Stadiums

[hulksmash87]

Why didn’t wwf run stadiums during the attitude era more? 98-01 was such a hot period and they could have done huge business in stadiums but outside of wrestlemania 17 they never ram them.

[DoubleDare]

Because they usually book arena's in advance, and probably didn't start seeing the profits from the big success until like 1999 and had 2000 planned out, so WrestleMania 17 was the first WM they could have in a stadium.

[ThatDudeThatExsists]

Aug 15, 2023 20:24:40 GMT -5 DoubleDare said:

Because they usually book arena's in advance, and probably didn't start seeing the profits from the big success until like 1999 and had 2000 planned out, so WrestleMania 17 was the first WM they could have in a stadium.

This. I think they used to be even more strict about arena planning back then.

[CeilingFan]

WrestleMania 8 was not the huge success they expected, so that probably had an effect on future locations.

[fg]

Not to mention that after WM8, they were probably nervous about running stadium shows fearing that they would be moneylosers.

[tafkaga]

They were forced to tear down the Pontiac Silverdome immediately after WM3 and that probably made it difficult for them to find stadiums willing to book them.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Aug 17, 2023 9:31:01 GMT -5 tafkaga said:

They were forced to tear down the Pontiac Silverdome immediately after WM3 and that probably made it difficult for them to find stadiums willing to book them.

They had to tear it down because when Hulk Hogan slammed that 800 lb Giant, tearing all the muscles in his back in the process, the seismic impact destroyed the foundations of the building. The power of Hulkamania could have fixed it, but when you’re flying back and forth through time zones, working 400 days a year, you don’t have time for that kind of thing, Jack!

[johnnyk9]

Aug 17, 2023 11:05:35 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

Aug 17, 2023 9:31:01 GMT -5 tafkaga said:

They were forced to tear down the Pontiac Silverdome immediately after WM3 and that probably made it difficult for them to find stadiums willing to book them.

They had to tear it down because when Hulk Hogan slammed that 800 lb Giant, tearing all the muscles in his back in the process, the seismic impact destroyed the foundations of the building. The power of Hulkamania could have fixed it, but when you’re flying back and forth through time zones, working 400 days a year, you don’t have time for that kind of thing, Jack!

And Andre passed away right after the match to

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Aug 17, 2023 20:58:36 GMT -5 johnnyk9 said:

Aug 17, 2023 11:05:35 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

They had to tear it down because when Hulk Hogan slammed that 800 lb Giant, tearing all the muscles in his back in the process, the seismic impact destroyed the foundations of the building. The power of Hulkamania could have fixed it, but when you’re flying back and forth through time zones, working 400 days a year, you don’t have time for that kind of thing, Jack!

And Andre passed away right after the match to

I almost included that, but I wanted to set it up instead. I was not disappointed.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Wrestlers don't like them since the sound drifts away. They're expensive. Putting a red hot crowd into a smaller venue you can sell out, makes TV look better because the crowd is super loud, drives ticket sales next time you come through; "I'm not missing out NEXT TIME!"

It feels like leaving money on the table, but it's really not.

[thegame415]

It’s weird, cause while there were no major stadium Ppv’s to WM17, There was a Raw at Skydome in 1999, and they ran Raw at the Georgia dome a few times too. The first show in October had 35,000

WCW actually did some big shows too. We know the Georgia Dome shows, but they also did Nitro at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Astrodome in Houston and TWA dome in St Louis.

Some quick searches show the Houston Nitro in December 1998 had 31,000.

For whatever reason, Slamboree 1999 was at the TWA dome and drew 20,000. Not a huge number, but still.

I guess I’m trying to say they randomly ran dome/stadium shows, and probably could’ve done more. If a random Nitro in December 1998 can get over 30,000…

[Citizen Snips]

Aug 19, 2023 11:06:44 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

It’s weird, cause while there were no major stadium Ppv’s to WM17, There was a Raw at Skydome in 1999, and they ran Raw at the Georgia dome a few times too. The first show in October had 35,000

WCW actually did some big shows too. We know the Georgia Dome shows, but they also did Nitro at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Astrodome in Houston and TWA dome in St Louis.

Apparently they had to give away a ton of free tickets, but Royal Rumble 1997 was also at the Alamodome.

[J. Hova]

Thinking specifically about open air stadiums as opposed to domes, I think the WWE had a love/hate relationship with those. They were still trying to figure out acoustics since the crowd noise escapes as opposed to bouncing off the roof. It can really screw with the presentation. All that said, with as hot as the crowds were then, I'm not sure it would really matter.

