House Show Draws (March 2009 - March 2014)



Purpose of this analysis is to quantify the relative "on top drawing power" of various WWE wrestlers for North American (USA/CANADA) House Shows.

Analysis by Chris Harrington (@mookieghana) - chris.harrington@gmail.com
 


Methodology

For the purposes of this analysis, we'll be looking at things in terms of "WRESTLEMANIA YEAR":  These periods last from the day following the previous Wrestlemania up until that year's Wrestlemania PPV.
  • WM2010: 4/6/2009 to 3/28/2010
  • WM2011: 3/29/2010 to 4/3/2011
  • WM2012: 4/4/2011 to 4/1/2012
  • WM2013: 4/2/2012 to 4/7/2013
  • WM2014: 4/8/2013 to 4/6/2014
Determining "top stars" was a combination of looking at who was in the final match on the House Show card along with who was holding important championships at that time.

Only domestic (US or Canada) WWE touring shows that were not television tapings are being considered as eligible "House Shows" in this analysis.

Example

8/2/09 WWE RAW House Show @ Westchester County Civic Center in White Plains, New York - 3,800
9/5/10  WWE SmackDown House Show @ Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York - 3,000
7/24/11 WWE SmackDown House Show @ Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York - 4,300
9/22/12 WWE RAW House Show @ Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York - 4,200
3/31/13 WWE House Show @ Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York - 3,700
1/12/14 WWE Live @ Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York - 2,500

Average Attendance: 3,583

Each of these shows had different "top stars" in the final match:
  • WM2010's WP card was headlined by Cena/Henry vs Legacy (+217 versus average)
  • WM2011's WP card was headlined by Kane/Big Show (-583 versus average)
  • WM2012's WP card was headlined by Randy Orton/Christian (+717 versus average)
  • WM2013's WP card was headlined by Big Show/CM Punk (9/22/12) (+616 versus average)
  • WM2013's WP card was headlined by Cena/Orton/Sheamus vs The Shield  (3/31/13) (+117 vs avg)
  • WM2014's WP card was headlined by CM Punk vs The Shield (-1,083 vs avg)

RESULTS

This looks at all appearances by "top stars" by Wrestlemania Year among US & Canadian House Shows where there are at least three attendance datapoints.

WM2010

Attendance was generally good, as compared to other years, so everyone is in the positive.

Wrestler Average Diff. Appearances
Batista 2,587 10
Kane 2,474 10
Shawn Michaels 2,012 9
John Morrison 1,558 16
Edge 1,545 10
Rey Mysterio 1,528 10
Sheamus 1,473 23
John Cena 1,445 27
Christian 1,308 19
MVP 1,303 26
Miz 1,237 27
Big Show 1,236 16
Triple H 1,233 18
CM Punk 1,229 16
Randy Orton 1,189 31
Kofi Kingston 1,188 30
Ted DiBiase 1,117 25
Cody Rhodes 1,112 26
Carlito 1,057 21
Chris Jericho 871 10
Jack Swagger 854 31
Mark Henry 800 24
Tommy Dreamer 243 9

WM2011


Wrestler Average Diff. Apperances
Jey Uso 664 23
Jimmy Uso 605 24
Randy Orton 584 49
Alex Riley 515 16
Daniel Bryan 463 33
Miz 444 54
Evan Bourne 422 29
Tyson Kidd 380 40
John Cena 347 42
Vladimir Kozlov 317 38
Sheamus 279 53
John Morrison 276 47
Wade Barrett 226 35
David Hart Smith 190 28
Ted DiBiase 175 43
CM Punk 8 31
Mark Henry (8) 37
R-Truth (25) 28
Chris Jericho (71) 10
Justin Gabriel (71) 24
Heath Slater (86) 23
Big Show (95) 36
Edge (175) 39
Dolph Ziggler (176) 33
Alberto Del Rio (222) 44
Kofi Kingston (293) 40
Drew McIntyre (385) 35
Chris Masters (405) 32
Kane (438) 42
Cody Rhodes (440) 34
Jack Swagger (485) 35
Rey Mysterio (617) 20
MVP (764) 15

WM2012


Wrestler Average Diff. Apperances
Kane 601 22
Epico 535 18
Santino Marella 519 31
Mason Ryan 413 33
David Otunga 308 30
R-Truth 287 48
Miz 278 44
Alex Riley 276 40
CM Punk 264 48
Jack Swagger 253 51
John Cena 243 53
Primo 226 36
Dolph Ziggler 224 55
Curtis Axel 185 28
Kofi Kingston 145 55
Vladimir Kozlov 133 14
John Morrison 106 14
Evan Bourne 73 43
Big Show 33 25
Alberto Del Rio (91) 41
Justin Gabriel (169) 23
Rey Mysterio (236) 12
Daniel Bryan (344) 44
Randy Orton (402) 29
Cody Rhodes (409) 39
Ted DiBiase (442) 33
Mark Henry (451) 27
Sheamus (465) 38
Wade Barrett (567) 32
Christian (663) 20
Ezekiel Jackson (781) 24


WM2013


Wrestler Average Diff. Appearances
Roman Reigns 711 24
Seth Rollins 709 25
Miz 619 40
Dean Ambrose 595 32
John Cena 496 51
Dolph Ziggler 432 45
Zack Ryder 430 52
Antonio Cesaro 429 42
Tensai 381 50
Chris Jericho 373 17
Jack Swagger 356 41
Brodus Clay 302 53
R-Truth 209 29
Ryback 198 48
CM Punk 167 41
Santino Marella 139 39
Justin Gabriel 126 25
Ted DiBiase 91 11
Kofi Kingston 65 48
Daniel Bryan 65 43
Titus O'Neil 51 30
Darren Young 44 29
Kane 34 42
Mistico (55) 28
Alberto Del Rio (78) 34
Damien Sandow (123) 28
Big Show (124) 43
Epico (161) 27
Primo (161) 27
Sheamus (161) 40
Wade Barrett (165) 27
David Otunga (197) 20
Cody Rhodes (203) 31
Jinder Mahal (225) 25
Randy Orton (332) 20
Christian (340) 12
Great Khali (597) 18

WM2014

Compared to prior years, all numbers are negative.

Wrestler Average Diff. Appearances
John Cena (74) 36
Kane (173) 32
Antonio Cesaro (207) 49
Cody Rhodes (233) 41
Ryback (271) 51
Sheamus (319) 27
Goldust (325) 21
Fandango (327) 39
Tensai (373) 25
Daniel Bryan (382) 51
R-Truth (383) 39
Zack Ryder (387) 39
Randy Orton (425) 50
Dean Ambrose (426) 51
Curtis Axel (428) 39
Mark Henry (459) 19
Justin Gabriel (518) 28
Wade Barrett (520) 32
Roman Reigns (521) 54
Seth Rollins (521) 54
Miz (530) 43
Hunico (557) 28
Alberto Del Rio (558) 49
Brodus Clay (607) 36
Damien Sandow (611) 47
Big Show (622) 39
Kofi Kingston (632) 40
Jack Swagger (648) 40
Bray Wyatt (664) 36
Drew McIntyre (670) 30
Dolph Ziggler (674) 39
Primo (678) 15
Jinder Mahal (698) 32
Big E. Langston (732) 40
Epico (735) 16
Great Khali (746) 26
Jimmy Uso (798) 37
Jey Uso (811) 39
Heath Slater (844) 28
Darren Young (872) 44
Luke Harper (892) 36
Titus O'Neil (921) 48
CM Punk (955) 25
Christian (1,126) 12
Erick Rowan (1,126) 30

COMBINED


 Average Difference in Attendance     Number of Appearances   WM2012/2013/2014 
Wrestler  WM2010   WM2011   WM2012   WM2013   WM2014    WM2010 WM2011 WM2012 WM2013 WM2014    Avg Diff   Appearances 
Cena       1,445          347          243         496           (74)             27           42           53           51           36              254                  140
Miz       1,237          444          278         619         (530)             27           54           44           40           43              112                  127
Kane       2,474         (438)          601           34         (173)             10           42           22           42           32                95                   96
R-Truth              (25)          287         209         (383)                28           48           29           39                42                  116
Ziggler            (176)          224         432         (674)                33           55           45           39                39                  139
Swagger         854         (485)          253         356         (648)             31           35           51           41           40                12                  132
Ambrose                  595         (426)                      32           51               (32)                   83
CM Punk       1,229              8          264         167         (955)             16           31           48           41           25               (38)                  114
Ryback                  198         (271)                      48           51               (44)                   99
Rollins                  709         (521)                      25           54             (131)                   79
Reigns                  711         (521)                      24           54             (142)                   78
Bryan             463         (344)           65         (382)                33           44           43           51             (231)                  138
Big Show       1,236           (95)            33        (124)         (622)             16           36           25           43           39             (269)                  107
ADR            (222)           (91)          (78)         (558)                44           41           34           49             (272)                  124
Cody        1,112         (440)         (409)        (203)         (233)             26           34           39           31           41             (287)                  111
Sheamus       1,473          279         (465)        (161)         (319)             23           53           38           40           27             (312)                  105
Orton       1,189          584         (402)        (332)         (425)             31           49           29           20           50             (399)                   99
Barrett             226         (567)        (165)         (520)                35           32           27           32             (431)                   91
Henry         800             (8)         (451)            (459)             24           37           27              19             (455)                   46
Christian       1,308            (663)        (340)       (1,126)             19              20           12           12             (701)                   44

In aggregate, assuming about $20/ticket, the difference between headlining 38 house shows with John Cena (only) and headlining 38 house shows with Randy Orton (only) would be about $950,000 in revenue.
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