By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The viewership numbers are in for ESPN’s television broadcasts of the first hour of both nights of WrestleMania 42. Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reports that the first hour of WrestleMania 42 night one averaged 1.62 million viewers for ESPN2, and the first hour of WrestleMania 42 night two averaged 1.82 million viewers on ESPN.
The one-hour countdown show for WrestleMania 42 Saturday averaged 676,000 viewers, and the countdown show for WrestleMania 42 Sunday averaged 750,000 viewers. Follow Ryan Glasspiegel on social media.
Powell’s POV: The numbers are higher than I anticipated. Making them even more impressive is that they do not include anyone who watched the countdown shows or WrestleMania 42 on ESPN Unlimited.
These were the TV ratings for the WrestleMania simulcasts on ESPN2 (Saturday) and ESPN (Sunday). Note these numbers do not include everyone who was watching on the ESPN Unlimited streams, which had the whole shows both nights. @FOS
Sat ESPN2 – 1.62M viewers
Sun ESPN – 1.82M…— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) April 22, 2026
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
Good numbers for WWE and ESPN. Here’s hoping they did good numbers on the app too. And before any of you lose your shit on me and tell me I’m licking TKO’s balls, lots of people tuning in is a good thing for wrestling.