Sheamus Liked Backstage, Taker's WM27 Opponent, Plans To Raise PPV Buyrates

– RAW superstar Sheamus is well-liked by many backstage in WWE, including influential power players Triple H, John Cena and Randy Orton. Each of them has feuded with Sheamus and gave his his in-ring work and overall attitude high praise. The belief is that he’s one of the true success stories of WWE’s recent youth movement and he’ll be a main eventer in WWE for a long time.

– WWE officials are already discussing who will wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII. As of last week, the top pick to face the “Dead Man” next April is Sheamus. John Cena has also been discussed as a possible opponent.

– One of the biggest stories of the year has been the steady decline of WWE PPV buyrates. Many say there are too many PPV events, they’re too expensive and the gimmick-based shows just don’t work. WWE is working on ideas to help buyrates, but none of them address these issues. One idea being tossed around within WWE recently is to go back to holding a live pre-game show to push late buys for the event. The company used to do this for years (Sunday Night Heat0 and later dropped it when it wasn’t considered to be cost effective.

– WWE has hired APCO World Wide to help the company’s image and gear it towards the mainstream media and politicians.

* WWE Superstars & Divas PARTY At Daytona Beach (Pictures)

(Credit to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the info used in this report)