12 Richest WWE Matches Of All Time

2. John Cena Vs. The Rock (WrestleMania XXVIII)

Donald Trump Stone Cold Steve Austin Vince McMahon Bobby Lashley
WWE.com

The highest drawing main event in company history, WrestleMania 28's first-time (but not 'Once In A Lifetime') meeting between John Cena and The Rock was arguably the last of the top-drawing dream matches WWE had left at their disposal in a pre-Network era. With 12 months of direct build and years of thrown barbs between them though, this enormous figure still over-delivered on an immaculate hype job.

Rounding out at 1,253,000, the show did over 100,000 more than the record set the previous year, over 750,000 more than that year's Royal Rumble and SummerSlam and a full million more than the Survivor Series seven months later.

Adding to it the 78,363 spectators that paid top dollar for tickets in 'The Great One's hometown Miami, and it's tough to find a main event more measurably massive than the the battle between 'Big Match John' and 'The People's Champ'. As frustrating as it was to have 2012's dream sequence marketing campaign thrown back in audience faces just one year later, it's understandable reviewing the figures why they'd immediately return to the same well to complete the epic three year Cena/Rock arc.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett