Summerslam Heading To London

[MattRhys20]

During the recent WWE European tour, there were reportedly talks of bring a future SummerSlam event to London. The Wrestling Observer reports that the idea of SummerSlam going to London was mentioned to some people with business connections in Europe, and is at least being considered. There's no certainty on how serious those talks are, however.

So let's get straight down to business - What would you make of a SummerSlam in England?

I personally think it would be a great idea, no question it would sell out 90,000 at Wembley and the British fans will make it an epic event.

The main query though is the timing. I think fora ONE OFF event like this, a compromise needs to be reached. A 8-11pm GMT show, would be 3-6pm EST in America. Now that WWE is PG, it's not s if they have a watershed to deal with, so they can put it in the afternoon.

All in all, I say YES to this idea.

Now my friends in the U.K and Europe, this is your chance to make something happen. We need to take up arms and FIGHT for our right for a PPV, so I ask you... neigh DEMAND, that you write/email/fax WWE about this until they have no choice but to meet our demands. As soon as Vince realises how much money can be made from this, he will HAVE to listen to us

 

[Y 2 Jake]

England deserves a PPV, but I don't know if they deserve SummerSlam. It's a big show, I don't know why you'd mess with it by moving it abroad. Obviously I'd be very pleased if they did, but it doesn't make much sense.

If WWE have a PPV here I don't see why they don't hold what is annually their lowest drawing PPV. I'm confident a nothing show like Payback or whatever could still sell out Wembley, so long as WWE promoted it like it was important.

 

[MCMG]

Living in Scotland, I would obviously love this opportunity; however it does seem very unlikely. The last 5 Summerslams have all been held in the same place, LA, and they seem pretty content in making it a big event with some fairly big celebrities attending.

That being said, its not impossible and the time difference would be the only major issue but I'm sure they can figure a way around that. The fans would be hyped as they are getting a big PPV and that would produce a better atmosphere.

Another small problem is that last time they had the British Bulldog beat Bret Hart - to match that is impossible. Maybe Wade Barrett (or Drew McIntyre) could win the WWE championship

 

[LODemolition]

I don't know why this has taken so long, but I'm all for this. The London crowd is always money. In fact, I think SummerSlam is a disservice. They deserve a future Mania.

 

[LODemolition]

I've never understood the time difference being an issue either. England is what, 6 hours ahead of the States? Start it at 2pm locally and it can air at 8pm live like they would anywhere else.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Do they have summer in London?

I don't know what stops WWE from doing a PPV in the UK but there must be some good reason. It's not like Vince has never considered the idea or can't find London on a map. He knows how much money he could make and how to do it. A 2pm GMT start seems reasonable but to have it happen on Sunday night in the US that would mean Monday at 2pm. How well would that go over with work, school, and tea times? I figure they could run something at 8pm GMT and run it live on PPV in the US and replay at 8pm EST.

Maybe the UK fans are too loyal and will spend money on any event WWE throws at them once or twice a year and maybe the US fans are too fickle and need PPV quality to maximize their attendance and dollars spent. Maybe it's a tax issue for the WWE or their performers. Maybe it's the production costs of running a PPV overseas. Maybe Vince doesn't want a main event with the fans chanting "Michael Cole!" or "Randy Savage!" as Orton goes for an RKO.

Anyway, as an American I think it's a cool idea and the UK fans certainly would show up in full force but if Vince hasn't done it for a long time it probably doesn't meet WWE's bottom line.

 

[Blade]

Summerslam is a consistently solid show, so I'd be chuffed if it's the PPV that Europe gets, and I'd likely give very strong consideration to going. I'd prefer Money in the Bank or Wrestlemania, but hey, if they offer Summerslam, I'll bite their hand off.

As odd as it seems, coming from someone so insightful and knowledgeable about wrestling while also being devastatingly handsome, I've never been to a WWE show. Mind-blowing, I know. I've been to wrestling shows, but going to a proper WWE show is on my bucket list. And I want to be a show that matters, not some pointless house show in Dublin. So yeah, if Summerslam does end up in London, I'll likely try to go, money allowing.

 

[Jaffa]

I've never understood the time difference being an issue either. England is what, 6 hours ahead of the States? Start it at 2pm locally and it can air at 8pm live like they would anywhere else.

