Entertainment

WrestleMania XL touted as ‘most successful and highest grossing’ in WWE history

More than 145,000 fans flocked to Philadelphia for the two-day event, and it amassed more than 660 million at-home views worldwide.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson took part in a tag team match with his cousin, Roman Reigns, at WrestleMania XL
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson took part in a tag team match with his cousin, Roman Reigns, at WrestleMania XL (Suzan Moore/PA)
By Yasmin Vince, PA

WWE’s blockbuster WrestleMania XL event has been touted as the “most-successful and highest-grossing event in company history”.

The two-night showcase, which took place in Philadelphia on April 6 and 7, broke WWE’s record for the number of at-home views, amassing more than 660 million worldwide over the two days, up 41% from last year.

More than 67 million views occurred within 24 hours of Sunday’s transmission, WWE said.

WrestleMania XL was expected to be big due to the return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson earlier this year.

Although he has made guest appearances on WWE’s weekly shows and at previous WrestleManias, this year was the first since 2013 that he had been scheduled for a match.

He opened Saturday’s show with a tag team match in which he was partnered with his cousin, Roman Reigns.

Reigns was another reason WrestleMania XL had been hotly anticipated.

Before his main event match against “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes, Reigns had been the Universal Champion for almost four years, holding the record for the longest singular reign.

His storyline was due to wrap up at WrestleMania, so fans expected the title to change hands.

The match featured appearances from other well-known wrestlers such as John Cena and The Undertaker.

WWE has claimed this WrestleMania also broke the company’s record for fan attendance, with a combined audience of 145,298 fans over the two nights.

This beat the 134,856 who attended WrestleMania 39 in 2023.

However, while the combined number is the biggest since the event was expanded to two nights in 2020, neither Saturday nor Sunday’s numbers, 72,543 and 72,755 respectively, beat WrestleMania 32 in 2016.

At 80,709, the crowd at that event in Austin, Texas, remains the largest attendance at a single event in WWE history.

– WrestleMania XL aired on TNT Sports and on the WWE Network in the UK.