World Wrestling Entertainment released a press release announcing that all pay per view events after Backlash would involve all three brands. The release follows:
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In the spirit that has made WrestleMania the premier brand in the pay-per-view industry, every future World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-views will feature talent and storylines from all three WWE programs: — “Monday Night RAW®,” “Friday Night SmackDown®,” and “ECW®: Extreme Championship Wrestling(TM).” Starting with Backlash® on April 29, WWE fans will see all their favorite Superstars on every pay-per-view. This is a change from 2005 and 2006, when only four of WWE’s 16 pay-per-views featured talent from more than one WWE brand.
“We have seen over the past two years that WWE pay-per-views have significantly better buy rates when more than one WWE brand is involved,” said Kurt Schneider, Executive Vice President, Marketing. “WrestleMania, with an average of one million buys per event over the past three years, is the perfect example. This new direction will give our fans more of what they want in every one of our pay-per-views.”
Schneider said that the tri-branded WWE pay-per-views will benefit from promotion on all three WWE prime time programs – “Monday Night RAW,” (USA, 9/8C), “Friday Night SmackDown,” (CW, 8/7C)and “ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling” (Tuesdays, SCI FI, 10/9C). WWE has had the No. 1 prime time shows on USA, SCI FI, and The CW each week in January and February among households and total viewers, compared to programs with two or more telecasts. Throughout January and February, WWE programs reached 15.7 million viewers in 10.8 million households during the average week.
