Cody Rhodes may be outrunning his competition on a treadmill, but he needs to pick up the pace at the box office.
Ticket tracker WrestleTix reports that WrestleMania Saturday trails Sunday by almost 1,000 tickets, with 37,520 distributed for the April 18 opener and 38,470 for the April 19 finale.
Outlets including Forbes and The Takedown on SI report that Roman Reigns and World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk will headline Night 2, as Rhodes defends the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton
in Night 1’s main event.
Even before matches were announced, Night 2 held a slight sales edge. That suggested fans already viewed WrestleMania Sunday as the more important night.
Historically, Night 2 has outperformed Night 1, though WrestleMania 38 may be an exception, with varying reports on its attendance figures. That event featured the in-ring return of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who wrestled Kevin Owens on WrestleMania Saturday.
In an interview this week with Complex Graps, Rhodes talked about being WWE’s “Golden Boy” — a term he believes was meant to be condescending, but one he may “lean into” based on his success.
“I’m outrunning everybody on the treadmill right now. Even the guy who I consider my largest competition. If that’s gonna be the case, then I’ll take this golden boy moniker,” said Rhodes.
WWE has not officially announced which match will headline each night on its website. But given its head start as the first match announced, fiery build, and WWE’s tendency to close Night 2 with the match viewed as most important, Punk vs. Reigns appears likely to end Sunday’s show.
If that’s the case, Rhodes and Orton, his running buddy for Mania, will need to get the lead out as they begin building their story tonight on SmackDown.
