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PHOTO: WORC News 8
Estimated tickets distributed
Source: WrestleTix Calculation by Wrestlenomics
Year-over-year change
Jason Ounpraseuth and Brandon Thurston
brandon@wrestlenomics.com
2022 presented a return to normalcy, so to speak, for the world of pro wrestling. The effects of Covid-19 still affected live touring in the first half of 2021, until the third quarter, when WWE and AEW started running live shows again.
This year gave us a full view of live event touring largely without restrictions. WWE, especially, sought to take advantage of this by running pay-per-view events in stadiums. These events largely were held in the third quarter and resulted in 132,332 tickets distributed in that quarter and an average of 33,083, according to our analysis of WrestleTix estimates. It’s important to note Money in the Bank originally was scheduled to be at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas but moved to nearby MGM Garden Arena.
The 2022 WWE PPV Q3 total was double that of WWE’s 2021 Q3 total, which brought in 65,064 tickets distributed and an average of 21,688. This results in a year-over-year increase of 103% for total tickets and 53% for average tickets out.
Raw and Smackdown largely saw an increase in year-over-year tickets distributed with the exception of average tickets for Q3 for Smackdown.
Average house show attendance took a big dip in 2022 compared to 2021 with a year-over-year decrease of 42% for the typical house show and a 2% drop in total tickets distributed. It’s important to note WWE kicked off its European tour in Q3 of 2021, and there were some live shows in Europe that took place in Q4.
WWE’s holiday tour in 2022 was 12% lower compared to 2021 in average tickets out and a 6% drop in total tickets moved. There were some European live events in Q4, but what’s noticeable is the higher frequency of events in 2022 compared to 2021. For context, the Omicron variant started to spread in the latter half of 2021.
WWE also ran more “Supershow” branded house shows in 2021, and the house shows in 2022 ran under the “WWE Live” moniker.
AEW Dynamite had an 18% year-over-year decrease in Q3, as 2022 did not benefit from high attendances at venues like Prudential Center in New Jersey and Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens that occurred in 2021. AEW ran Arthur Ashe Stadium in Q3 2022 but with lower attendance.
The same can be said for Q4’s 22% year-over-year decrease of tickets distributed. AEW had big shows at Wintrust Arena and UBS Arena in 2021, but the company did not run in comparable venues in the last quarter of 2022.
AEW pay-per-views were slightly inverse to Dynamite’s trend. Q3 was down 11% year-over-year, and All Out was run at NOW Arena near Chicago in 2021 and 2022. But Full Gear was held at Target Center in Minneapolis in 2021 and at Prudential Center in 2022. AEW’s Q4 saw a 16% year-over-year increase.
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.