Last Week's WWE SmackDown Was The Highest Grossing Of All Time
WWE won big, business-wise, in Madison Square Garden.
Last week's episode of WWE SmackDown grossed the highest gate in the brand's 22-year history, reports freelance journalist Ariel Helwani.
Helwani tweeted the following on Saturday afternoon:-
Last night’s WWE Smackdown at MSG produced the highest grossest Smackdown gate of all time, per sources. Not just in NY. Of any city ever for any SD. (Smackdown has been around for 20 years.)
Advertisement— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 11, 2021
Held in New York City's historic Madison Square Garden (WWE's old spiritual home), SmackDown was touted as a sellout by WWE, with Michael Cole announcing a live attendance of 14,425. This is despite fewer than 11,000 tickets being sold or made available as of the morning of the show.
Per WrestleTix, the final attendance was likely closer to 13,000.
SmackDown's ticket sales were slow to start with. Around 8,621 had been sold by the time WWE turned it into a "Supershow" and added John Cena to the lineup in July, though the event still ended up grossing a huge amount.
The 10 September episode was also a big critical hit, with moments like Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns' confrontation, Seth Rollins and Edge's SummerSlam 2021 rematch, and NBA All-Star Trae Young's appearance contributing to the rave reviews. It was also WWE's first televised show in its old spiritual home in two years, having last ran SmackDown at MSG in September 2019.