Why WWE Evolution 2 isn’t selling well compared to Saturday Night’s Main Event in the same building

Last week, I did a column about how great the card for WWE Evolution 2 was—and I still think it is. But as reported, the event isn’t selling well compared to Saturday Night’s Main Event in the same building, and even NXT Great American Bash at Center Stage.

While there are plenty of outside reasons why this show isn’t selling well—like going head-to-head with a Beyoncé concert—it also comes down to two things. First, women’s wrestling just isn’t as big of a draw in the States as the men’s. And second, WWE running multiple shows in the same town is oversaturating the market, especially with the prices they’re charging.

So, let’s look at the first point. It’s well known that women’s sports have never been as big as men’s sports in the U.S. It has nothing to do with athleticism—women athletes are just as good as men—it’s all about perception. Most fans still see women athletes as lesser, and this also applies to pro wrestling.

You look at the card for Evolution next Sunday: WWE really stacked the show, putting all their biggest stars on it. You’ve got Charlotte, Alexa, and Jade in matches. They’re bringing Trish out of retirement for this, and both Becky and Bayley are featured as well. Yet, they’ve only sold around 3,700 tickets—which is shockingly low considering SNME has already sold 10,731 and will likely sell out.

That proves that while some fans love women’s wrestling, it’s still a niche product that mainly attracts the hardcore fanbase. Casual fans will always go for star power over just good wrestling. And when you compare the cards, SNME has a much bigger overall draw—especially with Goldberg’s retirement match as the main attraction.

Secondly, WWE is truly oversaturating the market right now. Just look at this weekend: WWE is doing three shows in Atlanta. NXT Great American Bash at Center Stage is selling decently, especially given the limited capacity. SNME is doing really well. Evolution? Not so much.

And look at how expensive tickets were before the weekend. WWE was charging over $150 for all three shows—that’s a lot to ask fans to spend on one wrestling event, let alone three. So fans—especially casual ones—had to choose which show was worth the money and skip the rest.

This forced WWE to slash prices for both NXT and Evolution, hoping to fill both arenas. While it’ll be easier for NXT to make that happen due to the smaller setup, Evolution still has to move a lot of tickets to make the show look presentable on TV. They’re in a 15,000-seat arena, which means they’ll have to set it up in a way that hides how empty it might be—unless they can sell the remaining tickets, which is going to be tough.

In the end, Evolution 2 was set up to fail—just like the original Evolution was. It’s clear they only put the show on the schedule to say they did. They didn’t put real effort into promoting it, they scheduled it as the third show of the weekend, stuck Goldberg’s retirement match on the Saturday show, and didn’t consider the competition in the Atlanta area that weekend—especially with female fans’ money going to other events.

WWE—and especially TKO—thought they were unstoppable, that they could make money on anything. But now they’re learning the hard way that when you just throw a bunch of big shows on the same weekend and ask fans to spend big, fans will pick and choose. And usually, they’re going to choose the “can’t-miss” show.

Now, we all know why they stacked next weekend with shows—they wanted to counter-program AEW All In and try to hurt its buyrate. That’s why NXT Great American Bash and SNME are both happening on Saturday. Whether or not that strategy works remains to be seen, but it’ll be interesting to watch.

On the other hand, Evolution was clearly added just to appease social media fans who have been asking for a second Evolution show for years. And after how this one has flopped, don’t expect a third one anytime soon.