One of the Big four outside USA?

[poppycock]

Do you think the WWE would ever again hold one of the 'Big Four' PPV's (Summerslam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania) outside the USA like they did with Summerslam in 1992 at Wembley Stadium?

If so where which PPV would you like to see take place at which venue around the world?

 

[LFC till i die]

Out of the four i would love to see Wrestlemania (obviously) held at the new Wembley Stadium which holds 90,000. It would be a great event and i believe would defo sell out. The WWE is loved here in England and i really hope they would hold a PPV here and i hope it could be Westlemania. I am a huge WWE fan, i watch it religiously, i have always dreamt of going to a WWE event as i have never been to a WWE event and if Vinny Mac were to hold Wrestlemania here i would be the first one in the queue to buy a ticket. But for some reason i don't think it would ever happen

 

[therealblob]

If it were to be held in the UK again it would need to be outdoors as there is no real huge indoor arena here, certainly nothing the size of a Silverdome etc. Which means because of our temperamental weather it's a Summerslam again. The new Wembley or perhaps Twickenham Rubgy stadium. Elsewhere, the Nou Camp in Barcelona holds 120,000, the MCG in Melbourne I think holds 90,000. perhaps where they hold Rock in Rio.

 

[slapnuts08]

Hmmm, to do it at Wembley (or anywhere outdoors) it'd have to be SS, the weather is too shitty any other time! I think Royal Rumble could be fun with the whole monarcy theme really emphasised, but in January you'd have to look at an indoor venue, such as the O2 arena. It wouldn't feel as special though. The only way to do an indoor stadium event would be at the cardiff millenium stadium, which is fucking massive. But have most of the US/international audience even heard of Wales? You also have the issue of the time difference in the UK. If you had it in the evening here, that's early afternoon in the states, and early hours of the morning in the far east. I remember Summerslam 92 being billed as "the Summerslam you thought you'd never see", so there is an evident problem in holding it in the UK, which is a shame for us Brits!

 

[jholcomb22]

First of all, outside the USA includes Canada, which has held 2 WrestleManias. It will get one ever 10 years or so. However on a grander scale, I doubt it. They won't sacrifice the huge PPV buyrates from the states by holding it live at night in Europe and midday in the states.

 

[poppycock]

I meant outside Canada aswell.

I have only been to one WWE PPV before and that was Insurrextion 2001 at Earls Court.. The atmosphere was not great but I was quite high up. I would like the see a Royal Rumble held at Wembley but as mentioned before the weather would be a problem.

 

[Wickpeeka]

If they were to do it at the MCG they could fit in 120,000 people.

The first grand final last year (it was replayed as it was a draw) had 100,016 people in attendance. Obviously they could fit significantly more for a wrestling event.

The issue with having a show such as Wrestlemania is the timing. It's at the start of the football season.

The weather would be perfect as the first month and a half of autumn (March-April) is fantastic weather. For example, today the sun is out bright and early with an estimated top temp of 23 degrees (75F). It's perfect.

Another issue with holding massive events outside of North America is with the different time zones. For example, Wrestlemania started here at 9:00AM on a Monday. It would either

A) have to be done the evening before for a night show
B) The day before for it to be a weekend show
C) Done at the start of the working week with the stadium opening at 7AM (to give people time to get into the stadium and plenty of time to go bathroom, buy merchandise, find their seats before the 9AM showtime).

With the UK being ahead of EST United States by five hours (it's almost 10:30PM in London while it's 5:30PM in New York) it would start at midnight for it to be kept at the same time in the United States.

Timezones kill the bigger shows going overseas. However, for a smaller buy rate show such as Bragging Rights it very well may happen that it's not shown live in the United States. They'd definitely try a smaller pay-per-view before they ever risked a major show.

What would be absolutely insane is if they, just once, tried a global show. Similar to Wrestlemania 3 but held in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia.

 

[Big Ol' Buckta AIDS]

Can we stop with this please? Sure the WWE has done some things over in Europe, but the big four will always be kept in the America's ( yes i know summer slam was done over there, but that was 19 years ago). The time Zones are just too much of an issue.

 

[Wickpeeka]

Agreed. It's the same reason why Australia will never ever host a World Cup soccer tournament regardless of how much money our country stupidly throws at it.

