WWE’s business is doing very well these days, with television ratings increasing and merchandise and live event sales skyrocketing.
This comes at a time when WWE’s popularity has skyrocketed thanks to The Bloodline storyline starring Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa.
Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE’s merchandise business is off the charts and has surpassed any time in company history, including the Attitude Era, arguably WWE’s hottest period.
“Attendance is way way up….It’s been big on cable…even in the Attitude Era, when it was big on cable, it wasn’t beating the top network shows. It wasn’t even close. But now, I mean, it is. It’s crazy, and people wanna say that somehow this isn’t hot. It is so hot. It’s the hottest wrestling has been since 2001, that’s 22 years, and people may look back and go, ‘Oh, they were doing three million viewers not that many years ago,’ although TV’s changed. They certainly weren’t doing these crowds on a regular basis like they are now. The crowds for the quarter would be some of the highest in many years, and so many other things when you look at them. Merchandise has never been higher, ever. Not in the Attitude Era, not in the Hulk Hogan era. Never as high as it is now. Roman is the catalyst. Cody Rhodes is doing great on Raw, no doubt about it. Roman….he’s been great since he went heel, and it’s been building and everything like that, but even when you look back six months ago, it’s gone way up since six months ago.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)