WWE, the world’s largest wrestling organization, recently hosted its annual summer event, SummerSlam at MetLife Stadium on Aug. 2 & 3. The two night format has been used prior for its biggest show of the year, WrestleMania, however this is the first time that it has been used for SummerSlam. MetLife Stadium was the venue that they selected to experiment with and the numbers proved that it worked out.
The two nights of wrestling brought pure excitement to the fans, with wild matches taking place all night. The two nights drew a combined attendance of 113,722, a new record for the event. 53,161 fans showed up for the first night, with 60,561 for the second. The format was not even needed to break the record, as the highest-attended SummerSlam in the U.S. was in 2024, holding 57,791 fans in 2024 at Huntington Bank Field in 2024. The only SummerSlam to post a higher number in a single night was at Wembley Stadium, which hosted over 70,000 fans.
The first night ended in a thriller, with Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on CM Punk to capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The second night had a tough act to follow but lived up to the expectations, as Cody Rhodes defeated John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship, with a surprise appearance from Brock Lesnar.
For all of the 113,722 record-breaking fans in attendance, they were treated with two exciting nights of wrestling and some of the biggest for the industry of the year.
The Meadowlands is no stranger to the WWE, having previously hosted SummerSlam in 1997 and 2007. The event was hosted at what was then known as the Meadowlands Arena, showing the long-time collaboration between the WWE and the Meadowlands. MetLife Stadium also hosted WrestleMania twice in 2013 and 2019, holding the record for the event’s 4th and 5th highest attendance, respectively.