The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the announcement of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (which was later changed due to COVID) brought in a lot of business for WWE and their Day 1 PPV this past Saturday. Before the match was announced (as well as Lashley getting added to the WWE title match), tickets were moving slower than expected. At the time it was 6,238 tickets out. The number eventually went up to 11,213, which means Reigns vs. Lesnar can be credited with adding roughly 5,000 people. The show had over 11,600 fans total, including luxury box holders that wouldn’t have a ticket, with 10,300 paid.
WWE announced a sellout attendance of 13,657 for Day 1. The actual number, 11,213, is still a sellout of the seats that were put on sale, but it’s 4,800 short of capacity. However, lots of shows are close to sellouts as they tarp off entire sections. An actual sellout for wrestling TV in that building, which normally has a 21,000 seat capacity, would be 16,000.
Google interest was also significantly higher than usual, as searches were at 500,000. That’s much higher for a non-major WWE PPV, especially when a B show does half that or less. It’s possible some of it could have been curiosity once it was announced that Reigns was off the show and Lesnar was joining the WWE Championship match. Either way, it’s two and a half times more what Survivor Series (considered an A show by WWE) did.
