WWE Royal Rumble sets viewership records
January 31, 2023
By Nik Roseveare
WWE has announced that the 2023 Royal Rumble, which emanated from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on January 28th, became WWE’s highest-grossing and most-viewed Royal Rumble in company history.
The 36th annual event set a new all-time gate record at more than $7.7 million (€7.1m), far surpassing the previous Royal Rumble record in 2017 by more than 50 per cent. Viewership of the event saw a 52 per cent increase versus the previous record set in 2022.
In addition, the 2023 Royal Rumble broke all-time venue merchandise and sponsorship records; Merchandise sales were up 135 per cent versus the record set in 2022. Royal Rumble sponsorship revenue was also up nearly 200 per cent versus 2022.
Across social media, videos of the Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn confrontation generated 20 million-plus views across all WWE platforms and became the most-viewed WWE clip of 2023. Additional highlights include Logan Paul and Ricochet’s high-flying collision which amassed 26.5 million views across WWE and Paul’s platforms, and the launch of Reigns’ TikTok account which netted 100,000 followers in the first 24 hours.
The returning Cody Rhodes won the Men’s Royal Rumble event and will now go on to headline WrestleMania 39 in April. Rhea Ripley was victorious in the Women’s Royal Rumble.