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Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltzer

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33K views 121 replies 42 participants last post by  Starbuck  
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#1 · (Edited)
This list depicts merchandise sales in a single year.
1>Steve Austin-13 million(1998)

2>Dwayne Johnson-11 million(2000)

3>Hulk Hogan-8 million(1985)

4>John Cena-5 million(2009)

5>CM Punk-3 million(2011)
 
#2 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

I don't remeber seeing this in the Observer and ive been subscribed since 2011. I love how Cenas biggest year is not even half of what Austin did in 1998. Kinda shocked no 1999 Austin or Rock numbers here I don't think the numbers they did in 1999 would be off of the 1998 and 2000 numbers listed. I find it weird Hogans biggest WWF year for merch was 1985 just seems weird of all years 85 is his biggest.
 
#4 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

I wonder how much of a cut the wrestlers get of the sales, ie. if they get %5, CM Punk would have gotten $150k in merch sales alone that year, not bad at all for wearing different shirts to the ring to plug them.
 
#5 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

It's impressive that Hogan sold that much, because back then, they didn't even have the avenues to sell merch like they do now (online, multiple PPV shows to advertise the merch, etc.).

reyfan said:
I wonder how much of a cut the wrestlers get of the sales, ie. if they get %5, CM Punk would have gotten $150k in merch sales alone that year, not bad at all for wearing different shirts to the ring to plug them.
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I wonder if they're smart enough to negotiate a cut of the merch SALES, rather than just the merch profit. Obviously it cost money to produce the merch, so a better deal would be a cut of the sales before deductions.

For what it's worth, when Bret Hart was the top merchandise seller in the WWE, he said he made $200,000 a year from that. That doesn't given us an indication of what percentage of a cut that was, but it does give you an idea of what a top guy made in those days.
 
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#6 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

Interesting list, especially the fact that Hogan so much merchandise when there weren't many other options other than buying the stuff at live shows (I think...I wasn't alive dammit).

Hopefully this doesn't turn into another GOAT thread :austin2
 
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#30 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

PGSucks said:
Interesting list, especially the fact that Hogan so much merchandise when there weren't many other options other than buying the stuff at live shows (I think...I wasn't alive dammit).
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They had a massive and pretty aggressive mail order thing going on. You'd ring up for a catalogue or just buy any wrestling mag and the WWF catalogue would drop out of it every time in the eighties and early nineties. I ordered some pretty sweet Bret Hart sunglasses. Well they looked pretty sweet in the catalogue, when they turned up they were shitty and cheap. Plus you could buy WWF Hogan headbands, shirts and foam fingers all over the God damn place. They were in every toy store goin at one point.
 
#8 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

Very interesting list, impressive how much Hogan sold and Austin wow.

Surprised though about Punk making 3 million in what was really June to December so really half the year, had no idea it would be that much.
 
R
#15 · (Edited)
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

goldigga said:
Very interesting list, impressive how much Hogan sold and Austin wow.

Surprised though about Punk making 3 million in what was really June to December so really half the year, had no idea it would be that much.
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Yes,CM Punk's last quarter merch sales in 2011 were very impressive and superceded Cena's for the entire year.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

FredForeskinn said:
Just think of what 8 million 1985 would be today.
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It would be $16.8 million today.

I wonder if Meltzer adjusted for inflation. Probably not, because it looks like he just said it on a radio show, and in the past, he never used to adjust for inflation when he'd post on messageboards about drawing power. People would always counter-argue with him over that fact.

Usually when someone adjusts for inflation, they'd say so.


ETA:

Austin would be $18.177 million today (from $13 million in 1998).
Rock would be at $14.484 million today (from $11 million in 2000).
Cena would be at $5.337 million today (from $5 million in 2009).
 
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I
#14 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

So, this is each wrestler appearing once?

I'm surprised Cena's most and Hogan's most is 5 and 8 million respectively, given that I'd be sure Stone Cold & The Rock would have reached at least Cena's number in 1999/2000 as well.

I wonder what the countdown would be of the top wrestler merch sales per year would be? I would expect the op 2 to be the top 2 here, with The Rock and Austin in 1999 following them.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

im really surprised that punk is so high that hes in the top 5 . it actually makes his shitty booked year losing to rock 2x, cena in number 1 contender match for wrestlemania, losing to taker, losing to lesnar, stuck in a feud with heyman jobbers for months, and now switching off every show feuding with shield and the wyatts even more surprising

you would think that with punk having such high merch sales and with how popular he is , wwe would protect him better , and not keep him out of the title picture for either championship for the entire year. and i am not a punk mark at all . just looking at this from a business perspective
 
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#21 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

RatedR IWC Star said:
im really surprised that punk is so high that hes in the top 5 . it actually makes his shitty booked year losing to rock 2x, cena in number 1 contender match for wrestlemania, losing to taker, losing to lesnar, stuck in a feud with heyman jobbers for months, and now switching off every show feuding with shield and the wyatts.

you would think that with punk having such high merch sales and with how popular he is , wwe would protect him better , and not keep him out of the title picture for either championship for the entire year. and i am not a punk mark at all . just looking at this from a business perspective
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I think that someone posted before that merch only makes up about 6% of WWE's total revenue. I may be off on the exact total, but it's not as big of a percentage as everyone makes it out to me.

