By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

WWE updated their monthly business report for investors yesterday with the preliminary PPV buy total for the debut edition of the Money in the Bank PPV in July.

WWE is reporting two figures - 189,000 buys and 162,000 buys. We'll find out the official number this fall when WWE reports third quarter (July to September) earnings results.

For comparison purposes, it's another "off-brand PPV" below 200,000 buys (charted below). Also the PPV performed well below the Night of Champions PPV that was slotted in July last year.

WWE has rearranged the order and changed the names of PPV events over the last two years, especially in the June and July months. The following is a break down of PPV buys for June and July in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

June 2008 - Night of Champions drew 273,000 buys.
June 2009 - The Bash drew 178,000 buys.
June 2010 - Fatal Four-Way drew 143,000 buys.

July 2008 - Great Am. Bash drew 196,000 buys.
July 2009 - NOC drew 267,000 buys.
July 2010 - MITB drew 162-189,000 buys.

Caldwell's Analysis: The positive take-away is MITB was up from the disastrously-low Fatal Four-Way PPV buys. But, not by much. Assuredly, WWE will claim they have market research indicating more people are gathering together for communal viewing with the PPV price up $5 this year, but I believe they're also pricing people out of the market at this point. The real test will be when the Summerslam results come in for August.

Chart: The chart below shows the 2010 PPV buy totals trending at or below the 200,000 buy mark in the blue color line. The final dot is where the Money in the Bank PPV falls compared to previous July events.

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