One of the absolute worst aspects of WrestleMania 42, and there was a lot to be down on, was the fact that it felt like there were more ads than actual wrestling. None of the matches got to go particularly long, everything felt short changed, and that was at least partially due to the fact they had so many ads to squeeze in.
At the end of the first night, tweets like this were going around:
That’s downright depressing, especially when you already had to pay to watch the event.
Folks have started calling it “The Ad-itude Era,” which would be a lot funnier if it wasn’t so miserable.
To add insult to injury, WWE sent out its usual press release touting the success of WrestleMania in “Sin City” and were sure to throw in a note about how many marketing partners they worked with throughout the weekend (emphasis mine):
WRESTLEMANIA® 42 TAKES OVER LAS VEGAS WITH MORE THAN 106K ATTENDEES & ONE OF THE HIGHEST-GROSSING EVENTS IN WWE® HISTORY
April 22, 2026 – WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), today announced that WrestleMania 42 became one of the highest-grossing events in company history, with record or near-record performances across gate, sponsorship, merchandise, WWE World, On Location VIP experiences and digital.
WrestleMania 42 was highlighted by the historic Sunday night main event in which Roman Reigns defeated CM Punk to claim the World Heavyweight Championship, and Saturday night’s main event where Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton despite early interference by Pat McAfee.
Across two nights at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, attendance reached 106,072 with tickets purchased from all 50 states and more than 69 countries.
WrestleMania 42 featured a record 32 marketing partners, including Snickers, 2K, Riyadh Season, Ram, DoorDash, Wingstop, Wheatley American Vodka, Minute Maid, The General Insurance, PepsiCo’s MUG Root Beer and Chumba Casino.
WrestleMania Saturday was the most-viewed telecast of the year on ESPN2, while WrestleMania Sunday was the most-viewed telecast of the entire weekend on ESPN.
At WWE World, a five-day interactive fan experience in partnership with Fanatics, paid experience sales reached all-time highs. WWE World also featured a lounge for attendees who signed up for Club WWE, the recently announced Gold membership experience for fans.
Additionally, WrestleMania 42 set a new digital record, generating more than 1.3 billion views across all social platforms – up 18 percent from the record set at WrestleMania 41.
Yeah, I don’t even know what to say here.
Take it away.
