Best Venues for atmosphere

[Mighty NorCal]

I thought of this while posting in another thread...

No Mercy is taking place tomorrow in the All State arena, in chicago, which in my opinion, is the best wrestling venue of the 2000s, for atmosphere, and crowd heat...

What are your guys opinions of what are the best venues in wrestleing, past and present...crowd heat, noise, ambience, overall atmosphere..to me, atmosphere and crowd heat adds an extra dimension to wrestleing that I love...

also state places you think would be cool to have future events at..I think holding WM at the coliseum in LA were the USC trojans play would be amazing...give a roman gladiator feeling to the showcase of the immortals, and it would be a huge crowd....thoughts guys...

 

[Mexican Geek]

good thread.

Chicago definitely is one of the best crowds for a Live event, but let's not forget some of the most famous ones: Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit Michigan; the skydome in Toronto Canada; MSG NY; also I remember a RAW like 2 months ago, i think it was in Ohio, but i cant remember where, maybe Dayton or Cleveland.

for futures events, you have to think in state-of-the-art venues like the Cardinals stadium in Phoenix, Wembley Stadium in UK (i really want to see a PPV from there, imagine Harry smith in the uppercard vs some kind of cena, Orton etc... simply mind blowing)

WM24 is been criticized cause it's a open stadium, thus making the event a easy target for a thunderstorm. But I think it will be a great show, despite the rain generally, Florida arenas have some of the best field engineers and crew to attend any circumstance regarding flooding, lighting, crowd control, so yeah, I hope to be there to make sure

theres so many places.... I would like to see a PPV in the LA Coliseum too! it would be amazing!!

 

[tb93]

i feel its the hammerstein ballroom. You will never hear a dead crowd there, EVER!. If they dont like the match, they let you know it. Plus you got all the smarks who make the wrestlers that they dont like, lives a living hell while their performing.

 

[Shadowmancer]

This is getting moved to the General Wrestling Section!!

 

[darkcross28]

The RBC Center in Raleigh, NC is pretty damn good.

Dorton Arena is also in Raleigh. Back in the day WCW used to run a show like monthly there.

 

[Lashley07]

Im gonna have to go with anywhere in Chicago. Th atmosphere is amazing. Remember WM22? That was quality.

As for future places, Wembely in England will be awesome. Using the pitch too over 100,000 could fill the arena. Imagine William Regal, any english guy. Phenomenal.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

actually, WM 22 is the arena I use as a barometer for what crowd atmosphere IS...Triple H VS cena was ridiculous...you could FEEL the passion in that building, how badly those fans wanted trips to take it...somebody brought up North Carolina, I wonder what that building in charolette that was an outside arenam the one they had the first GAB in??? I know one of our more senior or knowlededgeable members would probably know were im talking about...I think it would be cool to have another GAB there...

everyone keeps saying wembley, and I agree that I would LIKE to see something there, the only things that worries me is im not sure WWE could draw 100,000 folks...one of our many english born guys could probably school me on this, but im just not sure WWE has enough drawing power for something like that, and thats the only problem with my suggestion of the coliseum in LA, becuase if they did it there, it would probably have to draw somewere around 100,000 fans...

Toronto Canada always has some of my favorite crowds, from the skydome back in the day (WM 6, atmosphere for an average quality warrior hogan match made it a little better) and now in the air canada center...when Edge came out to face Cena in that tables match last year at unforgiven, that was one of the loudest pops ive heard in a while...

 

[Colamania]

Hmm... well, Wembley Stadium will indeed be a kick ass venue, if they ever use it again. However, there's no big UK superstars at the moment. Therefore, I say they use it around 2010, when(/if) the new Hart Foundation is huge, and Harry Smith can get a kick-ass pop.

You do get a generally good atmosphere in the UK, seeing as we don't see much WWE, i mean twice a year?

Funnily enough, small venues actually rule, you get the reaction better. I went to the show they did in the Coventry Skydome, which only seats about the same amount of people that The Impact Zone does, and it kicked ass. We booed Triple H out of the building when he made his entrance. And, coz Eugene was put into rehab a couple of days before the show, so some OVW guy who was travelling with the guys to learn some stuff had to fill in. The "Who Are Ya" was deafening.

 

[RandyKO]

Chicago has got to be one of the best places WWE has ever gone. They boo John Cena out of the bulding! WrestleMania 22 was hillarious because of that.

And also, I think any European county, Wembley would be great as WWE only come for the WrestleMania Revenge Tour and Surivor Series Tour. When WWE were in, I think it was Italy, when Santino got the gold, they were great there too!

 

[mtg712]

the Hammerstein ballroom always had a lively crowd regardless of how crappy the matches or card was. when the shah of ECW Hak Myers hit someone everyone and thats literal would yell out shah. when he was feuding with JT Smith they would yell out Smith when ever smith would hit shah and the crowd would yell out shah when ever he hit his opponent. i would love to see a wrestlemania held at the big house in ann arbor michigan. it can currently seat 109,000 fans and the acoustics sound great. so a wrestlemania can possibly draw 115-120,000.

