We Look Back To When the Pope Broke WWE’s Indoor Attendance Record In Michigan

Breaking news has been reported overnight that says Pope Francis, a man who had vastly reshaped the Catholic Church, has died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, according to the Vatican.

Pope Francis has been struggling with some serious health issues recently, which included a five-week hospital stay with pneumonia, but many were not expecting him to pass away so suddenly.

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As Pope Francis has passed on, we take a look back at when another pope set the world indoor attendance record. It’s also coincidental that Pope Francis passed away the morning after night two of WWE‘s biggest events, Wrestlemania, because Pope John Paul II was the one who broke WWE’s indoor attendance record.

It all happened at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, where two world records would be set in the same year. If you visit the Pontiac Silverdome’s Wikipedia page, details of three of the biggest crowds that the venue ever saw.

The largest crowd to gather at the Silverdome was on September 18, 1987, for Mass with Pope John Paul II, with a reported attendance of 93,682 — just shading the reported record of 93,173 set at the Silverdome on March 29, 1987, for WrestleMania III. Another notable audience attendance record had earlier been broken on April 30, 1977, when the English rock band Led Zeppelin played in front of 76,229 fans at the Silverdome.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers to be putting up for 1987 alone. It's clear how big religion was and is for the people of Michigan, so as the Catholic Church prepares a service, there will no doubt be a new pope soon.