Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s heel run is turning out to be one of the biggest draws leading up to WrestleMania XL. The excitement for what his move will be on the next episode of WWE SmackDown has reached an all-time high. The back-and-forth between him and Cody Rhodes each week is highly entertaining. However, this excitement has led to the WWE and SmackDown achieving a new feat. This last episode of SmackDown took place in Memphis, which Johnson calls home.

Dwayne Johnson is the reason behind 12,122 tickets for SmackDown being sold

There is no hiding the fact that Johnson has been a huge draw for the WWE. Since he’s been appearing regularly on SmackDown, the viewership numbers have gone up, both for the live audience and the ones watching at home. Something fans have noticed Johnson say during his SmackDown promos is the fact that they’re in a sold-out arena. This is true, with the most recent being the FedEx Forum in Memphis. Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer Radio gave more insight into The Rock’s claims.

 

According to Meltzer, Johnson was the reason why the place was sold out. He said, “Memphis was not going to be that at all, Memphis was 4,500 tickets sold 2 and a half weeks out.” Meltzer reported that even a week ahead of the show, the total number of tickets sold was around 7,000. However, all this changed once the WWE announced Johnson was going to be on the show. The more interesting aspect of all this is the fact that The Bloodline was never announced to be there. This goes to show that even without The Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns, Johnson is still a massive draw.

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Meltzer continued, “Yesterday morning I got a text from someone saying they sold out Memphis.” This was a few days after they announced that Johnson was going to be on SmackDown. Fans have been eager to know what The Rock felt after getting slapped by Rhodes on the last episode of SmackDown. Despite taking to social media and posting videos about Rhodes, fans still sold out the arena. Memphis is also where Johnson grew up as a kid and saw his father wrestle in the 70s and 80s. What did you think of Johnson’s promo and the sold-out crowd in Memphis? Tell us your thoughts down below.