WWE isn’t working as many stay reveals as they used to—however the ones they do run are turning into critical money grabs, and John Cena’s farewell tour is simply fueling the fireplace.
On a latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer broke down the present state of WWE’s stay occasion enterprise and the way the corporate is utilizing shortage to spice up ticket income. In keeping with Meltzer, fewer home reveals have created extra demand for the corporate’s TV tapings and premium occasions—and costs have skyrocketed.
“Nick Khan in the present day was speaking about that he feels that the mixture of eliminating the home reveals has made the product extra scarce. So as a result of the product is extra scarce, there’s extra demand for tickets to those reveals that they’re doing, just like the TV tapings and clearly the pay-per-view reveals. And [it] has enabled them to lift the worth due to the shortage.”
That technique has turned out to be extremely efficient. Meltzer stated that ticket costs throughout the board have doubled, and WWE will proceed elevating costs so long as followers preserve paying on the secondary market.
“So long as ticket gross sales are good, inherently, based mostly on the legislation of provide and demand, the tickets are usually not priced too excessive. And so long as the secondary market costs for tickets are increased than the face worth, the following time they arrive to city, ticket costs are in all probability more likely to be increased… WWE ticket costs have doubled.”
And whereas some markets like Salt Lake Metropolis didn’t ship, Meltzer pointed to John Cena’s last run as a significant driver behind WWE’s present monetary momentum. The veteran’s goodbye run is pushing ticket demand into uncharted territory.
“This subsequent Monday’s RAW in Boston is clearly going to be actually massive. The week after, within the Backyard, goes to be even larger. After which the DC present on December 13 goes to be… almost definitely the most important arena-sized gate within the historical past {of professional} wrestling.”
With fewer reveals and ticket costs hitting new highs, WWE is leaning closely on premium points of interest like Cena to justify the associated fee—and followers are nonetheless shopping for. It’s a technique that works for now, however as soon as Cena is gone, the corporate could must discover a new ace to maintain the gates packed.
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