WWE Seemingly Exaggerated Gate And Ticket Sales For 2023 Royal Rumble

This year's WWE Royal Rumble was a success for the company. The premium live event set records with a multi-million dollar gate, but the reported information might not have been entirely accurate. A new Wrestlenomics report reveals that WWE may have inflated the gate and ticket sales for the event, and they have the data to prove it.

According to public records obtained by Wrestlenomics from the City of San Antonio, the Royal Rumble, which emanated from the Alamodome, sold 44.569 tickets and made a profit of $7.3 million in revenue. However, WWE announced that the show generated $7.7 million with 51,338 fans in attendance, while the reported evidence indicates that 42,928 tickets were scanned on the night.

Meanwhile, ticket audit records obtained by Wrestlenomics revealed that 2,662 tickets were given away for free. The 51,338 figure may have been the result of WWE counting non-fans among the overall number of attendees, as one Alamodome staff member told the outlet that WWE counted "anyone with a heartbeat" in the final figure. Regarding the exaggerated attendance number, it's believed that WWE's Director of TV Event Relations communicated with the Alamodome's staff to determine the 51,338 figure in the lead-up to the show.

Of course, WWE and other promotions providing alternative facts regarding revenue and crowds is hardly a new revelation. WWE has inflated the WrestleMania attendance record on several occasions to present an illusion of grandeur and extravagance, so the Royal Rumble story is merely the latest example of a longstanding trend in action. Additionally, WWE reported record revenue numbers in 2022, so the exaggerated Royal Rumble numbers shouldn't be interpreted as a sign of the promotion experiencing an economic decline.