyre at Bad Blood on October 5. WWE is betting on "The Second City Saint" delivering more big numbers as Punk and Seth Rollins are scheduled to main event the Netflix debut of "WWE Raw" on January 6.