Yesterday (Nov. 13), WWE Shop posted their “Top Selling Superstars of 2023”. They didn’t provide a lot of detail. In fact, they didn’t even number the list.
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But from the way the graphic’s laid out and other sources of similar information (more on that in a second), we’re assuming the ranking is:
1. Cody Rhodes
2. Roman Reigns
3. LA Knight (YEAH)
4. John Cena
5. Rhea Ripley
6. Seth Freakin’ Rollins
7. The Bloodline
8. The Judgment Day
9. Rey Mysterio
10. Kevin Owens
With that little data, it’s impossible to know how accurate the list is. But Wrestlenomics tracks apparel sales on WWE Shop throughout the year, and Brandon Thurston has most of these names in his site’s year-to-date Top 20:
1. Cody Rhodes
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin
3. Roman Reigns
4. LA Knight (still YEAH)
5. John Cena
6. nWo
7. Eddie Guerrero
8. Rhea Ripley
9. WWE
10. The Usos
11. Seth Freakin’ Rollins
12. Kevin Owens
13. Sami Zayn
14. Bray Wyatt
15. Jey Uso
16. lWo
17. D-X
18. Bad Bunny
19. Scott Hall
20. WCW
Thurston believes WWE didn’t include non-active talent in their ranking, which seems logical to us as — whatever else it is — the WWE Shop list is a marketing & promotional tool. He also mentions the possibility the company is factoring in-person sales at live events, which Wrestlenomics doesn’t.
Other factors which could explain the differences are sales of items categorized as something other than “Apparel” (for example, Rey’s masks), and what merchandise is included in a group’s total (e.g. Do sales of Ripley shirts count toward her total and The Judgment Day’s? Is Sami Zayn included in The Bloodline numbers?).
Regardless, the amount of overlap between the two lists means they give us a pretty good idea of who was moving merch this year. Which is always interesting in general... and to factor into our understanding of how & why things play out the way they do on-screen in the months to come.
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