[Mozenrath]

Aug 17, 2023 22:48:00 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Wrestlers don't like them since the sound drifts away. They're expensive. Putting a red hot crowd into a smaller venue you can sell out, makes TV look better because the crowd is super loud, drives ticket sales next time you come through; "I'm not missing out NEXT TIME!"

It feels like leaving money on the table, but it's really not.

Yeah, there are/were serious drawbacks. It can definitely be worth it, but it isn't a sure thing.

[DichEvans]

Aug 15, 2023 19:35:02 GMT -5 hulksmash87 said:

Why didn’t wwf run stadiums during the attitude era more? 98-01 was such a hot period and they could have done huge business in stadiums but outside of wrestlemania 17 they never ram them.

WWF's attitude boom happened fast and it felt like it could end at any time.


I heard Bruce also say WWE's production standards were different compared to the Hogan era, where they could just plop a ring down in a stadium with little planning. The Wrestlemania X7 Astrodome show took like 8 months of planning, because they had to build everything from scratch as it was their first stadium while they had their modern production standards



WWE (and WCW) did run some stadiums during the era, but it was just for RAW and they used the regular RAW set.

[Bo Rida]

I've never quite got the noise drifting away thing. Football(/soccer) are still loud on TV, why does wrestling struggle?

I'm guessing because they can space crowd mics around the stadium in football but in wrestling they're in a much smaller area around the ring and you lose sound from those closest to the ring as they're the ones in the open air?

But still some mics around the hard cam and elsewhere would surely be possible?

[thecrusherwi]

Aug 22, 2023 4:01:31 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I've never quite got the noise drifting away thing. Football(/soccer) are still loud on TV, why does wrestling struggle?

I'm guessing because they can space crowd mics around the stadium in football but in wrestling they're in a much smaller area around the ring and you lose sound from those closest to the ring as they're the ones in the open air?

But still some mics around the hard cam and elsewhere would surely be possible?

I’ve never understood that point either. The loudest sound I’ve ever heard was at Michigan Stadium when the Wolverines got an interception return for a touchdown to upset my 9th ranked Wisconsin Badgers. It’s just a big bowl and has nowhere to trap the sound, yet it was so loud my ears couldn’t handle the noise, - it sounded distorted like when a speaker is cranked too loud.

I don’t doubt there is some affect but to me this always sounded like an excuse. “The crowd actually was going crazy for my match, but the sound escaped!” Similar to the nonsense of “I actually had a super great exciting match but the crowd was too exhausted from the match before to cheer!”

[salz4life]

Aug 22, 2023 10:25:11 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

Aug 22, 2023 4:01:31 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I've never quite got the noise drifting away thing. Football(/soccer) are still loud on TV, why does wrestling struggle?

I'm guessing because they can space crowd mics around the stadium in football but in wrestling they're in a much smaller area around the ring and you lose sound from those closest to the ring as they're the ones in the open air?

But still some mics around the hard cam and elsewhere would surely be possible?

I’ve never understood that point either. The loudest sound I’ve ever heard was at Michigan Stadium when the Wolverines got an interception return for a touchdown to upset my 9th ranked Wisconsin Badgers. It’s just a big bowl and has nowhere to trap the sound, yet it was so loud my ears couldn’t handle the noise, - it sounded distorted like when a speaker is cranked too loud.

I don’t doubt there is some affect but to me this always sounded like an excuse. “The crowd actually was going crazy for my match, but the sound escaped!” Similar to the nonsense of “I actually had a super great exciting match but the crowd was too exhausted from the match before to cheer!”

I'll be interested to see how the sound is at Michigan Stadium with the bigger scoreboards. Will it have any effect I wonder. I won't know as I'm not going this year.


Was that upset in 2008? How in the HELL did that Michigan team end up being the only team that beat you that season? Talk about skewing results. I actually thought Michigan might end up .500 somehow after that win.... NEGATIVE.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Aug 19, 2023 11:06:44 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

It’s weird, cause while there were no major stadium Ppv’s to WM17, There was a Raw at Skydome in 1999, and they ran Raw at the Georgia dome a few times too. The first show in October had 35,000

WCW actually did some big shows too. We know the Georgia Dome shows, but they also did Nitro at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Astrodome in Houston and TWA dome in St Louis.

Some quick searches show the Houston Nitro in December 1998 had 31,000.

For whatever reason, Slamboree 1999 was at the TWA dome and drew 20,000. Not a huge number, but still.

I guess I’m trying to say they randomly ran dome/stadium shows, and probably could’ve done more. If a random Nitro in December 1998 can get over 30,000…

The only reason why St. Louis seems to have them at TWA is because WWE has deals with venues all over and it was the only place in St. louis they could run. Since the hockey arena was always WWE. Each time they used half the building.