Free WrestleMania gets WWE Network to nearly 2 million subscribers

WWE is touting more big numbers today, following their reporting record-breaking attendance and revenue figures from last night's live crowd in Arlington, Texas' AT&T Stadium.

WrestleMania 32 was offered as part of the free-to-new-subscribers package for the over-the-top streaming Network, and that promotion - along with continued global expansion (the service is now worldwide with the notable exception of China, with a strategy for that market coming in the "next several months hopefully" per Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios) - and helped set a new peak for subscribers at 1.82 million.

The figure represents a 39% increase from the day after Mania last year, March 30, 2015.

Vince McMahon commented on the number via press release, saying:

History was made last night with both a record-setting crowd at AT&T Stadium and more households than ever before watching WrestleMania on WWE Network.

WWE Network continues to drive transformative growth for our company.

Barrios added:

Results today further demonstrate the power of our brand, illustrate our potential to drive long-term growth and provide evidence that we are effectively executing our multi-platform content strategy.

The two men are on an investor conference call now discussing the bigger WrestleMania business picture, and we'll have more news from that - and the market's reaction to their version of business - later.

What do you think, Cagesiders? Big number... should it have been bigger?

UPDATE: Here are the numbers from their presentation, which show the drop in paid domestic (U.S.) subscribers from last year: