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Post by eJm on May 13, 2024 18:21:48 GMT -5
While the subject is up, I might as well have a side tangent about something that is sort of political but it’s less beliefs and more the policy. The week before the London Mayor election, the present mayor, Sadiq Khan (no relation to Nick or Tony) said he wanted to bring events like the Super Bowl and WrestleMania, saying both by name, to London and it felt like the most populist BS you could possibly use. One, you’re not going to be guaranteed either. The NFL loves London and has been trying to get an NFL team there for years (Spurs’ new stadium’s been rumored for long enough to be pitching itself as a home for an NFL team) but there is a real long shot the Super Bowl will ever go out of North America without a damn good reason to do it. Especially when it’ll be airing hours later and most of the audience is staying up late on a Sunday. WrestleMania, I mean…it could happen but you’d have to make a lot of sides happy and I highly doubt London gets a WrestleMania before, say, Saudi Arabia because, frankly, that cash cow is way bigger. Two, frankly, London doesn’t need either. Performances happen there all the time and even with other stuff that’s happened (let’s call it Eggsit for the benefit of those aware), it’s still a location to go to so boosting tourism and not to try and make this a “WWE vs. AEW” thing but another company has willingly paid for one of the few spots Wembley Stadium has every year to use it and yes, WrestleMania would sell it out but it feels weird to throw that under the bus to chase that instead of developing that as YOUR WrestleMania. I also just hate the idea that a city that has, admittedly, has had budget problems with transport and the like over the last 5 years (for many reasons I won’t go into) using tax payer’s money for an event that, quite frankly, won’t have the significant tourism in comparison to the other stuff going on and it’s just a weird thing to even promise. But I also hate how taxpayer’s money is used for all these places, especially when WWE is right now trying to stop Brendan Thurston from getting information he’s entitled to find out about how much public money was used to pay for the Royal Rumble last year. I think if they were going to have Wrestlemania in London in late March or early April, the venue would have to employ the opposite of the air conditioning employed in the Qatar World Cup, because it would be absolutely f***ing freezing. Or more likely, you end up with a £300 souvenir Wrestlemania parka that you have to buy to stop you freezing to death. The last point also links in with what people have said about Glasgow and poverty, because London is literally one of the most unequal cities in the world. Obviously it's a bit more complicated than that and the spending is from different budgets (not the time or place to go into that) but again, it just leaves a sour taste when someone is willing to spend a load of public money to make a wealthy private company even wealthier while even middle earners struggle to make ends meet, never mind the real pockets of deprivation in east London, largely so public servants can pat themselves on the back and say "London is for everyone" (it isn't). Hopefully haven't broken any rules there, but it needs to be said. I’m biased as someone born in East London but I’d say that’s all safe to say and I agree with you completely. I just needed to get it out because, man, that annoyed me. |
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Post by ANuclearError on May 13, 2024 23:58:36 GMT -5
There's another point I just realised that makes this more of a shame from a Glaswegian perspective.
In the past decade or so, Glasgow ended up cultivating a unique part of wrestling culture that permeated throughout the world. As much as #SpeakingOut and the pandemic brought it to a screeching halt, it still happened.
When the SECC show drew 4,000 fans, it wasn't built on top of big imports. It was a core of Scottish talent supported by other BritWres names and Rhyno.
There are currently 10 Scottish wrestlers signed to WWE, 5 men and 5 women, with a good few main roster reigns under their belt, all of whom were major fixtures in ICW's boom period.
One of the hottest names on TNA right now got his big break in ICW. AEW is arguably an aberration in not having some Scottish presence there.
Scotland has punched above it's weight in the wrestling world, so the fact we're having a discourse about them being priced out of it is really a shame.
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msc
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,466
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Post by msc on May 14, 2024 1:42:57 GMT -5
I agree with all of that, though wasn't sure how to express it without breaking the politics rules. Which isn't any of our faults that WWE is a deeply political thing nowadays.
So instead I'll add that 10C (roughly 50F, the London April average) isn't cold. And UK temperatures from March to September are rapidly increasing compared to ten/twenty years ago for some reason...
