Guest Alfdogg Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 There's a thread about it at TSM...they were just speculating on what the ME should be, but it eventually turned into "could they actually put together a program that could sell out Ford Field?" I felt that there's no way they're filling that place up, unless they manage to finally put together Austin/Hogan. With what they have now, they'd be lucky to fill an arena half that size. A lot of them seem to disagree, and seem to think that just sticking Austin/Rock/Brock in there with Cena would do it. Of course, you could throw any asshole in the title match and there's the group of people who would still attend just on the basis of it being WrestleMania. What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 I just watch Von Erich/Flair the other day at Texas Stadium. World Class used to run supershows at the football stadium and draw thousands, but it still looked odd with the upper deck nearly empty. Realistically, I think Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Steve Austin are the only wrestlers that can justify filling a building that size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 WrestleMania will almost always be a sellout just for the name alone, unless WWE tries to full a 100,000 stadium again. Having said that, Vince will most likely go on a full court press to get a "big name" star to guarantee a sellout. The only problem is Austin, Rock (tore an Achilles filming a movie), and Hogan are probably not going to be able health-wise to do a WM main eventing program. Brock, along with burning his bridges and setting fire to the ashes, wants to go into MMA instead of pro wrestling. I'd be willing to bet Cena could get a lot of folks in the door on his own. The internet haters love to ignore the fact that he gets asses in the seats, even if said asses are in those seats to boo him. I'd like to see a Cena-Rock "passing the torch to the next generation" match echoing the Rock-Hogan match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 What is capacity at Ford Field? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 80,000 for basketball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Hmm, yeah. Vince has been slowly building to a breaking point since RAW moved to USA. Embarrassment by a small turnout (not to say it will happen, but if it did) would probably finally drive him completely over the edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bravesfan Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 The show will sell out before the card is even hinted at. There should be no argument. I think people underestimate the overseas business that 'Mania has been doing with the travel packages since X-7. Besides that, Michigan is an ideal centralized area for travel within the East Coast (NY, Ontario), and the prices will be decently priced for a stadium show (won't be much different price-wise from X-7 through XIX). EDIT: Rock would be able to go by April with the injury he had. There was nothing about a complete tear, and that production for the movie was only halted, that's a good sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Wrestlemania will always sell out: end of story. Usually the tickets sell in about an hour don't they? And in any case, I don't think Vince would have gone to a big stadium if he didn't have some big match he thought he could get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Wrestlemania will always sell out: end of story. Usually the tickets sell in about an hour don't they? And in any case, I don't think Vince would have gone to a big stadium if he didn't have some big match he thought he could get. Since 1998, they've drawn the following at each Mania: 14- 19,028 (Boston Fleet Center) 15- 18,274 (Philadelphia First Union Center) 16- 18,742 (Anaheim Pond) 17- 67,952 (Houston Astrodome) 18- 68,237 (Toronto Skydome) 19- 54,097 (Seattle Safeco Field) 20- 20,000 (NYC Madison Square Garden) 21- 20,193 (LA Staples Center) 22- 17,155 (Chicago All-State Arena) Vince stopped running dome shows for Mania after 19 for a purpose... he wasn't sure if he could fill up the seats and retain the magic that surrounds the show. Hell, that's why Wrestlemania 7 was moved from the LA Coliseum to the Sports Arena. If he tries to do it this time without the card of all cards, expect the tarps to come out and cover up the nosebleed seats, as well as a distinct lack of buzz about the number of seats sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Hell, that's why Wrestlemania 7 was moved from the LA Coliseum to the Sports Arena. I'm sure that was because of security reasons surrounding Sgt Slaughter's 'Iraqi Sympathiser' character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Hell, that's why Wrestlemania 7 was moved from the LA Coliseum to the Sports Arena. I'm sure that was because of security reasons surrounding Sgt Slaughter's 'Iraqi Sympathiser' character. That was the kayfabed explanation, but it was moved because tickets weren't moving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cam Chaos Posted August 10, 2006 Report Share Posted August 10, 2006 Unless they offer Rock a fat payday there is no way he's going to even bother turning up even just to clap in the crowd. They'd have to at least put a couple mill on the table for him to even look their way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 And I'm not sure Rock would make that huge of