Since its launch in 1985, WrestleMania has constantly been the biggest night in wrestling. WWE fans from around the world flock to the arenas to watch their favorite wrestlers duke it out inside the squared circle. The event has also featured several celebrities from all wakes of entertainment media such as Muhammad Ali, Bad Bunny, Donald Trump and many more. Some have even participated between the ropes. But not all WrestleMania are treated equally. While some attract record numbers, some have only done modestly. Let us take a look at the WrestleMania attendance record throughout the event’s history.

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Here we will be taking a look at the highest and lowest attended events, what the main event was and the possible reasons why they fared as they did. Keep in mind that although some of these numbers have been inflated by the WWE we will go by their official announced figures. With that out of the way, let us break this down.

What is the highest and lowest WrestleMania attendance record?

WrestleMania with the highest attendance

• WrestleMania 32 – 101,763
• WrestleMania 3 – 93,173
• WrestleMania 35 – 82,265
• WrestleMania 29 – 80,676
• WrestleMania 39 Night 1 – 80,497

WrestleMania with the lowest attendance

• WrestleMania 36 – 0
• WrestleMania 7 – 16,158
• WrestleMania 11 – 16,305
• WrestleMania 9 – 16,891
• WrestleMania 22 – 17,159

Golden Era

The first ever WrestleMania took place on March 31, 1985 and emanated from Madison Square Garden, New York. The event featured Hulk Hogan and Mr. T pairing up to beat the villainous tag team of Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

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The Pay Per View had 19,121 fans in attendance. The number may not seem much compared to the gargantuan figures they pull now but it was a success regardless, one that catapulted them to the top of the business.

WrestleMania 2 fetched almost twice the number of fans but it is important to note that this particular event took place in three arenas and the 40,085 is a combined figure. While each arena had a separate main event, Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy for the WWF Championship in a steel cage match is officially recorded as the headliner.

WWE continued their trend of more than doubling their attendance with WrestleMania 3. A whopping 93,173 fans watched Hulk Hogan slam Andre the Giant to retain his WWF Championship.  The build to this particular still remains one of the most chilling in WWE history.

The match may not have been a technical masterpiece but the fact that it is still talked about today explains the attendance perfectly.

WrestleMania 4 saw a change of guard at the top with Randy Savage beating Ted DiBiase for the vacant WWF Championship. While historic, the event only garnered 19,199.

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WrestleMania 5 witnessed the explosion of the Mega Powers. After winning the WWF Championship, Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan formed a tag team. However, their partnership eventually soured culminating in Hogan beating Savage to become the WWF Champion once again.

Despite the several months long build, WrestleMania 5 had 18,946 fans in attendance, less than the year prior.

Just like how WrestleMania 3 is still talked about to this day, WrestleMania 6 is iconic for the winner take all main event between then WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and then Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior. Again, this was far from a wrestling clinic but it was still surreal to see the two biggest names in wrestling go head-to-head with each other and this is evidenced by the 67,678 fans in attendance.

WrestleMania 7 saw yet another slump with 16,158. Much of that stemmed from disgust among fans for Vince McMahon running a storyline that they perceived to be taking advantage of the Gulf war at the time. Hulk Hogan won the WWF Championship in the main event once again, this time beating Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter.

WrestleMania 8 was the first time the main event did not feature a World Champion or a world title match. 62,167 fans watched Hulk Hogan beat Sid Justice in the main event. A huge improvement from the year prior.

New Generation Era

WrestleMania 9 was supposed to be the first WrestleMania since the 4^th edition that didn’t feature Hulk Hogan in the main event. However, 16,891 fans saw Hulk Hogan walk out after the fight between Bret Hart and Yokozuna only to beat a tired Yokozuna for the WWF Championship in 22 seconds.

This is still considered one of if not the worst ending to a WrestleMania.

WrestleMania 10 was the redemption of Bret Hart who finally beat Yokozuna for the WWF Championship in front of 18,065 fans.

WrestleMania 11 did not fare much better with 16,305 fans attending the event despite Lawrence Taylor beating Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event.

WrestleMania 12 saw Shawn Michaels make his boyhood dream come true when he beat Bret Hart for the WWF Championship after they went to war in a 60-minute Iron Man match in front of 18,853 fans.

WrestleMania 13 is fondly remembered for the Steve Austin vs Bret Hart submission match. From Austin bleeding and passing out instead of tapping to the double turn, the match is an ocean of iconic moments. However, apart from this match there was very little of note that took place.

The Undertaker beat Sycho Sid to become the WWF Champion in the main event with 18,197 fans in attendance.

Attitude Era

WrestleMania 14 saw the beginning of the Austin Era with the Rattlesnake beating Shawn Michaels for his first ever WWF Championship. Despite the presence of Mike Tyson, the PPV only had 19,028 fans watching it in the arena.

WrestleMania 15 was the first WrestleMania pitting Stone Cold and The Rock in the main event against each other. Stone Cold beat The Rock to become the WWF Championship in front of 20,276 fans.

WrestleMania 16 had 19,776 fans watching a convoluted main event between Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley and The Big Show. Triple H retained his WWF Championship and became the first heel in WrestleMania history to win a main event match.

