ESPN’s partnership with WWE appears to be paying off early.
According to Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal, the worldwide leader in sports saw a significant jump in ESPN App subscriptions around the time of its first-ever WWE premium live event, the historic WWE WrestlePalooza on ESPN show, which aired back on September 20, 2025, live from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Karp discussed the trend while appearing on The Sports Media Podcast, where he referenced data from Antenna that tracked the spike in signups for the ESPN app in connection to the first-ever WWE WrestlePalooza PLE.
“You can see the spikes when NFL started, when college football started, and particularly late in September when ESPN had its first PLE, WrestlePalooza really seeing a spike there in signups,” Karp said. “So, I thought it was a really good start there for those two services.”
While ESPN has yet to release any official viewership or subscription data, Karp’s comments suggest the company saw meaningful growth directly tied to WWE’s streaming debut on the platform.
An ESPN source told a media personality earlier this week, “Things are going well and we have started strong,” when talking about the success of the ESPN Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) App. “We don’t provide the viewership specifics, but things have been going well.”
The partnership between WWE and ESPN has generated considerable buzz since being announced earlier this year, with WrestlePalooza serving as the first test of how WWE content performs on ESPN’s digital ecosystem.
The inaugural WWE WrestlePalooza on ESPN show featured a triple-header main event, with John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. CM Punk & AJ Lee, as well as Cody Rhodes defending his Undisputed WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre.
For those interested, you can check out our complete WWE WrestlePalooza 2025 Results here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.