If you want a big wrestling show, travel to America. I've been to a Wrestlemania and unless I can get to the US (or Canada or Mexico if they ever go that route and it's possible that Mexico City will win the right to host at some point) but it wont be outside of the Americas.

Besides the time zones can you imagine how much it would actually cost the WWE to put on a show the magnitude of a Wrestlemania outside of the United States? It's expensive enough to run a week of RAW/Smackdown overseas let alone ALL of the added costs of a Mania with their special equipment - which is significantly more than what it costs them to do their weekly TV shows.

 

[themegapowers]

Do you think the WWE would ever again hold one of the 'Big Four' PPV's (Summerslam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania) outside the USA like they did with Summerslam in 1992 at Wembley Stadium?

If so where which PPV would you like to see take place at which venue around the world?

In reply to your question, the answer is simply no, in 1992 there was very little in the way of 'dirt sheets' or internet for that fact, so people in the good ol US of A wouldn't have been able to find the results out, nowadays if an event was held in the UK the results would be posted and the WWE would lose their US buyrates as many people would be at work and wouldn't order the live PPV, it is all about money these days and the UK PPV buy rates would not generate enough money to make it viable.

 

[Gabbo]

Agreed. It's the same reason why Australia will never ever host a World Cup soccer tournament regardless of how much money our country stupidly throws at it.

Not really. They held it in Japan and South Korea in 2002. Same time zones there.


But yeah, unless they held it at midnight here they'd lose millions and millions in buyrates from the US. Just doesn't make sense for them to do it.

 

[mral82]

Hey at least you get a raw and smackdown over in the uk every year at the O2 Arena or at The M.E.N.S.A. while my town in states gets an wrestling event every 2-3 yrs. So if the WWE wanted to lose alot of money then the would cause you forget The Stuff that gets shipped to WrestleMania Fan Axxess wouldn't prob all be shipped there. And Summerslam '92 was live for you guys but shown over here on that Tuesday following it. Plus Summerslam's permanent home is Los Angeles, California at The Staples Center so the only 2 that could would be the Rumble or Survivor Series and if they wanted it Live from there it would have to start at 9:30pm there to keep it Live! So when and if we don't know.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

These threads always seem to be run by people in Europe starved for WWE. There's a reason they can pretty much sell out any place over seas. You can even look at TNA, I read that TNA drew like 12,000 people in India or some shit a few years ago.

It's like this, if your country only sells water, and Pepsi comes to town, you're going to spend half your paycheck stocking up.

Same concept, but it's a bad idea. WWE could probably find some huge soccer stadium to cram 150,000 people in, and they'd buy the tickets, no papering the audience. But buyrates would be atrocious.

Think about it, what's the average wrestlemania ticket cost? 150 bucks? 150 times 100,000 is 15M. 1 Million people buying a 55 million dollar show is 55 million dollars. Buyrates are more important than a huge stadium full of people (although I NEVER want them to hold Mania in a basketball or hockey arena again).

It'd be a cool venue and a cool look but it doesn't make any business sense at all.

The guys comparing it using world cup soccer, it's not at all comparable. yea wrestling is big in mexico and japan, but they're totally different styles. Soccer is huge everywhere but canada and the US. WWE is an american thing and kinda big in the UK. When 97% of your revenue comes from one land mass, you shouldn't go somewhere else.

 

[rge2010]

If it were to be held in the UK again it would need to be outdoors as there is no real huge indoor arena here, certainly nothing the size of a Silverdome etc. Which means because of our temperamental weather it's a Summerslam again. The new Wembley or perhaps Twickenham Rubgy stadium. Elsewhere, the Nou Camp in Barcelona holds 120,000, the MCG in Melbourne I think holds 90,000. perhaps where they hold Rock in Rio.

The Millenimum Stadium is in the UK and has a roof. Wrestlemania in Cardiff?

I cant see one of the big 4 being held over here due to the time differences. PPV buys would suffer incredibly in their biggest market - USA.

I would love it though, really would but think we will only see Raw and Smackdown for the time being. Maybe an Extreme Rules or Fatal 4-Way wouldnt be out of the question though.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

The only way any PPV would work is if it happened at 7PM US Central time, which is what? Like 5AM in london?

 

[BLeonard]

I'm gonna go against the grain here a bit... I live in the US, but I'm not seeing as big of an issue with holding a PPV over in the United Kingdom.

