30k would be an utter embarrassment. We would be looking at levels 2 and 3 empty or tarped, and level 1 spotty.

Apr 6, 2023 3:57:23 GMT c said:

30k would be an utter embarrassment. We would be looking at levels 2 and 3 empty or tarped, and level 1 spotty.

That's paying full price.

I could see them getting an additional 40K+ more on discounted/free tickets.

What is likely to happen is Tony will cut the stadium in half with the set. He will run Wembley but 40k seats will now be part of the backstage area and tarped off that way. Need to see what he opens in May to the scalper bots.  Then if he sells 40k seats he can claim he sold out the venue.

And every performer gets 10 free tickets to give to family and friends.

Apr 6, 2023 4:26:06 GMT NATH45 said:

And every performer gets 10 free tickets to give to family and friends.

They'd have enough for two nights!

It seems absolutely fucking mental to me, but I love the cajones. I think he’s going to try to WWE it (fill half the stadium and only shoot that). It will still be difficult.

He must have got some advice from some clever person that it was possible to pull this off. He’s probably paying good fees because of his association with the NFL. Good luck to him, I’d rather him than me.

If he does not run it like a wrestling event, but a rock concert, he can section off a lot of the seats by pushing the "stage" to nearly half court and blocking off the rest of the arena with the "entrance" set.

So if he for it for the same cost of a smaller arena, then he could try to sell off half of it, then expand if possible.

That is the bits of explanations I seen that form a logical justification.

He's been baited into this by the fact Vince bought WWF and within 5 years put 93,000 in the Silverdome. It's been 4 years since AEW went live. He's gotta prove a point - he's booker of the year afterall.

He does have a few advantages. The main one obviously is that they’ve never run in that market, or anywhere close to it, ever. This could pull people in from around Western Europe. Also, due to their TV deal with ITV, UK is AEW’s biggest audience pound-for-pound. Although how many of those people would buy tickets is an unknown. It feels extremely ambitious. I hope he at least gets it to a level where people aren’t laughing at it.

Tickets are not really the issue I see, but travel. Will casual wrestling fans give up a day to travel to London and watch AEW? Tony will need like Wrestlemania numbers too or it will be embarrassing with large parts of the arena empty.

Tony gonna have to hype the shit out of this over the next 6 months.

Should really pitch a World Cup tournament. UK, North America, Japan and Mexico. Easy setup and nationalism draws. Can start advertising now, and get up some weird country based team round robin thing over the next few months as a lead up.

WWE ran Melbourne a few years ago and pulled 70,000.

And this is perhaps one of the weakest markets for pro. wrestling in the world.

People travelled from all around Australia for the event - it's a big place. People will travel if the event calls for it.

It was WWE though. It's possible AEW could do it, but AEW will need some big bizniz drawcards to put asses in those seats.

Well, I definitely thought it would've been at Craven Cottage the show, but with the date, it wasn't possible as the new season would have kicked off by then.

Will be majorly impressed if the sellout Wembley though, I'd imagine the 90k will be reduced a bit, as boxing shows usually are at Wembley.

Well, that legitimately is a huge announcement.

Jay White bracing himself to say he single-handedly sold out Madison Square Garden AND Wembley Stadium.

Apr 6, 2023 9:23:17 GMT c said:

Tickets are not really the issue I see, but travel. Will casual wrestling fans give up a day to travel to London and watch AEW? Tony will need like Wrestlemania numbers too or it will be embarrassing with large parts of the arena empty.

I'm much more than a casual wrestling fan and I'm thinking probably not.

But that's more due to my general indifference to live wrestling shows and my dislike for enormous stadium shows. For me watching on a screen at home is the ideal wrestling experience. I don't go to stadium music shows either. The smaller the venue, the better.

Plus the whole travelling to London thing. It is giving up a whole day for travelling and accommodation is normally super expensive in London.

However... ZSJ vs Danielson and a big Jay White match MIGHT persuade me. Those are my three favourite wrestlers in the world.

Apr 6, 2023 9:56:19 GMT System said:

Does AEW have much of a fan base in the UK? Not being a hater just genuinely curious.

No - stores actually stopped selling the action figures because no one was buying them!

Of course, it won't only be people from the UK there - people from France, Germany, Poland and wherever else will be able to get there in a couple of hours. No idea how popular AEW is on mainland Europe though!

That's the type of match they'll need to promote.

Sting vs Great Muta in Muta's 20th retirement match.

It won't be an instant sellout but they'll roll tickets out in "presales" and sell those out one at a time so they can say they "sold out" and hype up future tickets.