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Post by polarbearpete on May 14, 2024 9:51:02 GMT -5
As said, the Clash event is already 90% sold out, so it's probably not affecting too much in the short term. Just means that a more affluent crowd and superfans who have no real life outside of their wrestling fandom will increasingly become the usual crowd. Unfortunately WWE isn't alone in gouging people for live events either. Far from it. It's all so short-term. Many fans get into wrestling through their family and it's often the live events that hook them for life, especially the kids. Maybe even make them want to become wrestlers. Pricing families out is storing up issues. Fans in attendance already skew older than they once did and it'll look like a bowls crowd before too long if future generations don't come in. Not exactly the backdrop they want for their demo figures and corporate deals. They've already had to cut back on matches at PLEs to give the old folk more chances to get to the toilet. The "what?" chants will come back because nobody will be able to hear. Wwe are usually the gateway to other promotions too. There'll be no more diving through rows of seats in the indies if everyone takes 5 minutes to get up and out the way. I think you see a lot of the more “family-friendly” ticket prices for house shows still. PPV and TV are absurdly priced. Seems to be a trend with the “dynamic pricing” model of ticket sites for all events, where they realize that people more than ever are willing to pay up for entertainment (this generation is more likely to splurge on such rather than save their money). |
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Wants him some Taco Flavored Kisses.
Posts: 17,012
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Post by BRV on May 14, 2024 12:25:54 GMT -5
"Okay, this is a business, this not a charity. You know, I mean maybe one day UNICEF will get into the wrestling business. But, you know, until then, we're the people to see."
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Post by eJm on May 14, 2024 12:35:13 GMT -5
There's another point I just realised that makes this more of a shame from a Glaswegian perspective. In the past decade or so, Glasgow ended up cultivating a unique part of wrestling culture that permeated throughout the world. As much as #SpeakingOut and the pandemic brought it to a screeching halt, it still happened. When the SECC show drew 4,000 fans, it wasn't built on top of big imports. It was a core of Scottish talent supported by other BritWres names and Rhyno. There are currently 10 Scottish wrestlers signed to WWE, 5 men and 5 women, with a good few main roster reigns under their belt, all of whom were major fixtures in ICW's boom period. One of the hottest names on TNA right now got his big break in ICW. AEW is arguably an aberration in not having some Scottish presence there. Scotland has punched above it's weight in the wrestling world, so the fact we're having a discourse about them being priced out of it is really a shame. I will also say, one of the reasons ICW fell as rapidly as they did (in hindsight, considering I still considered it doing ok a year after the SECC show) was because WWE very much muscled into the territory and made the shows they did about them and not about any co-operation in ICW along with stealing every major talent that was involved with them not named Stevie Boy. Also, Mark Dallas was doing everything but asking to be hired by WWE for NXT to book it and then Jim Smallman did instead. |
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Post by Pgarodactyl on May 14, 2024 21:25:54 GMT -5
I mean, yes. WWE is expensive. You're probably paying for the name as much as the experience.
But doesn't this also put WWE's recent "record gates" into perspective?
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Post by HMARK Center on May 15, 2024 14:37:45 GMT -5
It really does feel like the entire business world now revolves around "whales"; hook a small number of people who'll pay literally any price to buy or experience your product, even if in doing so you close off a massive amount of people from ever giving your product more than a passing glance. You destroy your potential to be mainstream, but you've got the whales hooked and they'll keep pumping money in, so who cares? And when those whales either can't pay anymore or simply age out, and you've done little to nothing to draw in a new generation of customers, you'll have moved onto another company by then or gotten your golden parachute from the old place, so you, the MBA put in charge of making sure there's a profit turned every two quarters, will be fine.
It's what's giving us the "beauty" of needing multiple streaming services to watch your favorite teams, the insane ticket prices for events like this, and hell, it's basically what addiction-based business are built on...seriously, look up the stats in the US on how much the top 10% of users of online gambling or alcohol spend/consume compared with literally the entire rest of the market, they're propping the whole thing up.
I'm someone who loves going to live events, totally gets the appeal of being in a crowd of excited people or around the "pre-game" scene, have regular ticket plans for watching baseball and hockey and attend a handful of wrestling shows a year (e.g. intend on being at Forbidden Door and Full Gear this year, since they're both in the area), but I see prices like this for basically anything and my brain can't conceive of it. Like, I've told myself that if I ever get a chance to see the Mets in a potential World Series clinching game, yes, that's something I'm willing to spend big on, but even then you're not getting me to drop +$2,000 for a single ticket on that.
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Post by stoptheclocks on May 15, 2024 16:08:37 GMT -5
I mean, yes. WWE is expensive. You're probably paying for the name as much as the experience. But doesn't this also put WWE's recent "record gates" into perspective? In what sense? |
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