By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

John Cena vs. Batista for the World Hvt. Title was not enough at Summerslam this past August to crack 500,000 buys or even come significantly close to the 2007 Summerslam featuring John Cena vs. Randy Orton.

In a sign of more WWE fans keeping their wallets closed during the July to September months that played out every WWE business segment, WWE reported 477,000 buys for Summerslam 2008 compared to 537,000 buys for last year's Summerslam.

There were two other PPVs events during the quarter, with the Unforgiven PPV featuring the Championship Scramble concept matches drawing 211,000 buys compared to 210,000 buys for last year's Unforgiven PPV.

The other PPV, the Great American Bash in July, dipped below the 200,000 benchmark to a mere 196,000 buys featuring Triple H vs. Edge, JBL vs. John Cena, and C.M. Punk vs. Batista. This was significantly lower than the 2007 Bash PPV, which drew 229,000 buys featuring Cena vs. Bobby Lashley.

Financially, PPV revenue for third quarter 2008 was $16.4 million compared to $18.8 million in the prior year quarter. Along with the drop in revenue was an increase in costs, as WWE reported $8.1 million in PPV costs compared to only $6.7 million in the third quarter last year. Overall, profitability in the PPV segment was down 31 percent.

Caldwell's Analysis: PPV business continues to be one of WWE's top stumbling blocks each quarter. Whether it's not having compelling storylines leading to PPV matches, a lack of focus on using TV to build to PPV, or just economic factors of potential WWE customers keeping their money for gas or groceries, WWE simply isn't consistent on drawing PPV buys.

I've advocated for a complete overhaul of the TV product to sell PPVs similar to UFC and recent boxing events, but that change probably won't come until there is credible competition against WWE. Right now, there just isn't a secondary party or voice pushing for change and Vince McMahon is reaching a point in his career when some outside parties, such as Chris Cruise, believe he is out of touch.

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