 

[Colamania]

And also, I think any European county, Wembley would be great as WWE only come for the WrestleMania Revenge Tour and Surivor Series Tour. When WWE were in, I think it was Italy, when Santino got the gold, they were great there too!

Were they? I watched that Raw, they sounded dead. No chants whatsoever, hardly any cheering, expect for the "Whoooahhhhhhhhhhhhh... Yeah!" whenever someone did a running move.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

actually I forgot about Milan for raw, that was awesome..the crowd was doing soccer chants during the whole event, that shit was badass....and to what someone said earlier, WM at the big house couldnt happen becuase its probably too cold outside and shitty weather in late march/early april in ann arbor mighigan...if the wwe is gonna have it at an outdoor arena, it has to be somewere were they are pretty much assured good, or at least warm, weather in early april/late march

 

[TheOneBigWill]

In my personal opinion, these would be my top 5 for all-time best environment are as follows:

5. (tie) Wrestlemania 3, Pontiac Silverdome: This place blew up for what it was back in the day. One of the biggest attendance records to date. But, & this is me being stupid I'm sure, isn't the Silverdome no more? Isn't it Ford Field now? Or am I confusing two different places?

5. (tie) Summerslam 92, Wembley Stadium: Was this an outdoor, or indoor place? If it was outdoor, it has to be considered better than a top 5, as the crowd was electric for the event, especially the Bret Hart/British Bulldog match.

4. Wrestlemania 22 arena, Chicago, IL.: During WM 22 in general, especially the Main Event.. the place was literally shaking with all the noise reverberating off the walls. Unbelieveable for sound quality, & I have no clue how the announcer's could tune it out.

3. Air Canada Center, Toronto, Canada: By far, WM 6 or not.. I'm refering to Unforgiven, when Edge defended against Cena.. did you hear the ovation Edge received compared to the hatred Cena got? #2. place all time with huge heat for crowd favorites.. second only to my next selection...

2. Hammerstein Ballroom: R.V.D. v. John Cena in general. They HATED, with a shear passion, Cena. This place would light it up during the original E.C.W. days & it most likely made both W.C.W. & W.W.F. jealous that they didn't have fans that dedicated & strong willed toward any of their own shows. E.C.W. fans made any arena they packed into worth hearing.

1. Madison Square Garden: The holy ground of Wrestling. MSG has to be number one, as the NY fans are on top of their game with knowing all the "behind the scenes" information.. & believe me, watch any MSG p.p.v., they'll let you know about it too.

Possible Options:

U.S.C. Trojans, Coliseum: It'd definately be worth a look if the crowd would get as rowdy & wild as they do for U.S.C. games. I love outdoor stadiums/arenas, but its hard to gauge a good sound from it, as the sound isn't reverberating back. Of course, if they're so loud you can't hear anything.. especially outdoors.. then you know its solid.

WM 24 Site: Orange Bowl: I think this will be a good judge of whether other stadiums, like the Coliseum would work. I can't wait for WM 24 just to hear the outdoor audience all over again. WM IX was nice, but not great. I'm worried for them that WM 24 may be similar, especially if they don't have a great card.

If you ever listed the all-time WORST places to host a wrestling event, I think W.C.W. would be on the map twice.. Sturgis, SD for one.. & the beach scene that they held the last Monday Nitro on, they held a yearly event there every year, where the ring was over a pool.

I LOVED the setting, as a ring on a pool was awesome, I always hoped for cruiserweight action to spill out of the ring, via high flying dives, into the pool. But overall crowd reaction.. sucked. The fans were 80-90% college kids too drunk to know whats going on.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Im not sure if the silver dome is gone, but the silver dome and ford feild are definately two different places..different cpacities, desighns, and locations...the silver dome is in pontiac mighigan, while ford feild is down town detroit.

I will certainley agree tho, that the silverdome crowd was amazing...Hulk Hogans entrance is one of the all time most out of control ridiculous things ive seen in wrestleing lol (in a good way)....

Like I said before...the pop for edge, and the hate for Cena at the air canada center, was incredible, only comparable to Cena HHH at WM 22...speaking of WM 22, a match that had crazy crowd heat and reactions was the mickie james-trish match...that was ridiculous lol and many seem to forget it....

wembley stadium is an outside arena, and yes that was an amazing, electric atmosphere...ill never forget the opener, with LOD riding the motorcyles to the ring, and that whole amazing place chanting LOD LOD LOD...great memory

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey is a great venue. Jersey fans are nuts and there is not as bad seat in the house. I saw Owen Hart break Austin's neck there at Summerslam 1997.

 

[daletango]

Someone asked earlier if there was a big enough demand in UK to fill 100k wembley stadium, with the right promotion and exposure of a brit like Regal, it definately could.