They are 5 hours behind Eastern Standard Time, so if they start at 9PM UK time, that's 4 PM EST. Most of the WrestleManias and Royal Rumbles in the 1990's started at 4PM EST. Especially if they are doing the event on a Sunday, chances are, you're not gonna cut a bunch of people out that have to work or whatnot, just because of an earlier start time. On top of that, they run a replay of the event immediately after the live show, so, even if you did have to miss the live show for work, etc, you'd stil get to see the replay at 7PM EST. The key is, would people in the United Kingdom be willing (or allowed, as I think there are some curfew laws in the UK) to stay until midnight to see a PPV there?

Realistically, I don't see it happening, but I don't see it to be as much of an impossibility as others seem to think it is. I don't think the UK would get a WrestleMania, simply because it's 4 hours and even a three hour show starting at 4 EST isn't ending until Midnight UK time. I also see a bit of difficulty in doing a Rumble or Survivor Series there, especially outdoors in January or November, so the only one left would be Summerslam.

One thought, with the above, would be, since it would be a Summerslam, why not do it on a Sunday, with a start time of midnight UK time? That would be 7 PM EST on Saturday and the people attending live would at least have the rest of Sunday to recoup, before having to go back to work on their Monday morning.

Recently, at the start of college basketball season in the US, they do a 24 hour marathon of games, with some games starting at 3 AM EST... I know, basketball and wrestling are different, but I think that would be sort of cool to have an event start at midnight local time and the US fans would still see the show at 7PM EST.

Again, I don't see it happening, but it could be done.

-Bill

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

If they were to do it like that, starting at like 4 Eastern, I wouldn't do one of the majors. they already draw enough alone. I'd turn it into a novelty. A way to draw intrigue if you will. Give the PPV a catchy name that goes along with the theme "melina does London" or something (not really) and market it on "ZOMG WE'RE IN TEH UK WITH DAVID BECKHAM AND OASIS IN A HUGE SOCCER STADIUM!!!!!"

If you use it to make money, Vince will do it. I think there is some interest in the US in seeing WWE in England. Especially in front of a gigantic crowd they'd no doubt get.

 

[aussiewwefan]

here in Australia wrestlemania sarted at 9.30 am
you could have it at Anz stadium it hold 80000 in the stands alone
why would you do it in melbroune you wet sunburn and snowed on in 1 hour lol

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

why do people keep saying "it would draw 100,000" people as a pro for going overseas? Your money is made on buyrates. Buyrates are made in the US. The US watches TV between 6pm and 11pm. Unless you can draw a MILLION people to a live show, which isn't realistic, the amount you draw doesn't matter because it's maybe 10,000 more than you'd draw at a US show with a lot less buys.

Stop thinking in absolute terms, think in economic (opportunity cost) terms.

US, 70,000 people at the show at 90 bucks/ticket is 6.3 million, 900,000 buys at 50 bucks a piece is 45 million.
Overseas, 100,000 people at the show (upside) at 90 bucks/ticket (upside given most exchange rates) is 9 million, a LOT less buys being at a shitty hour and you are nowhere near the total you'd have in the US. You get around 3M more in gate revenue tops, which is probably almost totally negated when you subtract the cost of taking the crew and set overseas.

Like I said, do a stand alone PPV, something that needs help getting ratings, and try your best to make it as close to prime time USA time as you can.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Their best bet at this point might be the Rumble or Summerslam. Survivor Series is not as big as it once was. Having the Rumble or possibly Summerslam in another country could be good for the WWE due to bringing in fans to a show who otherwise might not get to go watch a PPV live. The less important shows might not draw as big of a crowd, and Wrestlemania has a long line of cities wanting to host it. That is why it should be Summerslam or Royal Rumble. WWE does a lot of tours in Europe so having one of the European countries host a PPV could be pretty cool because then a whole new group of fans could come watch a PPV in person when they usually don't get to, as the PPV events are pretty much exclusively held in the US.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

If they are ever going to do it it'll be Summerslam 2012... the 20 years on concept and the London Olympics, will mean a lot of buzz that can be capitalised on...

IF they can get Harry Smith into the IC title picture by then, it would also provide a strong storyline... can he do what his dad did 20 years on etc...

It's less and less likely that WWE will do it... but if the planets are ever going to align, we will soon find out I guess....