Prior to Friday night’s episode of SmackDown going on the air, WWE had a sponsored ring mat that featured logos for Fortnite, Snickers and others. The belief is that this will be used starting with this Monday’s WWE RAW premiere on Netflix.
You can check out a photo of the new mat below:
https://twitter.com/WrestleOps/status/1875407247028974033
The traditional PPV buyrate for the 2024 WWE Survivor Series has seen a notable increase since the event aired in November. The initial buyrate of 15,300 has risen to 20,800 over the span of two weeks. This surge in buys is particularly notable in rural markets, which have consistently accounted for the bulk of the purchases. As of the latest report, rural buys have increased from 69.7% to 77.5%, while buys from major markets have sharply declined from 17.7% to 13.7%, and further to 10.2%, reflecting the ongoing trend of fans transitioning to streaming platforms like Peacock.
Despite these shifts, the total PPV buys for Survivor Series rank as the second-largest of the year, behind only WrestleMania. It has surpassed other major events such as Bad Blood, SummerSlam, and the Royal Rumble. The report notes that late buys were minimal, especially outside of rural areas.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has shared the attendance figures for WWE’s Holiday Tour 2024, which took place from December 26 to 30.
The annual holiday tour had an average attendance of 8,986, a decline from last year’s average of 9,703, primarily due to decreased attendance at Madison Square Garden.
Cities like Toronto, Los Angeles, and Houston hosted WWE live events last year but not this year. The average attendance for 2022 was 7,154; in 2021, it stood at 5,347.
* December 26 at Madison Square Garden in New York City drew 12,700 fans. Last year’s event had 15,831.
* December 26 in Jacksonville, FL drew 5,979 fans.
* December 27 in Pittsburgh, PA drew 7,747 fans.
* December 28 in Orlando, FL drew 7,864 fans.
* December 29 in Chicago, IL drew 12,213 fans (700 short of capacity).
* December 29 in Miami, FL drew 6,745 fans.
* December 30 in Detroit, MI drew 9,654 fans. Last year’s event drew 8,477.