I don't see them completely cutting the stadium in half unless they get to the 30-40k mark and see a lull in sales. I think the obvious goal is complete sell out, then failing that, big stage and aim for like 60k+

I think people are underestimating the UK fanbase a little. They rarely get big wrestling shows and people are going to turn up for this, especially if Will Ospreay, PAC and ZSJ are there, among others. Don't forget this is also a first time event for a lot of the roster too, where this might be the one and only time people see them wrestle live.

I don’t think they have the production talent to cut the stadium in half. They can’t hide blade jobs so I don’t know how they’d manage to hide half an empty stadium.

I think people are really overselling the transport and accommodation issues.

Wembley does this every other week. That's the point of the stadium, to hold big crowds.

It's connected by transport hubs, including bus and train and literally 5 million people come through Heathrow every month. It's a tourist's city.

Melbourne hosts concerts every other week, Ed Sherran put 105,000 people into the MCG last month, the AFL Grand Final is 100,000 in attendance event.. and Melbourne is fraction of the city London is, in terms of supporting tourism and public transport.

For London, this stuff is easy.

Apr 6, 2023 22:39:20 GMT NATH45 said:

I think people are really overselling the transport and accommodation issues.

Wembley does this every other week. That's the point of the stadium, to hold big crowds.

It's connected by transport hubs, including bus and train and literally 5 million people come through Heathrow every month. It's a tourist's city.

Melbourne hosts concerts every other week, Ed Sherran put 105,000 people into the MCG last month, the AFL Grand Final is 100,000 in attendance event.. and Melbourne is fraction of the city London is, in terms of supporting tourism and public transport.

For London, this stuff is easy.

Somebody here gets it. Plus I think people are forgetting how densely populated the UK is compared to the US. England alone has 17 million more people than California while being roughly the size of Alabama. Throw in all those wrestling starved fans in the rest of the UK and on the continent plus a potential marketing blitz and I could absolutely see this drawing big. 

I hope asses find seats.

It’ll draw big. But it’s worth noting that UK fans aren’t as starved as they have been in the last. Clash at the Castle was here last year, first stadium show since 92. And remember, WWE are in London a month before AEW for Money in the Bank at the O2. So while AEW fans are starving, wrestling fans on the whole aren’t starving as much as they have been over the past few decades.

I admire TK's balls.

But Jericho, Omega and the land of misfit toys aren't going to do this alone. I wouldn't pay $30 to see Jericho if he were wrestling a mile from my house at this point, and he's arguably their most well known name.

They'll need some big cross promotion, hopefully from NJPW, and taking WWE's lead - a big emotion filled arch to build interest, just booking " great matches " and hoping for Dave's approval isn't going to work alone.

Something else of note: as it stands the show isn’t being billed as a PPV. People are speculating that we will get an HBO Max announcement when the app drops next week and the show will be streamed on there. Makes sense since All Out is going to be 1-2 weeks later and asking fans to dish out $50+ for each show would be an issue.

This could be the show they use to sell the streaming service.

The question isn't infrastructure, but motivation. Can Tony convince 90k people all around Europe to travel to London to see his show. There are trains, but you are in a for long rides outside of the UK. And even in the UK some are looking at hours spent on a train. Looking like 8 hours from Germany or Ireland.

And while it is a tourist city, I just do not see your average tourist there on business or for a bit fun giving up a night to do AEW that is not already there for it.

There are various scenarios for how Tony will fill the stadium with casual fans but I just do not see them. I do not see 90k from all over Europe flooding the stadium, nor a swarm of tourists in London just suddenly deciding that one night to watch wrestling.

We're all poor right now anyway!

Apr 6, 2023 23:25:28 GMT RT said:

Something else of note: as it stands the show isn’t being billed as a PPV. People are speculating that we will get an HBO Max announcement when the app drops next week and the show will be streamed on there. Makes sense since All Out is going to be 1-2 weeks later and asking fans to dish out $50+ for each show would be an issue.

This could be the show they use to sell the streaming service.

Would it still be sold as a PPV for international markets?

Apr 6, 2023 23:37:25 GMT @papaya said:

We're all poor right now anyway!

Win tickets from a radio station!

Apr 6, 2023 23:39:17 GMT @ness said:

Apr 6, 2023 23:37:25 GMT @papaya said:

We're all poor right now anyway!

Win tickets from a radio station!

Who listens to the radio in this day and age?!

Apr 6, 2023 23:40:33 GMT @papaya said:

Apr 6, 2023 23:39:17 GMT @ness said:

Win tickets from a radio station!

Who listens to the radio in this day and age?!

Well I can't drive in silence as that feels insane.