WrestleMania 40 shatters multiple viewership, attendance records

WrestleMania 40 proved to be a massive success for WWE.

The annual event, which was held April 6-7 at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, set a new WrestleMania gate record with 145,298 attendees over the two nights, according to Variety's Joe Otterson. That number was up 78% over WrestleMania 39, which took place at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

WWE also experienced a 41% increase in viewership compared to last year, while merchandise sales were up more than 20%.

The company's social media channels generated over 660 million total views, including a record 67 million views alone on the WWE YouTube channel on Sunday.

WWE didn't reveal the amount of the gate, but David Bourne of Sports Business Journal reports that it topped $18 million, breaking the previous record of $17.3 million set in 2016.

Night 1 of WrestleMania 40 notably featured the return of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in a tag team match alongside Roman Reigns. Rhodes went on to beat Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match on Night 2 to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.