Having said that, that doesn't justify the WWE's notoriously shitty booking.
 
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#24 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

Austin said on Colt Cabana podcast that the amount of 3:16 tshirts sold was "in the 8 figures"
 
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#25 · (Edited)
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

I think this is nice information for the CM Punk haters out there who think Punk doesn't draw money or isn't valuable to the WWE.


Let me get this right? These are the highest selling merchandise sellers for that year in the history of WWE?

Very impressive for Punk is that is right.

Not to mention how much money he will have drawn since and his DVD/BLU Ray release and being on the cover of WWE 13.
 
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#26 · (Edited)
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

Ok, I just checked, and merch revenue accounts for higher than that 6% that that poster said, but it's still not a gigantic revenue stream. At least not right now.

Source:
Top Revenue Sources - Q3-2013

(1) TV Rights - $44.1 million
(2) Live Events - $25.0 million
(3) PPV Revenue - $14.6 million
(4t) WWE.com - $5.7 million
(4t) Licensing - $5.7 million
(6) DVD Sales - $5.2 million
(7) Venue Merch - $4.0 million
(8) WWE Shop - $2.9 million
(9) WWE Studios - $1.8 million
(10) Magazines - $1.5 million
Click to expand...
=$110.5 million earned in the third quarter of this year

If we assume that all WWE.com sales are merch (since DVD sales are listed separately...though WWE.com sales could still potentially include DVD sales, but I'm just being overly careful):

$5.7 mil from wwe.com merch
$4.0 venue merch
=$9.7 million


That's less than 10% of overall revenue. Though DVD sales could make that a bit higher (merch would be about 13% of overall revenue if we include total DVD sales).


I think that it's significant enough to maybe account for some pushes, but unfortunately not enough for them to properly book someone that they don't really care enough about over the long-term.
 
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R
#28 · (Edited)
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

wwe lol said:
THIS IS BULLSHIT
according to wwe austin is at the top followed by hogan,CENA AND THEN ROCK,HHH
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Source?
Earlier,there was a WON extract posted by a user named 'bigfanwwe1980' which said that Rock sold 11 million(worth of)merch in 2000.
And lol you saying Cena outsold Rock,that's practically impossible as Cena earns a salary of $2 million while the Rock earned a salary of $15 million back in 2000.
 
#32 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

RockistheGOAT said:
as Cena earns a salary of $2 million while the Rock earned a salary of $15 million back in 2000.
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ortons making $3.5m a year according to his divorce papers so cena is doing way more than that

According to the docs, Randy rakes in $291,666 per month in salary.
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Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/07/10/wwe-randy-orton-divorce-final-bentley-guns/#ixzz2lqupDYbB
 
R
#31 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

That's really pathetic considering now there are a lot more online shoppers than it was in the 90s.
 
J
#33 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

OP talking out of his a$$.

What is the source for Cena, Rock, Punk, Hogan numbers?
Meltzer only talked about Austin's numbers in the vid.

"It's being reported that John Cena's 2008 merchandise sales were the highest single year grossing numbers in company history with the exception of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. This has to be considered a huge accomplishment considering Cena was out of action for a few months during 2008"
 
R
#36 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

John Cena forever said:
OP talking out of his a$$.

What is the source for Cena, Rock, Punk, Hogan numbers?
Meltzer only talked about Austin's numbers in the vid.

"It's being reported that John Cena's 2008 merchandise sales were the highest single year grossing numbers in company history with the exception of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan. This has to be considered a huge accomplishment considering Cena was out of action for a few months during 2008"
Click to expand...
Perhaps that article forgot to mention the Rock along with Austin and Hogan.
There was a user called "bigfanwwe1980" who posted articles pointing out the actual figures of merchandise sales for every wrestler.You would like to ask him.
And its practically impossible for Cena to outsell the Rock as Cena earned a salary of 2 million in 2008 while Rock earned a salary of 15 million in 2000.
 
#39 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

For what it's worth, Austin's ex-wife, Debra, said that Austin made as much as $12 million in his highest earning year.


Source:
By Angel Aramboles on 2007-08-20 19:39:34

During their 3 year marriage she claimed that Austin earned as much as $12 million a year.
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This was in an interview five years after their divorce, so it's not like she was just making big money claims in order to get a piece or whatever. They'd already been long divorced and settled, and it was just an answer to a bunch of questions about Austin.


Cena's no Austin, but I doubt he's only making about 16% of what Austin made (going by believing that Cena makes $2 million).

He obviously makes much more than that, because like someone said, Randy Orton makes $3.6 million, and I don't even know if that includes merchandise and PPV cuts.
 
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#40 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

If those numbers are true, then Cena turning heel into something marketable with Punk being a face shouldn't hurt sales at all. Like shit the BITW shirt wasn't too bad, just try and design something that's not a fucking abomination on cotton.
 
#45 ·
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#47 ·
Re: Top 5 merchandise sellers in a single year in WWE history according to Dave Meltz

wwe lol said:
it was just one site there are more sites that reported it and btw what's YOUR SOURCE FOR THOSE NUMBERS.....
AND don't say meltzer cause he is not working for wwe so give a authentic source.
Click to expand...
I already posted the sources.
 
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