Royal Rumble draws $17M+ in tickets
Wrestlenomics Report: Estimating Raw on Netflix U.S. viewership, legal FAQ
Royal Rumble draws $17M+ gate in Indianapolis
Royal Rumble 2025 drew what WWE claimed was the third-biggest gate in company history, which indicates that in real-time dollars, it was higher than the $17.3 million that WWE announced it generated for Wrestlemania 32 in 2016 in Arlington, Texas. WWE didn’t reveal a specific dollar amount for the Rumble gate.
The gate for the Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is approximately the eighth-highest in pro wrestling history, when adjusting for inflation. Standing ahead of this year’s Royal Rumble are the second day of Collision In Korea, Wrestlemania in 2018 in New Orleans, Wrestlemania in 2017 in Orland, Saturday and Sunday of Wrestlemania last year in Philadelphia, Wrestlemania in 2019 in New Jersey, and, still the all-time leading when adjusting for CPI, Wrestlemania 32 in Arlington. The latter’s $17.3 million gate (including fees), is equal to about $23 million today.
With increasing ticket prices and greater demand, it’s another of many gate records set lately by WWE. Many of the more recent records are with the caveat of being in an arena.
WrestleTix estimated the tickets distributed count for the Rumble at 67,590. Amusingly, WWE indicated two different attendance numbers during Paul Levesque’s appearance at the post-show press conference. A graphic displayed that the attendance was 65,470 at the same moment Levesque read off the attendance as 70,347.
Given the high ticket prices we’ve seen for this year’s Wrestlemania in Las Vegas, I wouldn’t rule out either or both days surpassing the $23 million mark.
Netflix’s top 10 TV show rankings revealed international viewership for the Royal Rumble. Through two days, it had 2.1 million global views -- which is similar to a global household average minute average measurement. Remember that doesn’t include any U.S. viewership as WWE premium live events are on Peacock, not Netflix. It’s difficult to put this 2.1 million global views number in context as we don’t have much to compare it to. We do have information that two years ago, the Royal Rumble was viewed by about 2 million Peacock accounts in the U.S., but that measures a different geography that this non-U.S. international viewership number, and, further, the Peacock number could be a measure of unique accounts, as opposed to this averaged-by-duration measurement. Another not-so-great comparison is that we reported last year Wrestlemania was watched by an average of 2.7 million to 2.9 million Peacock accounts -- again, U.S. only, and we don’t have international viewing data for Wrestlemania last year.
An updated estimate of Raw on Netflix U.S. viewership
To further our estimates for Raw on Netflix, assuming strictly that the trend in viewership from the heavily-hyped premiere has declined to the same rate globally as in the U.S., that assumption continues to suggest viewership of Raw on Netflix in the U.S. is delivering about the same-sized audience as it did on the USA Network during the same time of the year in 2024.
How we estimate this: Here, we make use of Netflix’s announcement, via third-party measurement from VideoAmp, that the premiere episode on Netflix was watched by 2.6 million households (live+same-day). Then, we take for granted that viewership has leveled off to the same extent as global viewership (as revealed in Netflix’s top 10 rankings). That would leave us only with an estimate of households, but because 1.37 viewers per home has been a stable average for Raw in recent years, we apply that to the household estimate to get an estimate of viewers, the measurement we’re more familiar with. The result is, we estimate Raw in the third and fourth episode on Netflix is being viewed by about 1.8 million viewers, live+same-day in the U.S., right on par with where it was at this time last year.
Frequently asked questions about Vince McMahon and WWE legal issues
This might fall on deaf ears and only be read by those who need to read it least, but these are some common questions and misconceptions I see around the legal stories involving WWE and Vince McMahon. Though I’m not a lawyer, I’ve spent as much time as anyone reporting on these specific stories.
Why are WWE and TKO being sued? And isn’t the ring boy lawsuit from decades ago anyway?
Pertaining to the ring boy case, the Maryland Supreme Court recently ruled that their state law legally removes all time limits when it comes to child sex abuse allegations.
TKO is the merged entity of WWE and UFC. Upon merger, TKO inherited all of WWE's legal liabilities.
In both the Grant lawsuit and the ring boy case, the plaintiffs allege that the company and its executives were negligent in enabling abuse. Though the plaintiffs have to prove their claims in court, that means they're saying the company had a duty to protect individuals from the kind of harm they say they were subject to, and the company failed to do so.
Is Vince McMahon going to prison?
At this point Vince McMahon nor anyone else involved in these cases are charged with any crimes. Vince was, and possibly still is, under investigation by federal prosecutors for sexual abuse. However, given the time that's passed, it seems unlikely he'll be charged unless significant new information comes to light.
We’re mainly talking about lawsuits here. Lawsuits are civil issues where the plaintiffs mainly seek remedies in the form of payment from defendants. Criminal law is very different from civil law. Criminal defendants who lose in court may be sentenced to jail time.
Vince said “the case is closed” a few weeks ago. Doesn’t that mean these legal issues are over?
Not even close, despite Vince's statement following his settlement with the SEC over regulatory violations related to his NDA payments. Vince, WWE, and John Laurinaitis are being sued by former WWE employee Janel Grant, who alleges Vince and Laurinaitis committed numerous acts of sexual misconduct and that WWE was negligent in enabling it.
The ring boy lawsuit is still underway, and as mentioned earlier, the Maryland Supreme Court ruling clears one hurdle allowing that case to move forward.
But what about Vince's connections? Donald Trump is going to get him out of any legal trouble, right?
While Vince’s connections are notable, I dare suggest it’s unlikely that Trump could—or would—get him out of legal trouble directly. Wealthy individuals like Vince and Linda McMahon may have more access to influential figures than ever, but the President leads the executive branch, not the judicial branch. Even taking for granted that Trump is willing to act recklessly or illegally, intervening in a civil lawsuit would carry significant legal and political risks with little personal gain. Given Trump’s unpredictability, maybe nothing can be ruled out, but meddling in a civil lawsuit seems like an unfavorable deal for him, just thinking transactionally.
Although Trump has connections to Vince, Linda’s ties are more substantial—she’s a major donor and is nominated to again serve in Trump’s cabinet. It’s easier to imagine Trump being inclined to support Linda, who’s a defendant in the ring boy case. However, despite their influence, Trump cannot simply make lawsuits disappear without crossing constitutional boundaries that would risk a third impeachment if Democrats take back the House in 2026. I know, one might say that violating the U.S. Constitution is something the Trump administration has been doing on a daily basis since his inauguration. Such interference, though, that would whisk away Vince or Linda’s legal issues, would at least entail a variety of abuse of presidential power that up to this point we haven’t seen yet.
Lastly, if you want to consider partisan politics, you might consider that the judges overseeing the Grant case and the ring boy lawsuit were appointed by Democratic presidents, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, respectively.
But Trump could pardon Vince!
The President does have the power to issue pardons, but presidential pardons apply only to federal criminal offenses. Since Vince isn’t facing any federal criminal charges at this time, a pardon would be irrelevant to his legal situation. Pardons can’t alleviate Vince, Linda, or anyone else from civil liability in lawsuits.