Except 8 is 6 hours after 2 not before please never decide to do any mathematical in terms of career choices. That's why Eastern Australia deserves a PPV because a June one in particular as they have the second Monday in June as a public holiday they can start a PPV late morning roughly 11am and it would be perfect air time in America UFC can do it with a fight night on fox sports why can't WWE.

 

[Soulblazed]

I remember watching the 1992 Summerslam PPV on tv and remembering what a great crowd Wembley Stadium had...So yea, I'm all for Summerslam returning to Wembley Stadium..I understand that the WWE is obviously holding Summerslam in LA every year in order to attract celebrities, gain media attention, etc, but obviously that won't last forever..

WWE should definitely hold more international PPVs, whether it's in Wembley Stadium, Tokyo, Beijing, Auckland, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Moscow, etc. It would greatly expand WWE's audience, it could offer business opportunities, it'd expose many fans for the very first time to a PPV mega-show and lastly it's simply long-overdue for the WWE to hold more international PPVs..

I understand the whole time difference issue, especially if the PPV is emanating from Tokyo, for example. Though at the same time, I'm sure that the WWE would find a way to make things work out.

 

[zags]

I don't have an issue with ppv in London and hopefully it goes on live in the us. The early afternoon start time on a Sunday in the summer isn't a big deal. The problem I have and sure the WWE is looking at is that Raw after a major ppv would be taped to show at it's normal time. Would the WWE really want that? That's why a "big 4" shouldn't be sent out of the US. Any other ppv yeah, why not? The next night's Raw is generally basic anyway. Not after a "big 4" though

 

[rbv13]

The 1992 Summer Slam from Wembley Stadium was a massive success for the E. The live audience ranks among the best ever for the E with an attendance of over 80,500. It did air on tape delay in the States. The actual event took place on August 29th with an airdate of August 31st. Wembley Stadium was home to possible the best Summer Slam match of all time. Given a 5 star rating Hart and Davey Boy tore the house down.

The UK fans have been extremely loyal, supportive and in recent years the best in the world. They are very deserving of an event like Summer Slam.

 

[Headman]

If they don't maximize the potential buys in the US what is the point? Moving to an earlier time in the US would make this the least profitable ppv of the year. It doesn't matter how nice a thought or how big a crowd it would be, they would be losing money. And you can forget about a pre-taped PPV now days. No way that's going to happen.

 

[KoC417]

The 1992 Summer Slam from Wembley Stadium was a massive success for the E. The live audience ranks among the best ever for the E with an attendance of over 80,500. It did air on tape delay in the States. The actual event took place on August 29th with an airdate of August 31st. Wembley Stadium was home to possible the best Summer Slam match of all time. Given a 5 star rating Hart and Davey Boy tore the house down.

The UK fans have been extremely loyal, supportive and in recent years the best in the world. They are very deserving of an event like Summer Slam.

Yeah but that was back in 1992. Now a days if WWE was going to do an event and "delay the taping" they'd screw themselves out of most buys because people would:
A. Already have the results because London fans would be so stoked about the PPV they'd spew the results out.
B. People would probably just torrent the PPV if they decided it wasn't worth the buy.
Looking at those 2 it's sad to say that even an event of 80,000 fans wouldn't be enough to eliminate the potential PPV buy loss for the WWE. I mean let's face it: if you missed the PPV and saw the results and read the results online and decided it was a crappy event are you going to spend the money on it? Highly unlikely. This to me is the biggest drawback/setback preventing the WWE from going overseas for a PPV event. The buyrates from the USA would potentially take a huge dip and that just isn't worth it to the WWE from a business standpoint.

Should the WWE take a PPV to London? ABSOLUTELY. Living in the USA I feel like most foreign fans get ripped off because they always have to travel here to go to a big PPV event. Why shouldn't they get a Payback, Survivor Series or perhaps a TLC PPV!? But SummerSlam should remain in LA because it just makes sense and as previously stated by others it's been done for how many years now? Why change a successful formula?

