AJ Styles on WWE Struggling to Sell Tickets for SummerSlam 2026

AJ Styles has listed his reasons for lagging ticket sales for WWE SummerSlam.

AJ Styles on WWE Struggling to Sell Tickets for SummerSlam 2026

AJ Styles [via- WWE]

WWE SummerSlam is fast approaching, with the two-night event set to go down on August 1 and 2 at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. With the biggest party of the summer just two weeks out, it’s struggling massively with the ticket sales. Based on the latest estimates from WrestleTix, the Saturday night currently has 22,780 tickets sold as compared to 22,634 for Sunday.

For the unversed, the venue holds over 70,000 people, which means WWE might not even fill up even half of the stadium for its second biggest show of the year. The issue was recently brought up by AJ Styles‘ Phenomenally Retro podcast co-host, Tony Giles. After listening to the aforementioned figures, Styles knew they weren’t great.

Well, it doesn’t sound like they’re doing very well. But it is 20,000 people. That is a lot as well, to have a two-day event where 20,000 people are coming. But again, it is not a sellout. So is this being successful? I don’t know………Or is it all about, which I know the answer to this, the money and having a two-day event where it’s not sold out, but there are 20,000 people there each day, and they’ll probably pick up at least another 5,000 to 10,000 that’s my guess.

AJ Styles via The Phenomenally Retro podcast

Styles, however, looked at it from a different perspective and said having over 20,000 fans per night was still more than what WWE would usually do for an arena show. But considering it’d be a far cry from being a sellout, the retired wrestler didn’t know if it was a successful proposition. He was sure that WWE would make money off of it regardless of the lagging sales.

‘The Face That Runs the Place’ stated it clearly looked like a case of WWE caring less about a sellout and opting against running an indoor arena to milk as much money as it could. Styles thought that the company could still expect at least 5,000 to 10,000 more fans to add up to the total until showtime. When asked about the potential reasons for the sluggish ticket sales, AJ Styles brought up the ticket prices.

He wasn’t aware of the current pricing point but knew the tickets hadn’t been known to be cheap over the past year and more. Styles talked about fans having their seating preferences in stadium shows like these and therefore rallied for the nosebleeds to be extremely cheap so that they get sold in no time. Styles guessed that WWE is going two nights for SummerSlam to gauge traction and demand before aligning the other two ‘Big 4’ PLEs with the same format as well.

Styles personally preferred single-night shows. However, the two-night concept seems to be doing fine for WrestleMania as per his judgment, and he said they’ll find that about SummerSlam soon. Earlier this year, the 49-year-old said that WrestleMania had lost a bit of its luster, and a good chunk of the fans agreed with the wrestling great. While Styles didn’t expand on what has caused Mania to lose its grandeur, it could be him hinting at the ‘Show of Shows’ adding a second night as the reason.

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Major ladder match added to WWE SummerSlam

Adam Pearce announced via WWE’s social media platforms prior to this week’s SmackDown that Rhea Ripley wouldn’t be able to compete at SummerSlam due to the tricky nature of her torn meniscus injury. She sustained it while wrestling Jade Cargill at Clash in Italy and has since been recovering. Pearce said that Ripley is close to returning but couldn’t provide a timetable for that.

WWE SummerSlam
WWE SummerSlam 2026 poster [via- WWE]

Due to that, WWE will crown an interim women’s champion at the biggest party of the summer in a ladder match consisting of five women. Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill advanced to it by virtue of winning their qualifying matches on SmackDown. Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair will duke it out next week for a spot in the ladder match, with two more entries to be further decided.

The remainder of the SummerSlam card is looking stacked. It’ll see Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi inside Hell in a Cell, Roman Reigns (c) vs. Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Title, CM Punk (c) vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Title, Penta (c) vs. Chad Gable for the Intercontinental Title, and Liv Morgan (c) vs. Iyo Sky for the Women’s World Title.

The Bloodline (The Usos and Jacob Fatu) will take on LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, and Royce Keys in a 6-man tag team match as well. Thus far, only 7 matches have been announced for SummerSlam, with the previous expectation putting it at a total of 14 matches across both nights. WWE should double down on the build immediately following tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.

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