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WrestleMania weekend 2024 is officially in the books and while the WWE isn’t as massively popular as it was in the late ’90s, it still made history as the highest grossing event in company history.
According to Variety, WrestleMania 40 broke all kinds of company records. It’s been dubbed their most successful live event ever as fans tuned in to see Cody Rhodes defeat all odds and “Finish The Story” by taking the WWE Undisputed Championship from Roman Reigns in a classic main event Sunday (April 7). With anticipation for the moment building over the past few years, wrestling fans made sure they were in attendance and were watching from home to witness the dream come true for the American Nightmare and helped the WWE make some historic gains in the process as well.
Variety reports:
WrestleMania 40 took place over two nights at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Per WWE, the gate for the event was up 78% compared to the previous record set during WrestleMania 39, with 145,298 in attendance across both nights this year. The company also says viewership was up 41% versus last year, while merchandise sales — in partnership with Fanatics — was up more than 20% over last year.
But the live events on Saturday and Sunday nights are just one part of the story. WWE set up a massive presence in Philadelphia from Thursday-Monday. The company hosted the WWE World experience at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where fans could pay to get up close with authentic WWE memorabilia from their archives as well as take part in immersive experiences. This was coupled with the WWE Superstore, which featured a wide range of branded merchandise from apparel to toys and beyond.
Couple that with the 660 million views that were generated across WWE’s social channels and the WWE YouTube channel hitting 67 million views in 24 hours on Sunday, and you have a recipe for massive success.
Though the WWE has their work cut out for them if they plan on topping these numbers with WrestleMania 41, it may once again center around Cody Rhodes as it seems like they’re setting it up for Rhodes vs. The Rock. The Peoples Champion alluded to wanting to take the gold from Cody on Monday night’s episode of RAW. There’s also rumors that The Rock would be challenging his cousin, Roman Reigns, but at this point it’s anyone’s guess what route the shot callers at the WWE will go for WrestleMania 41.
What do y’all think? Who should main event WrestleMania 41? Let us know in the comments section below.