 

[ajdb]

I think WWE owes a big PPV to the U.K. after shutting them out for so long. What are you people watching on Sunday afternoon in August that would keep from watching a SummerSlam that started at 3pm.
(London is 5 hours ahead. Mainland Europe is 6 hours ahead)

After this year maybe give them Payback or Extreme Rules every year. Doing MitB or Hell in a Cell is physically impossible at Wembley.

I was looking at the ability of doing any other international PPVs and found out something interesting. If WWE wanted to do a PPV in Sydney, Australia that might work really well.
-If the PPV went from Noon-3pm on Sunday local time. It translates to 8pm Eastern on Saturday night. Saturday Night in the summer?! Cha-ching! Just a thought. More international PPVs are in order either way.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

The main query though is the timing. I think fora ONE OFF event like this, a compromise needs to be reached. A 8-11pm GMT show, would be 3-6pm EST in America. Now that WWE is PG, it's not s if they have a watershed to deal with, so they can put it in the afternoon.

All in all, I say YES to this idea.

Now my friends in the U.K and Europe, this is your chance to make something happen. We need to take up arms and FIGHT for our right for a PPV, so I ask you... neigh DEMAND, that you write/email/fax WWE about this until they have no choice but to meet our demands. As soon as Vince realises how much money can be made from this, he will HAVE to listen to us

It would need to be something more like 9 - 12 GMT, for it to be reasonable for American west coast veiwers.

Beyond that, ive never gotten what the big hold-up was. You could make it the European Wrestlemania. The programming is PG, and what the fuck is anyone doing on an August sunday afternoon anyhow. So I have never understood what the big issue with the timezones was.

 

[rbv13]

It did air on tape delay in the States. The actual event took place on August 29th with an airdate of August 31st.

I was not suggesting they hold a current day PPV on tape delay. I was merely stating that is how they handled the last situation. Clearly any future overseas pay per views would need to air live in the states. I really see no problem with running the event live at 9PM their time and 3PM EST. This still leaves a Noon start time for the west cost in the States. Some might say Noon is a bit early for the west cost but history shows sports and entertainment in the USA have never really given a crap about the west cost. If the line up for the event is solid fans are going to watch. Plus you rent the thing at Noon or 3PM it is viewable for twenty-four hours. If you have other obligations that afternoon avoid spoilers and watch it at the time you regularly would

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There was another thread on a 2 city Mania and while Summerslam seems the most likely place, I could see a 2 continent double header PPV at some point.

Live Aid had the gimmick of Phil Collins playing on both shows, but of course Concorde was available so it was 3 hours between London and New York.

What they could do is run the UK PPV 9-1am have Cena wrestle the first match and get on the jet...then have the US 4 hours start about an hour after so by hour 3 of that show in theory he could be on US soil and ready to wrestle. In theory... Sure lots could go wrong but it would certainly counteract the spoiler angle as people would tune in to see 2 title matches on 2 continents in one day.

Summerslam could work in this way although Mania is more likely.

They will return to Wembley at some point as it did big business but they need a big match to sell it and they haven't got that yet with their UK talents. Davey Boy Smith had a unique situation in that he was on UK TV screens from a very young age teaming with Big Daddy when wrestling got 20m viewers on a Saturday so he could sell the match to casual fans and more importantly parents who remembered him.

Barrett isn't there yet but could be with the right match and push... Pac/Neville is several years off from it. Realistically the only option they have now is Regal making a last attempt at the gold... It would perhaps sell against the right opponent but might not be the right thing to sell a Summerslam, it's more a RAW or smaller PPV.

 

[rbv13]

The split arena and split country concept could never work for a Wrestlemania. The Grand Daddy of them All is a week long festival that has grown to the point where cities enter bidding wars to host the event. Splitting it up would not be fair to the host cities, talent and fans in attendance.

What ever happened to overseas exclusive pay per views? The last one that comes to mind was a "In Your House" in ’97.

 

[Kidpolean]

I think WWE owes a big PPV to the U.K. after shutting them out for so long. What are you people watching on Sunday afternoon in August that would keep from watching a SummerSlam that started at 3pm.
(London is 5 hours ahead. Mainland Europe is 6 hours ahead)

After this year maybe give them Payback or Extreme Rules every year. Doing MitB or Hell in a Cell is physically impossible at Wembley.

