Are unique wrestling venues a good idea?

[Vader]

I have seen PPV events and on TV programming held in unique; often outdoor, locations.

From a business and fan's standpoint do some of these events make sense? Both WWF/WWE and WCW/NWA have held events locations outside of a typical arena setting.

These are just some of the ones I remember...

WCW
Bash at the Beach-On the Beach (95)
Makes sense, but it seems like it was held at a public beach and I'm not sure how you get ticket revenue from this. On the plus side you have a built in audience and cool video setting. This was also when I believe Bay Watch filmed their episode that had Hogan, Flair, Savage, and Vader on it. Could have shown some spots with Savage dragging Flair into the Ocean etc.
Nitro-First episode at the Mall of America. Unique venue, but how do you control ticket sales? If you lock the mall down you lose money as a mall if it's done during store hours. If you open the mall after hours then you still have a problem with decreased seating capacity.
Road Wild/Hog Wild at Sturgis-Dubya C Dubya Wrasslin and bikers go hand in hand right? Cool concept, especially if you can get a sponsorship from someone like Harley Davidson.
Nitro Spring Break at Club La Vela in Panama City-Cool concept and a lot of wrestlers ended being tossed into the pool at some point. Again, decreased seating capacity.
Great American Bash 86-Flair entered the ring against Ricky Morton in a helicopter at a football stadium. Plenty of seating capacity, but realistically stadium seats won't fill up leaving fans forced to peak at the ring standing up.

WWF
Wrestlemania 8 at Caesar's Palace-Cool venue, only downside is being outdoors and subject to weather.
Tribute to the Troops-Great concept and great PR for the WWE.

 

[rmp0012002]

This one falls under the almost happened list. ECW had planned to do an exploding ring match with Funk and Onita on the beach at a popular club in central NJ called Bar A. It was after they did one in Japan but I don't remember if it was because of permit issues or issues with getting Funk and Onita to do it.

 

[Soulblazed]

I have seen PPV events and on TV programming held in unique; often outdoor, locations.

From a business and fan's standpoint do some of these events make sense? Both WWF/WWE and WCW/NWA have held events locations outside of a typical arena setting.

These are just some of the ones I remember...

WCW
Bash at the Beach-On the Beach (95)
Makes sense, but it seems like it was held at a public beach and I'm not sure how you get ticket revenue from this. On the plus side you have a built in audience and cool video setting. This was also when I believe Bay Watch filmed their episode that had Hogan, Flair, Savage, and Vader on it. Could have shown some spots with Savage dragging Flair into the Ocean etc.
Nitro-First episode at the Mall of America. Unique venue, but how do you control ticket sales? If you lock the mall down you lose money as a mall if it's done during store hours. If you open the mall after hours then you still have a problem with decreased seating capacity.
Road Wild/Hog Wild at Sturgis-Dubya C Dubya Wrasslin and bikers go hand in hand right? Cool concept, especially if you can get a sponsorship from someone like Harley Davidson.
Nitro Spring Break at Club La Vela in Panama City-Cool concept and a lot of wrestlers ended being tossed into the pool at some point. Again, decreased seating capacity.
Great American Bash 86-Flair entered the ring against Ricky Morton in a helicopter at a football stadium. Plenty of seating capacity, but realistically stadium seats won't fill up leaving fans forced to peak at the ring standing up.

WWF
Wrestlemania 8 at Caesar's Palace-Cool venue, only downside is being outdoors and subject to weather.
Tribute to the Troops-Great concept and great PR for the WWE.

You completely forgot Wembley Stadium for Summerslam 1992..

I think outdoor venues are a great idea..Lots of them have high capacity(50,000) plus, yet there's always going to be people who worry about the weather, ticket revenue for outdoor venues vs indoor venues, etc

I think it's a good change of pace, personally. Not to mention, that whenever WWE stops making "timezone" excuses and ends up going to India, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, etc those countries have a good amount of outdoor venues. So at some point WWE will have to suck it up and hold PPVs/Raws/Smackdowns from the countries I listed above. The fans in those countries barely ever get any WWE shows coming to their country and when WWE DOES come, it's only house-shows, hence those fans truly do deserve PPVs/Raw/Smackdown events emanating from their countries.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

You say stadiums won't fill but Wrestlemania has been held in stadiums on 14 occasions and I believe has sold out every one of them. The biggest attendance in US wrestling history was recorded in a stadium, Wrestlemania III at the Silverdome.

Wrestling has taken place in stadiums for donkey's years. Wrestlefest '88 was in a baseball stadium, and WWE presented at least two supercards at Shea Stadium in New York, before the advent of pay per view.

Road Wild was a terrible idea precisely because (a) it wasn't exactly WCW's target audience and (b) they made no money on the gate. As a one off as a promotional tool or even as part of a charity event, fine, but WCW ran Road Wild three years in a row!

I think I'm right in saying the last couple of Tribute for the Troops shows have taken place in arenas. I know they did at least one in a military compound in Iraq though - that must have been one of the biggest security jobs they've ever had to undertake.

I always quite like the Nitro shows from Club la Vida. Different. Am I right in saying that was the venue for the last ever Nitro as well?

 

[TheICChampion]

Didn't WWF hold matches in subway stations and whatnot when they had Shotgun Saturday Night? I'd like to see that happen again sometime. Wishful thinking but what I'd also like to see is since WWE comes to the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto fairly often for House shows I'd love it if they hold one during the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition, if you don't know what that is look it up, it'd take too long to explain) and have a ring set up somewhere on the grounds like in the Midway.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I really thought you were taking this a different direction when I read the title. I thought your idea was that WWE (because they are realistically the only ones who could afford it) build their own arenas that cater to a wrestling product. This way they get the full gate without have to pay rent or share revenue. They also could limit travel and production costs. They would also have the freedom to add features that another arena would not allow. Maybe even add a Hall of Fame section to help legitimize that ghost concept.

I guess I was thinking that you were thinking something similar to the Performance Center but on a grander scale. WWE combining their entertainment product with like an AEG that owns, builds, manages, and rents massive properties. Or US Major League Soccer that built their own stadiums.

Which would be totally cool and I'm sure has been considered by WWE but probably doesn't make financial sense. The fear of not being able to rent the property or fill events on top of the cost of building is too risky.

That being said, I remember some of the WCW outdoor stuff as being pretty cool. The Club LA Vela stuff was also entertaining and I think helped make pro wrestling seem a little cooler than it is. Unfortunately it probably isn't worth the effort in 2015 or WWE would be doing it. Maybe TNA will throw some money at an idea like this although it is unlikely since they like to record like 53 shows in one city back to back to back to you get the point.

I understand why WWE and others don't try this but I wish they would. Outside of Mania, they have been so dull in their presentation over the past 10 years I wonder when or if they will ever do anything out of box big again.