Ric Flair Confirmed For ECW & SD! Next Week, More News

The preliminary buy rate for Judgment Day stands at 244,000 total buys and 154,000 domestic buys. The pay-per-view featured Triple H vs. Randy Orton in a cage match for the WWE title, Edge vs. Undertaker for the vacant World title, Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho, and John Cena vs. JBL. This year's numbers are almost identical to last year's, which did 240,000 total buys and 158,000 domestic buys, although those were the final totals. As a general rule, you can usually count on an 8% average growth from the preliminary figure, so the '08 number should be even bigger. Last year's show featured the first Cena vs. Great Khali match (for the WWE title), as well as Edge vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight title, Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels, and Bobby Lashley vs. ECW Champion Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon & Umaga. Even though ratings & web traffic were down in May compared to last year, you can say that WWE did a way better job of promoting Judgment Day this year.

The 6/30 Raw in Oklahoma City drew 11,000 total fans for a $400,000 gate

World Wrestling Entertainment sent out an email this afternoon saying that Ric Flair has been added to this Tuesday's ECW/Smackdown taping and will be making a "farewell speech to his hometown fans." The email advisory also listed a six-man tag-team dark match main event featuring The Hardy Boys & Triple H takig on Edge, MVP and Umaga.