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Welcome to the English version of Solowrestling Read more
Welcome to the English version of Solowrestling Read more
WrestleMania 42 has been one of the most controversial events of WWE in the TKO era. On one hand, the company maintained high ticket prices, which led to a lower total attendance than the previous edition. Additionally, the decision to repeat the venue in Las Vegas did not contribute to the show receiving a great reception.
Nevertheless, WrestleMania 42 ended up becoming one of the highest-grossing events in WWE history. A fact that TKO has used to defend its decision to repeat the venue. This was explained by TKO's president Mark Shapiro in an interview with Yahoo Finance shortly before the grand event.
"WWE, UFC, and PBR... in the current economic climate, and obviously with so many things happening from a geopolitical perspective and also at home from an affordability standpoint, we continue to see tremendous growth - perhaps even greater - of families and fans who want to go out and disconnect from day-to-day life. They are doing it through our sports and entertainment properties," Shapiro said.
"We are seeing strong growth in ticket revenue, we are selling out tickets at all numbered UFC events and at Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and WWE's Premium Live Events. PBR is having its best year in the last five years. That should speak volumes about the demand, expectation, and following, and should bode well for years of sustained long-term growth," he stated.
"I will tell you that Las Vegas will repeat for the second consecutive year with WrestleMania 42, so some of the challenges we had there are because we normally move WrestleMania to a new venue every year, and that allows us to grow and see the economic impact we expect.
Maybe it was my mistake, because Las Vegas was so huge last year and was so successful for our fans and for the product, that I told Nick Khan: 'We have to go back to Las Vegas next year. We have to postpone New Orleans and return to Las Vegas'," he explained.
"I don't need to tell you that Las Vegas is the mecca of big events. More and more events are moving there, music has permanent residencies, and more and more sports teams - as shown by the NHL and soon the MLB - are appearing there, with more franchises on the way. I don't regret at all having returned there, but the only reason you hear some comments like 'hey, it wasn't like last year', is because we are no longer benefiting from the experience of being the first to arrive," he concluded.
