John Cena is set to finish his year-long retirement tour this weekend at Saturday Night’s Main Event, an event that is breaking financial records for WWE. According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the show at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, will feature a sellout crowd of 18,740.
“Because of the ticket prices, this will be the largest arena-sized building gate in the history of pro wrestling. We don’t have an estimate, although it’ll be well above $4 million,” Meltzer reported.
The demand for tickets on the secondary market has been incredibly high, suggesting that the primary tickets may have been priced too low. “And the reality is they underpriced tickets, not overpriced, given the secondary market average ticket price sold as of two days before the show is $866.98, so they were getting double and triple face value,” Meltzer wrote. “The lowest price to get in at press time was $365, and that’s with late slashing factored in and the 400 section for the most part is ranging from $444 to $879.”
This event serves as the conclusion to a run that has driven business throughout the year, including a heel turn for Cena at WrestleMania. “It’s been the best business storyline in history, record gates for WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Elimination Chamber and Survivor Series. Cena’s appearances have significantly increased television ratings from the normal level,” Meltzer noted.
Regarding the broadcast platform, the original intention was to maximize the viewership for Cena’s farewell. “The idea of doing it on Saturday Night’s Main Event was the idea that it would be the largest possible audience for his farewell, as well as for the company all year in the U.S. But that show being taken off NBC changed that,” Meltzer stated.
Saturday Night’s Main Event Full Confirmed Card
- John Cena vs. Gunther – Cena’s Retirement Match
- Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Champion) vs. Oba Femi (NXT Champion) – Champion vs. Champion (Non-Title)
- Bayley vs. Sol Ruca – Singles Match
- AJ Styles & Dragon Lee (c) vs. Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater – WWE World Tag Team Championship
