2024 is officially over and many people are remembering the year that has passed. A metric that was studied by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter These are the attendance numbers for WWE and AEW, which broke down the ups and downs of both companies compared to years past. Meltzer noted that the numbers came from both WrestleTix and William Zdon, mentioning that these numbers are for total attendance and not paid attendance, as they would be about 7-12% lower.
WWE had one of its most impressive years ever, as the company reportedly finished 2024 with an average attendance of over 10,000 people for the first time since 2001, averaging around 12,100 people per show. As for the overall company, Meltzer says 2024 is also the fourth-best average attendance year in WWE history, behind 1999, 2000 and 2001, when the company was at the top of the league. attitude era.
The official 2024 average for WWE was 10,859 fans, a 19.8% increase from 2023’s 9,067 fans. However, Meltzer considers this an artificial bump as the company has significantly scaled back house shows throughout the year and began managing stadiums. for events like Elimination Chamber to increase the average over the 2023 figure.
That said, the company’s televised events are consistent with these numbers as “WWE Raw” averaged 10,478 fans, while “WWE SmackDown” averaged 11,498, representing a 10.3% increase and 9.7% compared to 2023, respectively. WWE has also reported a large number of sellouts in 2024, including shows with fewer than 500 tickets remaining on sale.
While WWE was trending upward, AEW was trending downward
AEW’s attendance numbers have been a cause for concern for some time, particularly when it comes to the company’s weekly television shows. For 2024, AEW has hosted an average of 4,227 attendees, which Dave Meltzer says is a bit misleading since the company has chosen to run smaller buildings throughout the year, like the stadium residence Esports in Arlington, Texas for “AEW Collision” in the summer, and the Hammerstein. Ballroom for “Collision” and “AEW Dynamite” the weekend before Christmas.
However, Meltzer also estimates that the Wembley Stadium figure, which would be over 53,000 tickets sold but 46,000 at the turnstiles, balances it out. All of these factors taken into account make the 2024 average 27.3% lower than the 2023 average of 5,812, and also lower than the 2022 average of 5,623.
In terms of individual shows, “Dynamite” saw a 26.7% drop, from 5,042 to 3,694 fans, while “Collision” saw an even steeper 38.7% drop, from 4 176 to 2,559 fans. As previously mentioned, Meltzer pointed to “Collision’s” residency in Arlington as a reason for this decline, but when you take that out of the equation, it’s still a notable decrease from the year previous. While “Dynamite”‘s numbers make for a good point of comparison, as the Hammerstein Ballroom is the only small building the show took place in in 2024.
It’s not all doom and gloom for AEW, as the company’s averages compared to past numbers are still very promising. Meltzer reported that 4,227 would surpass many WWE averages from the early 1990s and that, compared to WCW, the 2024 average was higher than anything the promotion had offered outside of the three-year period between 1997 and 1999.
