WWE: WrestleMania 40 Ticket Sales Break All-Time WWE Record, Edge on Last Toronto Match, More on NXT Aug. 15, 2023 Viewership

WrestleMania 40 Ticket Sales Breaks All-Time WWE Live Gate Record

Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell reported that WWE’s first day tickets sales on Friday for next year’s WrestleMania 40 event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania broke the all-time record for largest live gate revenues for a WWE event in WWE history.

While an exact amount was not given, Rovell reported that WWE had sold over 90,000 tickets and generated a live gate for their upcoming two-day WrestleMania 40 event that was higher than the previous record of $21.5 million set by this past April’s WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.

JUST IN: WrestleMania 40 went on sale today and has already broken @wwe’s all-time gate record ($21.5M at WrestleMania 39 in LA).

More than 90,000 tickets sold so far to the two-day event at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in April 2024.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 18, 2023

WWE confirmed the record breaking achievement during their broadcast of SmackDown later that night.

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Edge Comments on His Match with Sheamus Being His Last Match in Toronto

As noted before, Edge recently revealed that his current contract with WWE only had one match remaining, which took place at Friday’s SmackDown show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Sheamus as his final opponent.

Following his victory over Sheamus at Friday’s SmackDown show, Edge gave a post-show speech to the crowd confirming that he wrestled for the last time in his hometown of Toronto.

“What I can say is that this is my last one in front of y’all. I don’t think I can make it another full run to get here again for a match. I’m just being honest with you, but don’t let that be a downer because, man, what an experience you all gave me. I will never forget it. I will never forget it. When I’m 84 years old, and I don’t remember much, I’m damn sure going to remember this. Thank you.”

Edge speaks to the crowd after #SmackDown

pic.twitter.com/GR45ktgfgD

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) August 19, 2023

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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More on NXT Viewership for August 15, 2023

The August 15th episode of WWE NXT saw NXT suffer a very large decline in overall viewership and a small decline in key demographic ratings.

NXT drew 680,000 viewers and a 0.19 key demographic rating on USA Network. NXT’s key demographic ranking for that night was 1st place.

Detailed viewership and key demographic breakdowns were not available in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that the main reasons for NXT’s declines this week was due to the large declines from their younger male key demographic viewership, older male key demographic viewership, and older female key demographic viewership groups, which were down 28.8%, 16.1%, and 20% respectively compared to last week’s show. This reportedly offset the gain from their younger female key demographic viewership group, which was up 18.8% compared to last week’s show.

In terms of notable head-to-head competition, the MLB game of New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves drew 578,000 viewers on TBS and Love & Hip Hop Atlanta drew 401,000 viewers on MTV.

In terms of peak viewership, NXT’s peak reportedly was at 725,000 viewers for their second quarter. NXT’s peak for key demographic viewership was at 269,000 viewers for their second quarter as well.

In terms of key demographic viewership, NXT had 249,000 viewers. NXT’s Males 18-34 had 52,000 viewers (down 28.8%), Females 18-34 had 57,000 viewers (up 18.8%), Males 35-49 had 104,000 viewers (down 16.1%), and Females 35-49 had 36,000 viewers (down 20%). Meltzer reported that the male/female viewership split was 156,000 male viewers and 93,000 female viewers for a split of 62.7% in favor of males.

In terms of yearly comparisons, NXT was down 5.9% in overall viewership but up 3.3% in key demographic viewership. Meltzer reported that NXT’s 18-34 viewership was up 55.7% compared to the same week last year.