WrestleMania 41 was WWE’s most-watched and highest-grossing event ever
Viewership for the flagship wrestling showcase more than doubled from last year.
The 41st annual WrestleMania event took place in Las Vegas over two nights on the weekend, with WWE legend-turned-actor John Cena crowned world champion for a 17th time — more than anyone else in WWE history — after pinning opponent Cody Rhodes with some help from, er, Travis Scott.
While Cena will be glad to have scooped one final belt before he retires from wrestling for good, WWE itself, which has sat in the wider TKO Group corporate stable alongside UFC since 2023, will also be basking in Sunday night’s glory...
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According to WWE, WrestleMania 41 set an all-time record for revenue, with on-site merchandise sales up more than 45% from the previous year and e-commerce revenue up 86%, making it the company’s highest-grossing event ever. It was also WWE’s most-watched event of all time: the live stadium matchups brought almost 125,000 fans through the gates over both nights and viewership was up 114% from 2024 across streaming partners Peacock and Netflix.
World Wrestling Entertainment, which has roots as far back as 1953, when Vincent J. McMahon founded the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, penned a $5 billion deal with Netflix last January to make the platform a major international home for livestreamed events like WrestleMania. Since then, WWE’s live events division has boomed, accounting for nearly $340 million in revenue in 2024, almost 3x the amount recorded just two years prior.
Still, media deals accounted for the majority (62%) of WWE’s knockout $1.4 billion annual revenue last year — and with Peacock’s streaming deal with the brand set to expire next March, the heavyweight figures are only likely to add strength to the wrestling company’s position in renewal discussions.
Cut above the wrestle… On the business side, TKO Group has also upped the ante on sponsorship. Per WWE, WrestleMania 41 featured a record 28 partners in total, and sponsorship brought in $83 million in revenue last year.
