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Night 2 of Wrestlemania 40 holds the all-time pro wrestling gate record for a single-day event, selling $18,433,325 in ticket sales, a figure that likely doesn’t include ticketing fees.
Night 1 of Wrestlemania 40 is the second-highest gate ever, at $17,656,965 million, again, a dollar figure that probably doesn’t include fees.
Wrestlenomics obtained these new, specific numbers through a public records request to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.
Before Wrestlemania 40 in Philadelphia this year, the all-time pro wrestling gate record was held by Wrestlemania 32 in 2016, in Arlington, Texas, which WWE announced at the time drew $17.3 million, a number that likely does include ticket fees. Adjusting for inflation, $17.3 million is worth $22.7 million today, which is almost certainly higher than either night of this year’s Wrestlemania even when adding in ticket fees. Perhaps including fees, Night 2 of Wrestlemania 40 drew about $19.7 million.
With ticket fees, Wrestlemania 40 over two nights drew a total of $38.5 million, which we already knew based on WWE’s announcement that the events’ combined gate was 78% higher than last year’s Wrestlemania events. WWE announced last year’s two-night Wrestlemania 39 in Inglewood, Calif., drew a combined $21.6 million, so determining $38.5 million as this year’s combined gate, with fees, was a matter of doing the math.
Without fees, Wrestlemania 39 last year generated a combined $19,749,071 in ticket sales, according to Pollstar data. Night 1 sold $9,542,187 and Night 2 sold $10,206,884.
As a result of our records request, we also obtained record-setting gate numbers for other events in Philadelphia in the days surrounding Wrestlemania, all of which took place at the Wells Fargo Center.
Smackdown on the Friday before Wrestlemania drew $2,022,405 (without fees). WWE said in its press release that the event drew the highest gate for a Smackdown event. That record, however, also according to the company, has already been broken by the Smackdown that took place in Lyon, France, the night before Backlash last month. The Philadelphia Smackdown broke the record previously set by the Smackdown in London last year, which Pollstar data shows drew the equivalent of $1,845,401 in U.S. dollars (without fees), the night before Money in the Bank.
On the Monday after Wrestlemania, Raw drew what WWE said was the highest gate for Raw ever, which commission records show was $2,243,015 in ticket sales.
And NXT Stand & Deliver on Saturday afternoon drew a gate of $1,109,245.
Again, all of these gates don’t include ticket fees:
Smackdown (Apr. 5): $2,022,405
NXT Stand & Deliver (Apr. 6): $1,109,245
Wrestlemania Night 1 (Apr. 6): $17,656,965
Wrestlemania Night 2 (Apr. 7): $18,433,325
Raw (Apr. 8): $2,243,015
Record of gross receipts the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission provided to Wrestlenomics in response to a public records request:
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.