As he pointed out, he didn't look at a lot.
Like what was most pushed at the time, or house show business. Orton started to bomb badly when he was headlining house shows, and he hasn't really been ratings draw either. His merch sales aren't through the roof, but when he's a heel that's not entirely fair (though Punk did well with merch while a heel).
I think the key is the champ doesn't matter to revenue.