WWE is touting that Payback 2023 was a record-breaking night for the company.
The event took place in Pittsburgh on Saturday night and was the first Payback pay-per-view since 2020. In a press release issued on Tuesday, WWE stated that this was the most-watched and highest-grossing Payback ever.
Payback’s viewership was up 36 percent from the prior record in 2016. This year’s Payback aired on Peacock while the 2016 event was on WWE Network.
The gate was up 13 percent from the previous record, which was also Payback 2016. WWE states that it’s the highest-grossing event for any WWE show ever held in Pittsburgh.
Payback 2016 took place at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
“In addition, Payback broke the all-time event merchandise record. In partnership with special event retail partner Fanatics, merchandise sales were up 182 percent versus the previous record set in 2017,” WWE wrote.
“2023 Payback was also the most-viewed social Payback of all time with a combined 146 million social views, up 44 percent from the previous record set in 2020. The most-viewed moment across social platforms was Cody Rhodes announcing Jey Uso would be joining the Monday Night Raw roster which generated more than seven million social views across all platforms in one day.”
Saturday’s PPV was headlined by Seth Rollins retaining his World Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. Judgment Day (Finn Balor & Damian Priest) winning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles from Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a Steel City Street Fight was among the other highlights, along with Becky Lynch defeating Trish Stratus in a steel cage match.
This was the seventh Payback event in WWE history. The PPV first took place in 2013.
