Almost every year, WWE pushes the idea that WrestleMania will be the biggest show of all time without really defining what that means. But there are subjective marks of success, and WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia just set the bar higher in a lot of them this past weekend.
WWE announced today that the two-day event was “the most successful and highest-grossing event in company history,” meaning not just for WrestleMania but any event it has ever put on. Specifically, the show that ended in Cody Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns in a star-studded main event set new company records for:
- Gate, breaking last year’s previous high by 78% thanks to the reported attendance of 145,298 at Lincoln Financial Field over Saturday and Sunday nights
- Viewership, with an audience 41% larger than the previous high set last year
- Merch sales, up more than 20% over the record set at WrestleMania 39
WWE also touted the largest gates in SmackDown and Raw history for the Philadelphia shows on Friday and Monday, respectively, as well as the largest attendance ever for an NXT event (16,545) for Stand & Deliver on Saturday afternoon.
The records should come as no shock since WWE has been on a sellout streak for its weekly shows for several months, and has been hot in general for the better part of 18 months. It’s also impossible to compare WrestleMania records across eras since it’s only been a two-day event during the current decade.
That said, there’s no question that a large number of fans are willing to pay more than ever to attend WWE’s biggest shows, and since those shows are also being well received creatively, there’s no sign of that changing any time soon. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if these WrestleMania 40 records stood were falling by this time next year.
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