I was looking at the ability of doing any other international PPVs and found out something interesting. If WWE wanted to do a PPV in Sydney, Australia that might work really well.
-If the PPV went from Noon-3pm on Sunday local time. It translates to 8pm Eastern on Saturday night. Saturday Night in the summer?! Cha-ching! Just a thought. More international PPVs are in order either way.

WTH...the WWE doesnt owe the U.K anything. The wwe is a United States Company that gets most of its money from citizens of the United States. Summerslam should remain in LA. I like having a ppv in the same place every years and its building up a tradition. Changing the PPV time isnt going to happen. WWE would not change the time because it will certainly in so way affect ppv buys. This causes way too many problems for the WWE and it wouldnt really do any good. They would have to start a PPV early and have a taped episode of Raw. NO NO NO.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

SummerSlam 1992 was possible in a non Social Media world.

Today, SummerSlam at Wembley -- assuming it starts at 5:00 PM GMT, would be at Noon, EST and 9 AM on the West Coast.

Tell me how that works.

 

[MattRhys20]

SummerSlam 1992 was possible in a non Social Media world.

Today, SummerSlam at Wembley -- assuming it starts at 5:00 PM GMT, would be at Noon, EST and 9 AM on the West Coast.

Tell me how that works.

It won't start that early. It will probably start at 8 and finish at 11 (it gives us the best chance of getting away from Wembley, as us Londoners know, getting away from Wembley is a F**KING nightmare). So it would be 3pm on the East Coast and 12 o'clock on the West

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

It won't start that early. It will probably start at 8 and finish at 11 (it gives us the best chance of getting away from Wembley, as us Londoners know, getting away from Wembley is a F**KING nightmare). So it would be 3pm on the East Coast and 12 o'clock on the West

Okay, that's sounds fairly workable. I don't know how buyrates break down over different time zones but I gotta think that has something to do with why WWE hasn't put on PPVs overseas.

 

[BringThePain834]

I say keep it in LA. To be honest, it's the perfect place for SummerSlam. Mainly because the theme is Biggest Party of the Summer. LA is perfect in the summer, the beach, surfing, etc. So to be honest, it needs to stay in LA

 

[RicSpade]

I think Wembley Stadium would be an awesome concept in terms of having a PPV there, but not Summerslam or WM, only because of spoilers, I could see them holding any other type of PPV there and doing it on a few hour delay, but you have to have something major on there to get them to tune in. For example I didn't watch the UK edition of RAW because it was on delay and nothing on the show peaked my interest, so if you don't have a major title match go down with a new champion its not even worth my time to buy it, especially if the E puts it on DVD in just 3-4 weeks I'll save my $50 bucks and buy the $20 DVD, or pirate the whole show either way you have to have something to catch attention unless you think you can pack asses in the seats of Wembley at 6am and expect to have a good show, but to me thats doubtful...

 

[Dagger Dias]

I think Wembley Stadium would be an awesome concept in terms of having a PPV there, but not Summerslam or WM, only because of spoilers.

What spoilers? PPV events are live.

I think it's a good idea, although not for Summerslam. It's been done many years ago when Bret faced Smith.... but Summerslam appears to have found a permanent home in California at the Staples Center each year. I'd rather see one of the smaller shows be held in the UK. If WWE wants shows like Payback that don't really stand out from the rest of the shows, I would support one of those being held there. The fans in other countries would want to attend a PPV event since they are so rarely held outside of the US. It would still create a profit for the federation.

If they held Summerslam in London I would support it, the fans in other countries deserve to have an awesome show to attend. I just doubt it would happen for Summerslam itself, as the Staples Center appears to be such a good fit for the 2nd biggest show of the year. If it hadn't worked out so well they wouldn't have held it there for 5 years in a row. So while it could and deserves to happen, I don't think it will. The bigger issue would be, as RicSpade pointed out, when it would take place. There are no PPV spoilers, it airs live. So would it air around 1AM in the UK in order to be on time for the US fans to see it at 7PM Central? Would it take place around 7PM in the UK for the actual event but then air at 1PM in the afternoon in the states? WWE would have to figure these logistics out if they are going to have a UK PPV regardless of if it is Summerslam or any other brand.