WWE has touted the success of WrestleMania 40.
Ahead of time, it was widely believed that the two-night show in Philadelphia was going to be a memorable one due to the return of The Rock to the ring and the strong possibility that Cody Rhodes would finally finish the story. With the company being hotter than ever and selling out arenas for their last 13 tapings of Raw and SmackDown, it was almost guaranteed that the 2024 show was going to break records in certain metrics such as viewership and social media engagement. However, now that all is said and done, the event was an even bigger success than many previously anticipated.
Announced via press release, WrestleMania 40 set new records for the event itself and TV tapings before and after the event. With merchandise sales and gate also up from the previous year, this was also the highest-grossing event in the history of the WWE:
STAMFORD, Conn., April 9, 2024 – WWE®, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), today announced that WrestleMania XL became the most-successful and highest-grossing event in company history.
Highlights include:
- GATE: WrestleMania XL broke the previous record set by WrestleMania 39 by 78 percent, with 145,298 in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field over two nights. The event drew fans from all 50 states and 64 countries worldwide.
- VIEWERSHIP: WrestleMania XL viewership was up 41 percent across both nights versus last year’s record-setting audience.
- MERCHANDISE: In partnership with Fanatics, merchandise sales were up more than 20 percent versus the previous record set at WrestleMania 39.
- SPONSORSHIP: WrestleMania XL featured the first-ever ring mat sponsorship with PRIME Hydration.
- FAN EVENT: WWE World at WrestleMania, in partnership with Fanatics Events, is now the highest-grossing and most-attended fan event in company history.
- SOCIAL: WrestleMania XL became the most socially viewed WrestleMania of all-time, with over 660 million views consumed over the two days. WWE’s YouTube channel saw its most-viewed day in channel history on WrestleMania XL Sunday with more than 67 million views in 24 hours.
- SMACKDOWN: Friday Night SmackDown at Wells Fargo Center drew the largest gate in SmackDown history.
- RAW: Monday Night Raw at Wells Fargo Center drew the largest gate in Raw history.
- NXT: Stand & Deliver was the most-attended NXT event ever with 16,545 in attendance at Wells Fargo Center.
The record-breaking event was highlighted by the highly anticipated in-ring return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes’ triumphant victory over Roman Reigns.
In other record-breaking news, The Rock has responded to WrestleMania 40 becoming the most-streamed event on Peacock.
WWE Touts Success Of Historic WrestleMania
Although the show will be best remembered as the night where Rhodes defeated Reigns, multiple title changes took place over the course of the weekend. On night one of the event, 2 teams walked out as the new Tag Team Champions and Sami Zayn brought Gunther’s 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion to an end.
On night 2 of the show, Drew McIntyre became the new World Heavyweight Champion before quickly losing the title to Damian Priest via Money in the Bank cash-in. Later that night, Bayley defeated Iyo Sky to become the new Women’s Champion.
With multiple WWE production changes taking place throughout 2024, one change is set to remain.