WrestleMania 17, which is considered to this day the best WrestleMania ever, saw 67,925 fans turn up to see Stone Cold, beat The Rock in the main event once again to become the WWF Champion once again.

WrestleMania 18 also did impressive numbers with 68,237 fans in attendance. The main event saw Triple H beat Chris Jericho in the main event, although several fans and wrestlers feel that the match between The Rock and Hulk Hogan should have closed the night instead.

Ruthless Aggression Era

WrestleMania 19 saw 54,097 witnessing Brock Lesnar’s first WrestleMania main event. The Beast Incarnate managed to beat Kurt Angle to become the WWE Champion.

WrestleMania 20 is another iconic event. This PPV is mostly remembered for the amazing main event between Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit and the rabid wolverine celebrating his World Heavyweight championship win with Eddie Guerrero who was the WWE Champion at the time.

Held in Madison Square Garden, the event witnessed a capacity crowd with 20,000 in attendance.

WrestleMania 21 is memorable for the rise of John Cena and Dave Batista. The Cenation leader won his first WWE Championship by beating John Bradshaw Layfield. While Dave Batista won his first World Heavyweight Championship by beating Triple H in front of 20,193 fans.

WrestleMania 22 was the last WrestleMania to feature less than 50,000 fans in attendance. John Cena retained his WWE Championship in the main event against Triple H while 17,155 fans cheered on.

WrestleMania 23 took place in front of 80,103. This time John Cena retained his WWE Championship against Triple H’s best friend Shawn Michaels in the main event.

The PG Era

WrestleMania 24 saw The Undertaker beat Edge for the WWE Championship in front of 74,635 fans.

WrestleMania 25 hovered in the 70 thousands once again with 72,744 fans in attendance to watch Triple H beat his protégé Randy Orton in the main event. Triple H walked in and left as the WWE Champion.

WrestleMania 26 saw The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels put it all on the line in their streak vs career match in the main event. 72,219 fans were in attendance to bear witness to this historic encounter.

71,617 watched the Miz make his first and only WrestleMania main event appearance at WrestleMania 27 against John Cena. The A-Lister surprisingly went on to successfully defend his title, albeit with a little help from The Rock.

The Reality Era

The night after WrestleMania 27, The Rock issued a challenge to John Cena for a match at WrestleMania 28. This was the first time a WrestleMania main event was decided a whole year in advance. 78,363 fans flocked in to see The Rock beat John Cena.

WrestleMania 29 saw the WWE rerun the program despite their first match being advertised as Once in a Lifetime. The Rock walked in as the champion but this time John Cena came out victorious in front of 80,676 fans.

Like WrestleMania 20, WrestleMania 30 witnessed a triple threat in the main event featuring former stablemates and a plucky underdog. 75,167 fans chanted Yes after Daniel Bryan beat Randy Orton and Dave Batista to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

The International Era

If WrestleMania 30 was about a once in a lifetime fan movement, WrestleMania 31 is most remembered for the heist of the century. The main event was originally scheduled as a singles match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

However, 76,976 fans witnessed Seth Rollins become the first person to cash in the Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania.

After 29 long years, WWE finally broke their WrestleMania attendance record at WrestleMania 32 with 101,763 fans in attendance to watch Roman Reigns wrestle the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H’s waist.

WrestleMania 33 saw Roman Reigns beat The Undertaker in front of 75,245 fans in what was, at the time, believed to be his retirement match.

WrestleMania 34 saw Roman Reigns in the main event once again, this time against Brock Lesnar in yet another failed attempt, this time for the Universal Championship.  The PLE was attended by 78,133 fans.

WrestleMania 35 was the first time Women headlined at the Grandest Stage. 82,265 fans attended the event to watch history unfold. Becky Lynch won the RAW and SmackDown’s women championships after beating Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair. This was the third highest attendance after WrestleMania 3 and WrestleMania 32.

WrestleMania 36 holds the distinction of being the only WrestleMania with no fans in attendance. The event was held at the performance center because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was also the first WrestleMania to take place over two nights.

Night 1 was headlined by The Undertaker and AJ Styles while Night 2 saw Drew McIntyre beat Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship in the main event.

WWE was allowed to invite fans at WrestleMania 37 but with a limited capacity in order to maintain social distancing at the event.

27,675 fans attended both nights each. Bianca Belair became SmackDown Women’s Champion after she beat Sasha Banks in the main event of night 1 while Roman Reigns retained his Universal Championship by beating Daniel Bryan and Edge on night 2.

WrestleMania 38 saw 77,899 fans turn up on night 1 and 78,453 on night 2 for a combined total of 156,352. A huge pull for the event was the return of Stone Cold who main evented night 1 by beating Kevin Owens and The Winner take all match between the then WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Universal Champion Roman Reigns.

The Tribal Chief won the title and is still in possession of both titles.

Before the main event of The Usos vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for the Undisputed Tag Titles, The Miz and Snoop Dogg announced that 80,497 fans were in attendance for night 1 of WrestleMania 39.

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