a difference. WM XX probably would have gotten an identical number of buys with Foley v Orton instead of the six-man and no special ref for Goldberg/Lesnar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 I don't see them selling this out. I'd say drawing 60,000 would be a huge win for them. They just don't have the juice to pull a big number at the gate in the U.S. anymore. They've burned most markets out with shitty shows and high prices. I only see them selling this out one of two ways. Having Edge keep the title till then and do Edge/Cena as the main event and start building to it now. Or Rock vs. Cena. Hogan vs. Austin won't do it because Hogan is overexposed with his tv show and no one has paid to see Austin do something in a really long time. I think tickets for this will be insanely cheap to encourage fan travel or they'll give away several thousand tickets and then paper the show heavily day of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 Hell, if they made travel packages cheap enough, I'd consider doing it just to be at one Wrestlemania in my life. Then again, for me to spend my vacation in DETROIT, it better be pretty cheap or a great card... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bruiser Chong Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 I doubt I'll go, even if Detroit's 90 minutes from me. I can't imagine things being good enough by then to justify the cost of tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 It's semi-tempting since it's a decent enough drive. Though OVW is about the same distance in the other direction and tickets for it are cheap and the risk of being shot/robbed goes down quite a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bravesfan Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 Vince stopped running dome shows for Mania after 19 for a purpose... he wasn't sure if he could fill up the seats and retain the magic that surrounds the show. Actually, it was because he decided to go back to the larger markets. Safeco was in no threat of not selling out, but Vince was disappointed at everything else financially and blamed it on the small market. Poor advertisement in a non-media market may be a good point, but everything else, such as buyrates both domestically and internationally, fell short of expectations, and pinning the blame on Seattle is pretty childish. Meltz hinted that they won't venture out of the top-10 markets for the forseeable future. I'd put money on the short list of Dallas/Houston, Philadelphia and Boston. Mix in a Toronto, a Vegas and then go back to MSG for XXX. It's just plain coincidence that none of the larger markets (sans Detroit, Dallas and Toronto) have a stadium to speak for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 I think it would be safe to go to Detroit to WM, I mean shit, it's not like it's the Middle East there. They managed to pull off a Super Bowl there without anyone getting killed, I think WM could escape with no casualties. Plus, it just seems wrong for WrestleMania to be held in an arena barely bigger than your average RAW. I'm not saying they need to be running it in the Rose Bowl, but having your biggest show in a building that holds less than 20,000 and isn't MSG is lame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 I think it would be safe to go to Detroit to WM, I mean shit, it's not like it's the Middle East there. They managed to pull off a Super Bowl there without anyone getting killed, I think WM could escape with no casualties. Plus, it just seems wrong for WrestleMania to be held in an arena barely bigger than your average RAW. I'm not saying they need to be running it in the Rose Bowl, but having your biggest show in a building that holds less than 20,000 and isn't MSG is lame. My comment wasn't that Detroit is unsafe as much as it's not exactly a tourist Mecca like NYC, Chicago, or LA. New Orleans, pre-Katrina, was probably as dangerous, or moreso, than Detroit but it has a lot of stuff going on that makes it a good tourist city. It also happens to be within a decent driving distance from me, while Detroit would require my credit card getting anally raped by an airline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alfdogg Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 As long as they don't book Ron Artest at WM, they'll be alright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teke184 Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 As long as they don't book Ron Artest at WM, they'll be alright. Don't let Vince hear that. He DID book Pete Rose in Boston to tell Red Sox jokes at WM14... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Some Guy Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Just a thought: Who knows if Hogan will be physically able to work by next WM. The guy fucked up hos knee getting off the couch. Austin hasn't wrestled in over 3 years. Rock in over 2. Who knows what the current fan will make of Hogan vs. Austin. That was a dream match in 1998, not in 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHawk Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 It's a four hour drive for me, so unless they jack up ticket prices to obscene levels, I'll probably go since I've never been to a WrestleMania and plans to attend X8 in Toronto fell through. Not sure I'll stay awake for the card though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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